Soccer: SFA break bank for Vogts

Chief executive David Taylor says the SFA have put together their best-ever financial package to persuade Berti Vogts to take over as the next Scotland manager.

The SFA want to appoint a big name following Craig Brown's resignation and quickly established Vogts as a leading contender.

Also on the shortlist were Nevio Scala, Phillipe Troussier and Bruce Rioch but Taylor thinks Vogts' previous experience as national coach of Germany meant he was the unanimous choice.

The German is still in charge of the Kuwait side, who are currently involved in the Gulf Cup but negotiations are at an advanced stage.

Taylor said: "We are at a crossroads and we said we wanted to get the best so we said from the outset that we weren't going to regard the financial situation as an obstacle and it has not been an obstacle.

"It is the most lucrative package the SFA have ever put together for a national team manager - a significant investment in the future of the Scottish game.

"We started by short-listing candidates and we established the characteristics of the person we wanted and we started a worldwide trawl to find someone who matched those characteristics.

"Very quickly the name of Berti Vogts came up and fairly early on we realised he was a serious contender.

"When we approached him we established that he would be interested in the post once his contractual obligations to Kuwait are fulfilled."

He added: "He (Vogts) sees this as a very important job in international football and I'm very pleased to say that the other candidates we considered also thought it was a very important post.

"We had a shortlist that included Nevio Scala, Phillipe Troussier and Bruce Rioch and we spoke to all of them but Berti Vogts was the unanimous choice."