Neil Lennon called it wrong last week.

It was nothing to do with his team selection or the little glimpse of his former self as he took a pop at the Celtic players in the wake of a lethargic game at Easter Road, but rather his take on who should succeed Alex McLeish.

The next man to take over the Scotland job does not need to be a Scot. Indeed, it might be an easier job without the Scottish baggage.

Nine days on from the sacking of McLeish and the SFA’s door has been busy.

But there is a sense that Berti Vogts’ ill-fated reign as the first non-Scottish manager of the national team seems to have put people off ‘foreigners’ forever.

But since Vogts there has been Walter Smith, McLeish the first time, George Burley, Craig Levein, Gordon Strachan and McLeish again. The end results have essentially been the same.

Little steps forward, big falls backwards.

And most important at the minute has to be a willingness for an open mind. Where are the vibrant coaches who might shake things up a bit? Who might want to do things differently – and get different results?

Some of Strachan’s views have seen him cut from various payrolls recently but there was something interesting when he remarked only a few weeks ago that Scotland are kidding themselves on if they think there are is a rich vein of talent ready to emerge, bubbling away in the underbelly of the game.

Getting Scotland back in the mix to qualify for a major tournament is a monumental task. Aside from the psychological impact that the recurrent failures of the last two decades have left, the actual resources mean that it is imperative to have an experienced and organized coach on board able to get the best out of them.

The SFA have never looked so weak as they have these past few weeks. Hanging McLeish out to dry as they waited 29 days from the Kazakhstan debacle to the announcement of his departure which had long been leaked was symptomatic of the shambolic management at the very top. If there has been a catalogue of failures on the park, there have been similarly poor judgements higher up the chain of an archaic organization that badly needs modernised and restructured.

This is a decision that they cannot and should not rush into. The longer it goes in the football wilderness, the harder it is to claw back a sense of respectability in elite company.

But with reports crediting the likes of Slaven Bilic and Sven Goran Eriksson with the Scotland job, then there has to be a willingness to be amenable to an appointment that could shake off the apathy that currently surrounds the national team.

Finances will dictate and it may well be that the former England manager and the former Croatia manager have not quite realized the way that budgets work when you haven’t qualified for a major tournament for two decades.

But if a combination of that and a desire to retain a Scottish manager prevails among those who are charged with making a decision then please let it be Steve Clarke who gets the nod.

Already heavily linked with Fulham for next season, the SFA will not have time to prevaricate – and nor should they allow personal grievances to get in the way of what is best for the country. It is not just Clarke’s organisational sense and the manner in which he has consistently made Kilmarnock greater than the sum of their parts that make him such an appealing and popular choice but also the fact that he would offer significant asides in the way of a bit of entertainment.

A sense of humour drier than Ghandi’s flipflop and an acerbic tongue, Clarke has not been back for long in his native land – but long enough to have enjoyed a fair few skirmishes with the SFA.

At the very least they should know how to spell his name by now.

Clarke remarks last week that referee Steven McLean put in “the worst refereeing performance I’ve seen in my career” after the whistler sent off three Kilmarnock players has put him on another collision course with the governing body.

It is not the first and, with a month still to go, there is every chance that it won’t be the last clash between them.

It might make for some interesting water cooler moments inside Hampden if Clarke was to get the job but surely such personal asides have to be overlooked when it comes to the bigger picture?

AND ANOTHER THING

“No snapychat, no instagramy…” was the mother’s cry in the most recent of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies and there might be a feeling surrounding football’s traditionalists that they sound just as out of touch when it comes to modern player methods of communication.

Still, though, there is a sound and sensible idea in requesting that footballers might wish to pause for thought as they document their daily diaries through their phones. It cannot, surely, be too difficult to judge the mood of a support when you have been roundly booed off the park after a sequence of results that creates an ignominious stat of the worst run the club has ever been involved in.

Dundee defender Martin Woods, however, seemed oblivious to the precariousness of the Dens Park side’s plight this week as he jumped out of bed to update his Instagram on a glorious sunny Easter Sunday.

A day earlier Dundee’s relegation became increasingly inevitable following their limp defeat to St Johnstone – their eighth successive loss. And there was Woods, entirely ignorant of the climate around the club as he posted a little video of him driving and singing along with gusto and without a care in the world.

Recent evidence has suggested nothing that would offer a lifeline being served up by Dundee as they freefall into the Championship.

Perhaps it is the thought of a potential Championhip derby with their Tayside neighbours next season that has prompted the good humour but, really? Timing is everything.