Football: King Kenny's new clothes may suit Brown nicely

Phil Gordon says Scotland's boss can benefit from Dalglish's Celtic role

IT WAS impossible to detect but Craig Brown's smile on Thursday may have owed as much to relief as his natural urbane manner. Not that the Scotland coach had much reason to smile as he raked over the coals of a traumatic week yet, just two miles across Glasgow from Brown's seat in the Hampden Park press suite, someone else was taking a load off his mind.

Kenny Dalglish's installation as Celtic's man for the Millennium did not just deflect the attention from the post-mortem of Scotland's 3-2 defeat in Prague the previous evening, it loosened the noose around the neck of Europe's longest-serving national coach.

One by one Brown has seen all his contemporaries given the kiss-off by their countries. The Scot has seen Graham Taylor, Terry Venables and Glenn Hoddle come and go in England alone since he began in October 1993.

The criticism Brown received after his team conceded an injury-time equaliser in the Faroe Islands last Saturday and then blew a two-goal lead against the Czech Republic was small potatoes compared to the opprobrium "Turnip- head" Taylor had to put up with. Yet the clamour for a new head to be put on Scotland's totem pole was growing until the most glamorous, and available, man got hitched elsewhere: King Kenny. Brown once famously said: "If I were a punter, I too would rather have Kenny Dalglish as Scotland manager." Dalglish's decision to return to Celtic means Brown can voice that theory loudly once more, if he wants, because it will not affect his own livelihood.

"I am not walking away from this job," Brown declared as he tried to dodge the flak from the Faroes ignominy. "Unless the SFA decide otherwise, my future is in my own hands. I am contracted to 2001 and I will not be resigning before that."

Brown's teams show that, unlike Kevin Keegan, he is a pragmatist. Caution and organisation have underpinned the 53-year-old coach leading Scotland to Euro 96 and France 98 with the best defensive record of any qualifying team. He knows that, even if he were to quit tomorrow, the expectation to reach Euro 2000 would be just as intense on whoever picked up the pieces.

Yet, to watch his face in the Sparta Stadium last Wednesday night as he stared out from the dugout unable to comprehend Jan Koller's late winner was to see a man emotionally stripped bare. One of Scotland's best performances in years had allowed Brown to dream of being able to boast of victories over the teams who contested the last European Championship final, Germany and the Czechs. Such arguments would have allowed Scotland to focus on obtaining a play-off spot.

The reality is that Scotland are not much worse off in that respect than they were before a ball was kicked in Prague. Four victories from the remaining games will deliver that ambition, but Brown knows there are some who would rather his head be on the platter.

"I have nothing to say to my critics," he declared on Thursday, "but for two late lapses we would have five points more than we do. We are in a better position to reach the play-offs than England."

While Keegan bemoaned the absence of David Beckham, Brown is an old-hand at rummaging for players because of injuries. He has played almost the entire Euro 2000 campaign without John Collins, Craig Burley and Colin Hendry. The plus point for the Scotland coach is that he has been forced to discover he has more-than-able fringe players such as Sunderland's Allan Johnston and Paul Ritchie of Hearts.

"Johnston, with two goals in three starts, has had one of the best starts in international football I can remember," Brown reflected. "He is an integral part of the team now and we've even changed our formation from 3-5-2 to 3-4-3 to accommodate him as a winger."

Johnston and Ritchie, plus the advent of another who flourished with Hearts, Neil McCann, illustrate that Brown would be better putting his faith in younger players from Scotland's over-criticised domestic league than relying on over-hyped performers from the English Premiership, such as Matt Elliott.

Brown voiced his desire that Dalglish would play a part in this process. "I really hope Kenny creates a worthwhile youth structure at Celtic. I get blamed for the shortage of youngsters coming through, but the responsibility for that lies with the top clubs."

The prospect of kingmaker rather than the throne itself may suit King Kenny for the forseeable future.