Vogts hangs on after U-turn
Scottish football chiefs were today sending mixed messages over the position of Berti Vogts following last night's embarrassing 1-1 draw with Moldova.
David Taylor, chief executive of the Scottish Football Association, returned from Moldova to declare that pressure from fans had hugely undermined the German manager's position.
But in a radio interview this morning, Taylor appeared to reverse his position.
He said: "We're not in the market to be looking for a manager. Change for change's sake is never a great policy. Any change is on the basis that someone new would get more out of the resources at our disposal."
Taylor has always backed the German during his two and a half years in charge of the team. But angry Scottish fans at the game in Chisinau booed off the team and Vogts was the subject of chants that left nothing to the imagination. Their feelings were sure to have been echoed across Scotland as well and Taylor was not pretending otherwise.
After landing at Glasgow airport in the early hours of this morning, Taylor said: "I know lots of club managers that carry on notwithstanding the fans shouting at them every week but obviously it gets more difficult when there are problems like that.
"There comes a time when fans will voice their disapproval. We had tremendous support again with large numbers of fans who were behind the team. Towards the end of the game they were disappointed obviously that the team was not going to win the match. And I can understand their frustrations."
Minutes after the final whistle, Vogts made it clear he did not intend to resign.
It is now a matter of whether sufficient SFA board members are prepared to sanction his sacking and an emergency meeting is expected to be called soon. The board has 11 members and Vogts knew he had lost the support of a number of them before last night.
Taylor said: "I wouldn't want to indulge in speculation. There will certainly be a review of the outcome of last night's match and its consequences in terms of the qualifying campaign."
