Soccer: Brown sweats on fate

Craig Brown plans to battle on as Scotland boss but admits he is anxious to discuss his future with the Scottish Football Association after last night’s 2-0 defeat against Belgium.

Scotland are all but out of the World Cup after losing in Brussels - a defeat which threatens to spell the end of Brown’s eight-year reign.

The Scots need a seven-goal turnaround to pip Croatia on goal difference and would have to thrash Latvia at Hampden Park and hope that Belgium win in Croatia at the same time.

Fans have called for Brown, whose contract is up at the end of the year, to stand down - and he is seeking talks with the SFA.

Brown said: ‘‘Whether I carry on is a matter for myself and the Scottish FA’s executive committee.

‘‘I am anxious to discuss the situation with my employers. It will be a discussion in private. Presumably an announcement will be made.

‘‘My contract runs to December, and I intend to honour it to December. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.’’

SFA chief executive David Taylor said: ‘‘The matter will be discussed in committee.

‘‘I am bitterly disappointed for those marvellous supporters,’’ he added.

Brown did concede on Radio 5 Live that Scotland’s hopes of qualifying for the World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea are all but doomed.

‘‘As long as it’s mathematically possible to qualify we’ll keep going. But a defeat here meant, in my head, that we’re out of the World Cup,’’ he said.

Former Scotland striker Steve Archibald is in no doubt that Brown’s reign is about to end.

He said: ‘‘His Brown’s future will be discussed heavily over the next few days, and I think Craig has pretty much served his time with Scotland.

‘‘I think tactical errors have been made, particularly against Croatia last week. I also think the personnel he picked last night was wrong.

‘‘Craig is also the technical director of Scottish football, so there is more than his job as coach at stake here.

‘‘Whoever replaces him will need as much time as possible to prepare for the next championships.

‘‘If indeed it does happen and Craig does lose his job we haven’t got tons of candidates for the job.

‘‘But I think we have got one excellent candidate in Alex McLeish at Hibernian. He can motivate players, and I think he’s a prime contender.’’