WHEN he isn't out on the field defending, Stephen McManus spends his time sticking up for Scottish football in the Middlesbrough dressing room.

But secretly the 30-year-old winces when he looks at the general state of the game north of the border.

The former Celtic captain, who is keen to leave Teesside after featuring infrequently under Tony Mowbray, was at Toryglen yesterday working towards his Elite Youth A Licence and thoughts of the troubled Scottish game are not far from his mind. In particular, he feels the loss of Rangers from the top flight has deprived our game of its focal point.

"In England you hear a lot about Scottish football and it gets battered constantly by everyone who has an opinion," said McManus. "At the moment, whenever it does flash up on Sky Sports News, it's always something negative. I am passionate about Scotland, passionate about my country, and passionate about the football because it has given me the opportunity and the grounding to go wherever I have gone in my career. Without Scottish football, I would have nothing.

"You defend it all the time because you are passionate about it, but it is hard to defend it now," he added. "There have been a few dressing room arguments about it . . . but when you see the state of Scottish football, it hurts.

" I was up doing the Celtic-Dundee game and the reality hit home. Rangers have never been in the bottom tier before. And no matter what anyone says, for me, that has been the hardest point in Scottish football. You need your big two fighting it out, having Old Firm games on the television and the two of them competing in Europe. Celtic did incredibly well in the Champions League this season but you have not got Rangers and it is hard. But there are people in the game who are trying to move it forward and take it on."

McManus, who is out of contract this summer, has featured in seven of the last nine games since returning from a loan spell at Bristol City, but knows he needs to move again to get regular first-team football again.

"There's a wee bit of anxiety about not knowing where I'll be playing next season because I've never experienced this before," he said. "But I want to play every week somewhere. I want the feeling of actually meaning something to a team and a manager again."

Finding a venue which is condusive to an Indian summer in his career will be his priority, but who knows, with his previous connection with Gordon Strachan and the ongoing travails of Scotland's central defensive unit, it isn't outlandish to picture him being involved should the Scotland camp be hit by mass call-offs for the late season meeting with Croatia in June.

"I have spoken to Gordon," McManus added. "He will be the same with me as with anyone else. If you are still performing well at your club and you can handle playing at international level, then no doubt you will get that opportunity to play again."

To find out more about the SFA's coach education pathway, visit www.scottishfa.co.uk