George Burley's future could be decided next week when the Scottish Football Association plan to hold talks with the under-fire manager.

A question mark hangs over whether Burley will be allowed to continue in the job after Scotland's failure to qualify for the World Cup play-offs last night.

A 1-0 defeat by Holland consigned the Scots to third place in Group Nine and ended any hopes of qualifying for next summer's finals in South Africa.

Burley, however, can rely on the support of Scotland midfielder Paul Hartley, who believes his boss has been “harshly criticised”.

The Bristol City player added: “It's not been fair on him but he has tried to deal with it in the best possible way. It's not easy being the Scotland manager and he has been up against it since day one.”