VICIOUS CIRCLE: SFA must stop repeating the same old failures and commit to a blueprint that will ensure positive change, says Steven Pressley

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As the man who arrived downstairs at Cameron House one morning after a game to find captain and goalkeeper carrying a drinking session through to breakfast, Steven Pressley has witnessed the Scottish national team in a pretty bad way.

What alarms the former Scotland first-team coach about the current state of disrepair is noting how the SFA are stumbling aimlessly through yet another doomed era with about as much readiness as Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor shuffling off to their beds that fateful spring day 10 years ago.

Two games into a European Championship qualifying campaign - one of them the 3-0 humiliation by Kazakhstan - and the manager and entire coaching staff have been dismissed.

Carlisle United manager Steven Pressley is worried about the SFA's apparent lack of a plan

Alex McLeish was shown the door like Gordon Strachan and Craig Levein before him because of results deemed not good enough.

It might be ambitious to say another one will be along shortly. This, just like the sacking itself, may take some time.

And the prospect of an interim in-house appointment of sorts is being floated, one that introduces Malky Mackay and or Scot Gemmill into the hotseat. Whatever the outcome, the deeply troubling fear for Pressley is that the appointment of yet another manager in the hope of sparking a rally at qualifying for Euro 2020 will fail to address the long-term problems.

'I worry because I look back and I see the same theme. This is the same process all over again,' said Pressley, who won 32 caps for Scotland.

'I think the SFA need to take a long, hard look at themselves. I don't see what the clear plan is.' It's not a secret that no such thing exists at Hampden as far as the senior squad is concerned.

Strachan was given a second chance and a new contract after finishing fourth in the Euro 2016 qualifying group - then let go following a hugely encouraging six-match unbeaten run that came very close to keeping 2018 World Cup hopes alive.

The then chief executive Stewart Regan embarked on his unsuccessful pursuit of Northern Ireland's Michael O'Neill. The second McLeish reign, railroaded through by Rod Petrie and Alan McRae, has now stalled at 14 months.

'I think it's a poor decision to relieve Alex McLeish of his duties now,' said Pressley. 'If you are going to appoint him, if it was done correctly with all the due diligence, then you need to back your man and to support him properly.

'For me, the SFA need to put in place somebody who is given time and huge support to start bringing through players and stabilising the team. We need to show strength as an organisation and say that this is the person who will lead us forward and this is the plan.' The events in Kazakhstan, on opening night of a new qualifying group, laid bare the reality that McLeish was not the right man to lead Scotland forward. He had already paved a potentially easier path through the Nations League route to the continent-wide 2020 jamboree, but there were enough worrying signs to persuade SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell and the board that Scotland stood a better chance if the 60-year-old McLeish wasn't at the controls.

With years of failure to reach a major international tournament now stretching into a third decade, patience is never again going to be at play.

Pressley suspects Scotland missed their shot at retaining that virtue and benefiting from continuity by getting rid of his former Celtic manager Strachan.

'I feel Gordon, who I am a huge supporter of, was doing many good things,' added Pressley, now leading Carlisle United's bid for promotion to League One in England. 'He was getting a lot out of his team.

'Those two campaigns were regarded as failure. Not experience. Not building. Yes, everyone wants us to get there. It might have taken six years under Gordon. It might have taken eight. The signs were there that we were improving, building.

'It might not have been this tournament but continuity and the opportunity to bring through a crop of young players? With Gordon, I felt there was a guy with the right profile to do that job. Someone who was a hugely passionate guy about the development of young players.

'I think we've made some crazy decisions. All that happens with Scotland is: Put a manager in place, have some bad results, sack him. Same process again. That's been the case for the last 20 years. There were chances to persevere. Yet there seems to be none of that.'

The SFA sacked Alex McLeish as national team boss after a poor start to Euro 2020 qualifying

Pressley casts an admiring glance further south from his Cumbrian base at the work of the FA in planting faith in Gareth Southgate following a four-game audition for the role of England head coach three years ago.

There is envy, too, for Pressley the Scotland fan because England rather stumbled across their sudden commitment to stability.

The appointment of the Under-21 coach who knew all about the age levels, structure and possessed a passion for player development came after a 67-day reign of Sam Allardyce and a disastrous Roy Hodgson-led 2016 Euro finals exit to Iceland.

'England are a success story now because they seem to - behind the scenes and with the manager - have a real alignment in the way they want to move the teams forward,' noted Pressley. 'I don't think there's that clear alignment right now with Scotland.

'There are the projects with (performance director) Malky Mackay and I heard Craig Levein saying a couple of weeks ago that we need a bit of patience. They started putting things in place behind the scenes for the development of our young players.

'But that doesn't seem to be in tune with the senior team appointments. England are now seeing the fruits of their EPPP (Elite Player Performance Plan) and their investment in academies.

'For a long period of time, many people were questioning that. But they've been patient with it and it now looks like bearing fruit. We need to be like that.

'Do we have to find "our Gareth Southgate"? Possibly. Someone who has the right profile in terms of the alignment with the organisation, his strengths as an individual. Go with him, back him and develop a team.

'That might not happen overnight. But the problem is if they (the SFA) don't address it, then they'll continue to make the mistakes. Okay, we might get to one tournament and everyone will think it's sorted. That's not the case.

Malky Mackay is in the running to become the next Scotland manager on an interim basis

'It might happen more regularly if we actually get this right. You have to be dependent on your own young players. That's where our big clubs also have a responsibility.' With Celtic hell-bent on securing an historic 10-in-a-row and Rangers hell-bent on stopping them, Scotland's top two clubs will be even more preoccupied than usual with the present over the next year or two.

'The clubs need to work closer together to help the national team,' said Pressley. 'In Germany, all of the clubs come together to create and support. In our country, everyone is fighting for their own interests.

'That will always be the case in Scotland. Celtic and Rangers are really going at it now. Who suffers? The national team.

'All our clubs have a responsibility to improve our game by developing young players properly.

'When did we last produce a top-level No 9? You probably have to go as far back as Charlie Nicholas. None of our Rangers or Celtic teams produce one. We're developing some good players but haven't developed enough special players - ones who can change a game.

'Scott McKenna and John Souttar are players of good potential. We have amazing left backs in Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney. Those are encouraging signs. But we need to develop a couple of X-factor players who can then turn a good side into a successful side.

'I have watched Billy Gilmour on a number of occasions for Scotland youth teams. There's good work getting done but there needs to be more. Unfortunately, it's always the manager who is the fall guy for all of this.' The attendance records of players, as Pressley knows well from his time working through George Burley's tenure, is a tell-tale sign that all is not well.

McLeish's was ravaged by call-offs. It will be fascinating to see if those 'managing their bodies' -including Matt Ritchie, James McArthur, Robert Snodgrass, Tom Cairney and Allan McGregor - consider returning under a new leader.

'The culture created is so important,' insisted Pressley. 'That doesn't just come from the manager, it comes from everything about the organisation where players feel they want to come. That's one of the things that couldn't be levelled at Gordon. His players turned up.

'I see this at England. Behind Gareth, they have this huge support mechanism. I don't see that support for the manager within the SFA.'