SFA chief explains why Sebastien Pocognoli was the right man to lead Scotland

Sebastien Pocognoli was chosen as Scotland head coach to provide the “freshness” in personnel and style that could take the national team to new levels.

Scottish Football Association chief executive Ian Maxwell described Pocognoli as “one of Europe’s most sought-after young coaches” as he introduced the 39-year-old to the media.

The Belgian arrives with a track record of leading Union St Gilloise to their first Belgian title in 90 years and Monaco into the Champions League knockout phase, where they nearly knocked out Paris St Germain, in his two years as a head coach.

And he was earmarked as the man to lead Scotland into new territory after Steve Clarke stepped down after qualifying for three major tournaments but missing out on a first foray into the knockout stages.

Maxwell said: “He was aware of the fact that we’ve qualified consistently for tournaments over recent years and that the ambition is to go a step beyond that.

“We were all disappointed not to get out of the group stages in the World Cup and we now have an opportunity to review that.

“There’s a bit of a squad transition that will naturally happen given the age of some of the players, whether that’s ahead of the Euros in ’28 or looking further forward to the World Cup in ’30.

“So there’s a bit of work to be done in terms of the squad, but we just think that freshness, that different voice…Steve was a manager here for seven years which is a long time in football and a change is going to bring a freshness to the squad and a new enthusiasm.

“When he was at Union, his record of playing young players was very high. It was the highest in the league and that’s something that we’ve spoken about.

“There has to be that transition in any national team environment. That evolution is key and is always going to be important and he’s not afraid of doing that.

“It’s something he’s looking forward to, embracing the younger players that are coming through in the country.

“He’s a front-foot style coach, he wants to be aggressive, he wants to press high up the pitch, he wants to get after teams, and we think that’s the freshness that we need at the next stage of the evolution of the team.”

Pocognoli becomes only the second foreigner to take charge of Scotland, following in the footsteps of Berti Vogts, who was brought in almost a quarter of a century ago.

“It’s about the best coach,” Maxwell said. “It’s about the best fit. In an ideal world, he would be Scottish. We said that to Sebastien. Every manager that we spoke to, if they would have been Scottish, that would have been perfect. We’re not there.

“And that’s something that the association need to look at in terms of that coach development and how we improve that, so that in future years we do have those Scottish coaches to choose from.

“But it was about the best fit for us rather than nationality. You look at world football now, there are very few managers that manage in the country of their birth.