[crowie]

SFA have turned down Birminghams request to speak to him.

Course that means little these days but it does mean McLeish will have to "do the dirty" and walk out on Scotland. The SFA and Gordon Smith covering their own backs so that they don't look like the bad guys.

I can see both sides. McLeish wants a crack at the EPL, he doesn't have a competitive game for 10 months and Brum are offering 4x his current salary.

However he would have to walk out on his country, he has a youngish team who will get better over the next 2 years, he is in a decent group with the possibility of getting us to WC 2010 and the EPL and job offers will still be around in 2/3 years time, especially if he carries on like he has started in the Scotland job.

I would hope that he bites the bullet, doesn't want to walk out on Scotland and realise that he can still get back to club management after 2010.

If he does go then the list of candidates to replace him is either scary or non-existant.