Derek Johnstone: Despite all the efforts we just weren’t good enough

In the end, it is down to ourselves and we haven’t been good enough to qualify for another finals.

There were games where we played well and got the points but too many where we didn’t get the wins we needed. When we lost in Georgia, I knew then we wouldn’t qualify.

Once again, we have failed. If we had finished in the top three, we would at least have had a chance in the play-offs, but we just weren’t good enough.

That is it. We are not good enough.

The big questions now centre on Gordon Strachan and his future. Will he stay or will he go?

Gordon has had a go at it and it has not worked. He is a perfectionist but he has failed.

That is the bottom line. As a team and a unit, not just the manager, we have failed.

I think Gordon has had his shot and he may well decide that he’s had a go and it hasn’t worked out and it could be up to someone else to try next time.

I think the SFA would want to keep him on. They won’t get rid of him because we didn’t get to France.

He did his best, the players did their best. Ultimately, though, you need the players to qualify for these competitions and we just couldn’t do it. We weren’t good enough.

I think most Scotland fans would be pleased if Gordon did stay on. He has given them something to shout about and some decent results during his tenure.

Since he has come in with Mark McGhee and Stuart McCall, we have improved. There is no doubt about that.

If he stays on, he will get the full backing of the Scotland support. But it is down to himself.

He is a man that likes to win things and he will feel more disappointed than anyone else because he is the manager of a Scotland side that didn’t get there.

He might decide it is time for someone else to have a go, and if he does that I think people will accept it. If he goes himself, everyone will say he has done his best.

We are a decent side, but that is all we are. We are nothing special.

If you don’t have the tools, you can’t work. We have got a group of players that work hard together, as you should when you play for your country, but, if we are honest with ourselves, we lack quality in certain areas. Putting 100 per cent into a game only gets you so far.

I am absolutely gutted that we will not be in France next summer. It was our best chance to qualify for some time but once again, when it came down to the nitty gritty, we didn’t do enough.

We knew we needed a couple of favours from other teams if we were to get third place in Group D but we couldn’t even hold up our side of the bargain and beat Poland. It was a really stupid goal to lose and it maybe sums up our qualifying campaign.

ONCE again, we are back to the drawing board and we will need to regroup and look to go again. Everyone is bitterly disappointed.

In the majority of the games, we did do our best. But it wasn’t good enough and we just lacked that quality to get us over the line.

The games we had to win, we didn’t. In how many campaigns have we said that? That has been us for a long, long time.

We do have hard working lads that gave us what they had but we lack that bit of quality that you need.

We should have finished in the top three in this group and we couldn’t do it.

So while the Republic of Ireland and Poland battle it out on Sunday, we will play a meaningless game away to Gibraltar. It is not the end to the campaign we all hoped for.

Next summer, while England, Northern Ireland and it looks like Wales are playing at the European Championships and their fans are having a great time in France, we will be sitting at home watching it on the TV once again.

It is a huge let down. We are not invited to the big party. We will be sitting thinking ‘that could have been us there’.

Mark Warburton

MARK WARBURTON spoke about what he is hoping to do with the scouting department at Rangers and it is just another part of his long-term building plan at the club.

Mark and David Weir did really well in the summer to overhaul the squad and his signings have been excellent so far.

But we need a proper network of scouts in place, not only across the UK, but Europe as well.

I have said before that Rangers should use the contacts of the former players they have in a lot of different countries. You have the likes of Michael Mols, Jorg Albertz, Claudio Reyna, there are guys around the world who would be able to play a big role for us. The network is there and it is something that Rangers should look to utilise if they could, alongside the guys that Mark is looking to bring on board. We have the manpower, so let’s use it.

It is not all about spending money on players that can come in and make an impact in the first team. We need to be picking up players at 15, 16, 17 that we can nurture and improve.

Mark would have known when he came in that the scouting system needed major work and now it looks like he is putting people and plans in place. Mark and David can’t do it all themselves and go and watch different players at games all across the country, and beyond, when he has a job to do with his squad.

They need help and that is why the scouting system has to be up and running fairly quickly so that we can bring in the players to improve us once again, hopefully for a Premiership campaign next season.

Waghorn is player of the season so far

Martyn Waghorn

MARTYN WAGHORN followed James Tavernier’s lead and picked up a Championship Player of the Month prize this week on the same day that Mark got his second award of the season.

The two of them have been terrific since joining in the summer from Wigan and it is probably between them as to who has been our best player in the first quarter of the campaign.

Last season, it was a tough choice because nobody played that well.

This term, there are several players that have been outstanding week in, week out.

Tavernier has been terrific and for him and Lee Wallace to have scored the goals they have done and played as well as they have has been great to see.

For me, though, it is Waghorn who has been the top performer so far. He is the man scoring the goals and leading the line.

It is a real positive for Rangers that we can debate who has been the best player so far and have so many options. It is a difficult call to make.

There is a choice of three or four. But anyone who has scored the goals Martyn has deserves all the praise he gets and I reckon he just edges it at the moment.