Nicholas happy for Strachan

Former Scotland striker Charlie Nicholas has declared he is "genuinely excited" by the appointment of Gordon Strachan as Scotland manager.

The Soccer Saturday regular believes Strachan can build a team for the future, although he conceded they had no chance to qualify for the 2014 World Cup.

"It's about building a relationship with himself, the players and the fans again," said Nicholas. "This is about getting an initial belief.

"We'll take defeats, we'll take bad performances, but if we can see something that's a bit more progressive, we will go along with it.

"This current World Cup campaign is dead so let's look forward to what we can build, what we can look forward to. I'm genuinely excited about this.

"I'm not saying Gordon Strachan is going to get us to the top level of football because that's going to take a long, long time. But, in general terms, I'm pretty upbeat.

"Gordon will be witty, he will dangerous, he will be unpredictable - and not just with the media, but with the public itself.

"He will have fall outs with the fans at different times but it's something to look forward to. I think it will interesting in terms of hearing what his plans are for this team and how he wants them to play."