Charlie Nicholas: Gordon Strachan's time is up

Nicholas: Strachan must go. Picture: John Devlin

The former Celtic, Arsenal, Aberdeen and Scotland striker believes the national side needs new direction after Friday’s 3-0 defeat to England left hopes of reaching the 2018 World Cup in tatters.

Strachan has yet to reveal whether he plans to step down but Nicholas says there is little point in him staying on, claiming his team’s performances over the past two years have not been “good enough”. And compared to Northern Ireland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland – who all qualified for the summer’s Euro 2016 finals in France – he believes Strachan must realise he is not getting the maximum from his players.

Nicholas told Sky Sports News HQ: “Two years ago, we beat the Republic of Ireland and everybody was a bit upbeat. Since then, we’ve won three competitive games – against Gibraltar twice, and against Malta. I don’t think it’s good enough.

“I’m a realist, I think in Scotland we like to laugh and joke about the situation because we’re used to it. When we see the likes of Wales and Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland doing well, we don’t even threaten now, we don’t even get close. For Strachan, we don’t know when the meeting will be, whether he’ll be sacked, whether he’ll walk or whether he does truly believe he can do better.

“I’d expect him to walk. He’s had his four years. He knows the situation, we can pick holes in the players, but are we going to get anyone in that is any better? We don’t know that. We could get a big name in and he could change it, or it might not go well.

“He’s had four years to make it better, it has not worked, he’s been making strange selections and his formations have not looked exciting.

“When he came in we looked a threat going forward, and all of a sudden our defence looks all over the place. We need something new, someone has got to come in eventually and make things better.

“We have to look at the future, and I think Gordon will admit he’s not done too much. We’ve got five months to build up and start planning. It should have been done and dusted this week.”