Get through half of this and you should be able to handle another Scotland performance

After Burley gets the boot, Cynical Sid has his say...

And so another inglorious chapter in the recent history of Scottish national football team closes with the sacking of George Burley. If the 'recent history of the Scottish national team' was an actual book, it would be in the bookshop's bargain bin. Actually, it would probably be in a bin round the back of the shop, with some unfortunate homeless person trying to use it as a pillow even though a rabid Alsatian had pissed on it 13 times in the last few hours. And even the rancid urine of a stray dog would not be able to mask the revolting stench that emanated from the pages of that book. The last two years for fans of the Scottish football team have been grim indeed.

A ridiculously young Wales team, most of whom would struggle to finish a Happy Meal, tore Scotland a new arsehole on Saturday, one more indignity on their 'We used to produce half-decent players but are now an embarrassing, shambolic, insipid mess' world tour. It was a result that proved to be the final nail in Burley's already prepared coffin.

When Aaron Ramsey waltzed through the Scottish defence and slotted home the third, poor George did turn the colour of a man who had ceased to exist and would have probably enjoyed the privacy of a casket. At least it might have muffled the cries of 'Burley ya fuckin prick ye, get tae fuck, this team is pure fuckin pish by the way ya fuckin fanny!' that were being directed at him from those good natured souls of the Tartan Army.

Burley is undoubtedly a decent man. His patriotism cannot be disputed and he gave the job everything he could. It was clear from the start, however, he was a man out of his depth at international level. It didn't help that the Scottish media had it in for him from day one and his inarticulate displays at press conferences were often cringeworthy. Radovan Karadzic looks more comfortable at the Hague Tribunal than George ever did in front of the assembled hacks.

Burley was the wrong choice as manager but a debate over his deficiencies is tedious and of no consequence. The SFA directors, a bunch of blundering fools, must finally make the right decision and appoint a manager to take Scotland forward. If not, Scotland can look forward to getting their arse handed to them on a plate by the likes of Estonia and Lithuania on a regular basis. Graham Souness has ruled himself out of the running, saying he wouldn't take the job 'where it was offered to him this week, this year or ever'.

So at least the Scottish nation can console themselves in the knowledge that an arrogant manager who has consistently proved himself to be completely lacking in any sort of managerial skills with various teams throughout the years, despite always having money to spend, won't be taking the helm.

Whoever does take over will have a tough task on his hands, the current players, and I use the term extremely loosely, are without doubt one of the most limited bunch of toss-pots ever to pull on the dark blue. The new manager will have to be like King Midas, but rather turning lead into gold, he will have to turn abject shit into something that closely resembles a basic, functioning national team.

That would represent a step in the right direction. And if he should manage to actually qualify for an international tournament, immortality is guaranteed. Should he fail, he will be able to console himself in the knowledge he will be granted access to the crap ex-Scotland manager social club. At least he won't be short of company.