Stoke City midfielder Charlie Adam says that he is "very disappointed" to see that Scotland manager Alex McLeish has been sacked by the SFA, and suggested that his current teammate Darren Fletcher could have a part to play in the new setup.

The end of McLeish's second spell in charge of Scotland was confirmed on Thursday afternoon, less than a month after a shock 3-0 defeat in Kazakhstan and an underwhelming 2-0 victory over minnows San Marino in the Tartan Army's opening two Euro 2020 qualifiers.

Reacting to the news on Twitter, Adam - who was given his first Scotland cap by McLeish in 2007 - paid tribute to the way his former boss has conducted himself, adding that he would like to see Fletcher involved in a coaching role within the national side's new setup.

Fletcher, who has been capped 80 times by Scotland, is still a member of Stoke's playing squad, although he hasn't started a league game for The Potters since a 1-0 win at Bristol City in late October.

The verdict

There was a sense that McLeish's departure from the Scotland setup was inevitable following such a lacklustre start to their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign, and Scotland must now act fast to prepare themselves for the next round of qualifiers at the end of the club season.

Bringing Fletcher in as a coach for that may not be such a bad idea, given the strong current connection to the playing side of the game, while it would also be a good experience for the 35-year-old as he starts to think about life after a playing career.