Where does Pedro Martínez Losa leave Scotland?

Following his departure, Martínez Losa insisted that he remained “immensely proud” of a three-and-a-half-year tenure during which he believed young talent had flourished.

A couple of days before his departure, Real Madrid midfielder Caroline Weir, who had been captain during Rachel Corsie’s absence due to injury, also insisted that Martínez Losa maintain the “respect” of her team despite a late setback. that he had “hit a lot of players very hard.” “.

However, behind the scenes, there had been doubts within the team for some time, perhaps since his appointment, and lingering concerns about his team’s style of play.

The decision by midfielder Kim Little, arguably Scotland’s greatest female footballer, to end her 140-cap international career at the age of 31 to concentrate on playing for Arsenal was a blow to Martínez Losa’s tenure.

There were still expectations that a team built around Weir, Chelsea midfielder Erin Cuthbert and a growing number of players exported to England and other top leagues would continue to improve.

However, during Martínez Losa’s time in charge, they only managed one competitive victory over a top 30 team – Austria in the 2023 World Cup semi-final play-off before a surprise home defeat to the Republic of Ireland ended another attempt to reach a position. important tournament.

Ironically, Austria will be his successor’s first opponent, followed by the Netherlands and Germany, when the Nations League begins in February.

The last straw came after the last defeat against a Finnish team three places lower in the table, although the relative positions were skewed by the Scots’ recent games against lesser rivals, while Marko Saloranta’s team was relegated of the toughest League A.

Former Scotland midfielder Leanne Crichton believes questions would always be asked given the Spaniard had been tasked with ending that major tournament drought.

“For Pedro, it was a mix of things,” he told BBC Scotland. “If you look at some of the achievements and the identity of the team, it started to change and at some points it seemed really positive, but for any national team coach, it’s about getting to important tournaments and when you don’t do that, at the same time The end seems like a failure.

“In the football world we live in now, there is always the expectation that coaches will lose their jobs if they don’t fulfill the role expected of them.”

Crichton suggests that the SFA will “look for someone with the highest level of experience possible”, which will likely require the candidate to have a UEFA professional licence, thus ruling out a number of potential candidates.

“It leaves us in an awkward position going into the new year and leaves us with the powers that be to have to find the right person pretty quickly, and I hope the wheels are already in motion,” he said.

“It has to be a person who has experience, although not necessarily at international level, a person who is a proven winner. Getting all the club teams together, I think that will be a huge part and probably something that was an oversight of The Reign of Peter.”