1950s: Selection committee and temporary managers managed Scotland in two matches in 1958 Until 1954, the
Scotland team was managed by a SFA selection committee. The role of manager was first established in May 1954 with the appointment of
Andy Beattie, who took charge on a part-time basis while continuing as manager of
Huddersfield Town. Busby only took charge of two Scotland matches, but he did give a young
Denis Law his first Scotland cap. McColl left the team in 1965 to become manager of
Sunderland. Stein took charge of their attempt to qualify for the
1966 World Cup. Stein was criticised by the Scottish press after the team conceded two late goals and lost 2–1 at home to Poland, but they managed to beat
Italy 1–0 at
Hampden Park to raise some hope of qualification. Scotland suffered from several players withdrawing from the return match against Italy due to injury and a 3–0 defeat meant that they failed to qualify.
Clyde manager
John Prentice then took the job on a full-time basis in 1966, but left to manage
Dundee after just six months and four games in charge. After
Malky MacDonald took charge of two games on a caretaker basis,
Bobby Brown was appointed manager. Brown was the first Scotland manager to be given full control of the team, as until then the SFA selection committee had continued to choose the players. Scotland achieved one of their most famous victories in his first game in charge, a 3–2 win against
1966 World Cup winners England at
Wembley. The team generally performed well under Brown, but were drawn with
West Germany in
1970 FIFA World Cup qualification. Scotland needed to avoid defeat in Hamburg to keep their qualification hopes alive, but lost 3–2.
1970s Tommy Docherty was appointed manager in 1971 and had a brief, but successful, time in charge. Docherty lost only three of his 12 matches as manager, but he left the job in late 1972 to become manager of
Manchester United. Ormond left the Scotland job in 1977 to become manager of
Hearts.
Ally MacLeod had an immediate impact as Scotland manager, winning against England at Wembley. His team then qualified for the
1978 FIFA World Cup by defeating
Wales at
Anfield, although Scotland were controversially given a
penalty kick. MacLeod was confident about the team's prospects, quipping that his plan for after the World Cup was to "retain it". A defeat by Peru and a draw with Iran left Scotland needing to defeat the
Netherlands by three clear goals to qualify.
1978–1986: Stein and Ferguson managed Scotland at the
1986 FIFA World Cup Jock Stein, who was working as manager of
Leeds United, was recruited by the SFA to manage the Scotland team for a second time. Two defeats to
Belgium meant that Scotland failed to qualify for the
1980 European Championship. This was followed by losses to
Northern Ireland and
England in the
1980 British Home Championship, which led to some criticism in the media. As a consequence, Stein was facing significant pressure to ensure qualification for the tournament in Mexico. Scotland defeated
Spain 3–1, but then lost 1–0 at home to Wales. This left Scotland needing to secure at least a point from their final group match,
against Wales in Cardiff, to qualify for a
play-off against
Australia. Stein had been taking
diuretics, to reduce pressure on his heart, since the home defeat by Wales. Despite his enthusiasm for the job, these strains had let to Stein indicating that he would step down after the World Cup Finals in Mexico. Scotland drew 1–1 thanks to a late penalty kick by
Davie Cooper, but Stein suffered a fatal heart attack. until the 1986 World Cup, from which Scotland were eliminated in the group stage.
1986–2001: Roxburgh and Brown After the 1986 World Cup, the SFA appointed their Director of Coaching,
Andy Roxburgh, as the national team manager. Scotland failed to qualify for
UEFA Euro 1988, but Roxburgh then guided Scotland to qualification for the
1990 FIFA World Cup. Scotland defeated
Argentina in a pre-tournament friendly, but were eliminated in the group stage with one win (against
Sweden) and two losses. The team then qualified for
UEFA Euro 1992, the first time Scotland had qualified for a European championship finals. Roxburgh resigned in September 1993 after failing to qualify for the
1994 FIFA World Cup. Roxburgh was succeeded by
Craig Brown, who had been his assistant. Despite limited resources, Brown managed to lead Scotland to qualification for two major tournaments,
UEFA Euro 1996 and the
1998 FIFA World Cup. During
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification, Brown continued to rely on a group of ageing players, including
Colin Hendry and
Tom Boyd. Brown resigned immediately after the last qualification match.
2001–2020: Qualification drought was the first foreign manager of the team, appointed in 2002 was Scotland manager for just over two years , Scotland manager from 2013 to 2017, pictured in 2007 Former
Germany manager
Berti Vogts was appointed Scotland manager in January 2002. A number of players retired from international football after Craig Brown resigned, which meant that Vogts had to build a new squad. Debate about why Vogts had failed centred on whether Scotland had sufficient playing talent to compete, or if poor results had been due to his own failings. By the time
Walter Smith had been appointed manager, Scotland had dropped to a record low position in the
FIFA World Rankings. Smith was credited with creating a "club atmosphere" within the national squad.
Alex McLeish was hired to replace Smith. Scotland continued to pursue qualification for Euro 2008 under McLeish, but were eliminated after losing against
Italy in the final match. McLeish left the Scotland job soon afterwards, to manage
Birmingham City. Despite failing to qualify for a tournament, the improved results under both Smith and McLeish lifted Scotland to 13th place in the world rankings. Burley suffered from disruptions to the squad. During a goalless home draw against
Norway, Burley substituted in
Chris Iwelumo, who missed an open goal from 3 yards. Burley dropped
Barry Ferguson and
Allan McGregor from the team for a qualifying match against
Iceland after it was reported they had been drinking through the night at the team hotel. The two players made gestures at photographers while sitting on the substitutes' bench during the match against Iceland and were then banned by the SFA.
Dundee United manager
Craig Levein was appointed in December 2009. Levein was heavily criticised by the media for his decision to play without any strikers in a
Euro 2012 qualifier against the
Czech Republic, which Scotland lost 1–0. Levein continued to defend this tactical approach, even after he had left the position. Scotland failed to qualify for
Euro 2012, but Levein argued that the team was improving.
Gordon Strachan was appointed to replace Levein. In
UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying, Scotland appeared to have a better chance of qualification as the finals tournament was expanded from 16 teams to 24, but were drawn in a tough group with
Germany,
Poland and
Republic of Ireland. After a win against Gibraltar in the last qualifier, Strachan agreed a new contract with the SFA. Improved results in the later part of
2018 FIFA World Cup qualification gave Scotland a chance of play-off place, but a 2–2 draw at
Slovenia ended those hopes. On 12 October 2017, Strachan left his position by mutual consent. After a failed attempt to recruit
Northern Ireland manager
Michael O'Neill,
Alex McLeish was appointed in February 2018 for a second stint as Scotland manager. Scotland won their
2018–19 UEFA Nations League group under McLeish, which secured a place in the
UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying play-offs. McLeish left in April 2019 after a bad start to
UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying, which included a 3–0 loss against 117th-ranked
Kazakhstan.
2020–present: Three tournament qualifications Kilmarnock manager
Steve Clarke was appointed Scotland manager in May 2019.
Penalty shootout victories in the
playoffs against
Israel and
Serbia put Scotland into
UEFA Euro 2020, their first major finals since 1998. In the tournament Scotland drew with
England at Wembley, but defeats at Hampden to
Czech Republic and
Croatia meant that Scotland finished bottom of
Group D. Six consecutive wins later that year meant that Scotland finished second in
Group F of
2022 FIFA World Cup qualification. Later that year, Scotland won promotion to
League A by winning their League B group in the
2022–23 competition. Five consecutive wins at the start of
Euro 2024 qualifying secured a place in the
Euro 2024 finals with two matches to spare. Defeats by
Germany and
Hungary, either side of a draw with
Switzerland, meant that the team failed to progress through the group stage of Euro 2024. They were then relegated back to
League B in the
2024–25 competition, after losing a playoff against
Greece. During
2026 FIFA World Cup qualification, Clarke became the Scotland manager with the most games taken charge of. They beat
Denmark 4–2 at home in the last match of the section to qualify for their ninth World Cup finals, and their first since 1998. ==Statistical summary==