Exclusive - Stewart Regan backs Gordon Strachan to lift Scotland off the bottom of World Cup qualifying group

Scottish Football Association chief executive Stewart Regan believes Gordon Strachan is the man to restore pride in Scotland's national team.

A miserable start to their 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign has left the Scots sitting bottom of Group A with just two points from four games and resulted in Craig Levein losing his job.

But Regan is confident Strachan, who was confirmed as Levein's successor on Tuesday, can guide the Tartan Army off the bottom of the table and build the foundations for a successful Euro 2016 qualifying campaign.

“It is a really positive day for Scottish football," said Regan, speaking to Drive Time.

"The board have spent a couple of months reviewing candidates for the job and we looked at a number of different criteria and, against any one of those criteria, Gordon came out on top. He was our number one choice.

"He's competed as a manager in high pressure situations, he has taken Celtic to the last 16 of the Champions League, he’s managed in an FA Cup final situation, he's won the Premier League [as a player] with Leeds United.

"He also has got the ability to motivate. International managers don’t get a huge amount of time to spend with their players so they have to take every opportunity and make it count so Gordon, we feel, is the right man for the job at this time.

“We are in a difficult position. We are bottom of the group, we've only got two points, we're eight points behind the leaders and there is 18 to play for, so it’s an uphill struggle.

"We’ve discussed the role with him and the priority is to move up that league table and try to improve our position in the World Cup qualifying group but, ultimately, he will be planning and preparing to try and get us into a qualification place for France 2016.”