Ferguson: Heat is on Burley

Scotland captain Barry Ferguson told new boss George Burley that he is under more pressure than the previous two incumbents in the Hampden hot seat.

When Walter Smith left the post last January to take over at Rangers for the second time Scotland topped their Euro 2008 qualification group which included France, Italy and Ukraine. His successor Alex McLeish continued the good work but just failed to qualify after a last-game defeat against Italy at Hampden.

Burley took over from McLeish who left to take over at Birmingham in November and on Sunday he gathered a 27-man squad at Loch Lomond for a get-together with a view to the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers which begin in September. And Ferguson said: "I would say he is under more pressure than Walter and Alex."

Scotland are in group nine along with Holland, Norway, Macedonia and Iceland.

The Rangers skipper accepts that after coming so close in their Euro 2008 qualification campaign, the pressure is on Burley to take Scotland to a major tournament for the first time since 1998.

He added: "They've (Smith and McLeish) brought us on and obviously the expectations are to go that one step further and make the World Cup.

"But I'm confident we can make it.

"If you look at the group, Holland are probably favourites but we fancy our chances against anybody at Hampden."

Ferguson revealed that Burley immediately put him at ease at their luxury hotel base.

He said: "When I came in on Sunday night he pulled me aside for five minutes and we had a chat. He said I would continue to be captain, so I'm glad to carry on. It means a lot for me to captain my country."