Scotland sfa

Former Hearts and Hibs player Andy Watson will join Gordon Strachan’s Scotland coaching staff for the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 qualifiers.

The experienced coach will return to the national set-up for a second time, having served as assistant to the former Scotland national coach, Alex McLeish.  He was also McLeish’s number two at Easter Road where he helped the club to a Scottish Cup final and a 6-2 win over Hearts.

He replaces Stuart McCall, whose appointment as manager at Bradford City precluded his involvement in the forthcoming campaign.

Andy will reunite with his former Aberdeen team-mates, Gordon Strachan and Mark McGhee, for the group opener against Malta in September. As part of his remit, he will also continue to undertake scouting duties for the national team.

Watson expressed his delighted at being invited to help lead the national team on the road to Russia in 2018.

“Firstly, it is an honour and a privilege to have been asked to help my country and, it goes without saying, I had no hesitation in doing so,” he said.

“I actually missed Gordon’s call when he phoned and when I called him back I thought it would be to organise scouting so I was humbled when he asked if I would be willing to help out for the World Cup qualifiers.

“It was a great experience to work with the national team set-up before, under Alex, and we came really close to qualifying then. I am confident that we can go a step closer this time and I am really excited about getting started and helping Gordon and Mark in any way I can.”

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John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.