SFA splash out to sign up Vogts until 2006

SCOTLAND are almost certain to be led into the next two major football championships by Berti Vogts, the respected former manager of Germany, it was confirmed last night, as the 15-week search for Craig Brown’s successor neared its conclusion.

David Taylor, chief executive of the Scottish Football Association, said that negotiations with Vogts and the Kuwaiti FA, the 55-year-old’s present employers, were at a "very advanced stage". He hopes to unveil Scotland’s new head coach in early February, once the Gulf Cup is over and his contractual ties have been harmoniously settled.

Officially, it may be up to a fortnight before the appointment is confirmed, but rumours abounded yesterday that Vogts may not last much longer in the Middle East in the wake of a 3-1 defeat to Oman. Moreover, the open, reflective discourse conducted by Taylor on the matter suggested overwhelmingly that hands have been firmly shaken.

Vogts has been offered a contract lasting until the end of the 2006 World Cup, which takes place in his homeland. Should he accept his salary package, the 1974 World Cup-winning defender will become the highest-paid national coach in Scotland’s history - regardless of bonuses payable at the fulfilment of successful qualifying campaigns - and the team’s first overseas guardian. If he is successful, it is estimated he will earn £500,000 a year - at least double the salary of his predecessor, Craig Brown.

He was one of four applicants to reach the interview stage. Italian Nevio Scala, Frenchman Philippe Troussier and former Scotland international Bruce Rioch were described as "good candidates who would all have brought strength to the position", but the man from Dusseldorf swung the vote because of his vast international experience.

"The fact that this man was the manager of the German national team for eight years - he is steeped in the workings of a national federation, and came through the youth ranks - meant he was seen to have more in his locker, in terms of experience and expertise," said Taylor. "Nevio Scala, Philippe Troussier and Bruce Rioch were interviewed in some depth, but Berti was the unanimous choice."

Rioch, the former Bolton Wanderers and Arsenal manager, admitted to being disappointed at missing out on the job, but was full of praise for the professional conduct of Taylor, and full of encouragement for his foreign rival.

"I would have been very honoured but David Taylor rang me this morning to say they were going with Berti Vogts," he said last night. "But he has kept me up-to-date with events since I had the interview with the SFA before Christmas.

"David said it was down to Berti already having been an international manager with the German national team and that was one of the main reasons they have gone in that direction. But I think the SFA are in good hands with David Taylor and I wish Berti well in his new job."

Clearly delighted to have "got his man", Taylor added that all parties are in agreement as to the importance of Vogts’s backroom team containing at least one Scot. "I think he recognised that, and we in the association recognised that as well," he said.

"While he speaks good English, there is a Scottish football-English that has to be learned as well. It’s our first time ever with a foreign coach, and we need someone to help him adjust to the Scottish football scene."

Though he denied that Celtic youth coach Tommy Burns had already been lined up as the German’s assistant, Taylor confirmed several homegrown candidates had been discussed.

"[Vogts’s] knowledge of Scottish football is relatively limited at this time, but he would have an idea of the sort of person who would fit the bill," he said. "There have been a number of names mentioned, but I would like to keep it in private.

"It’s totally inappropriate for me to comment on people who may be employed by other clubs. I can categorically deny we have made approaches to any club at this time."

What Taylor was ready to confirm, though, was that Vogts had set his heart on the task of rebuilding Scotland’s flagging reputation as a footballing force. Any notion that his sporting ambitions are tinged with thoughts of lucre, as you suspect they might have been with Kuwait, was swiftly dumbed down by Taylor.

"He is very much a football person, in terms of the matters we discussed. He very quickly wanted to talk about the team: what players there are available, and which ones are coming through. His eagerness to talk football, rather than financial matters, was very noticeable.

"He is a strong-willed individual and he knows what he wants to do. Pretty early in our discussions it was clear that he wanted to come and live and work in Scotland, and we didn’t want an absent landlord."

Most satisfyingly for Taylor, he knows that he has far exceeded the common expectations of the calibre of manager who would follow Brown, who resigned in October after a second successive failed qualifying campaign meant Scotland missing out on this summer’s World Cup. The very fact that Vogts already boasts a major championship triumph as a manager makes it almost impossible to reflect on the impending appointment with anything but enthusiasm.

"I hope the fact that he is a big name will excite people to see what he can do with the national team. He does regard it as a very prestigious position in international football. At the outset I said I thought we would attract high-quality candidates, and we did."

If and when the matter is formalised, the German’s first game will be against the world and European champions, France, in Paris in March. The SFA is attempting to arrange a further friendly against either Nigeria or Ecuador, to be played in Edinburgh or Aberdeen, in April. But if neither works out, Scotland can fall back on invitations to travel to Slovenia, Greece or the Czech Republic.

Taken from the Scotsman