WHEN I arrived at Motherwell in the summer my son, who spends his time monitoring the virtual world, made me aware that there were many people out there doubting the wisdom of my appointment.

The blogs and internet forums had plenty of dissenters voicing their opinions over the ether. "What's he ever done," they were asking.

When I had a look for myself, their opinions seemed to be based on assumptions and perceptions rather than the facts. That didn't stop some of them making their minds up that I wasn't good enough for Fir Park. Over the months, as my performance as manager began to look acceptable, it seemed that their feelings softened.

When I left the Brighton job, one of the guys in the press office there told me that the majority of people who hit the web to say they were glad I was gone were the ones who had objected to my appointment in the first place. Presumably, they were the same people who had been silent during the years when we won promotion at Cardiff in the play-offs and stayed in the Championship despite having by far the smallest budget in the league.

This has become one of the facts of life for a manager these days. Some people make their minds up without really looking at all the evidence.

The other side of this coin is that I do sometimes see managers being appointed by clubs and wonder if those responsible for hiring them have ever looked beyond the back page of a tabloid newspaper as their source.

Thankfully, the Scotland situation has seen better sense prevail. When any managerial position becomes available, only certain categories of manager can be considered. The likes of Alex Ferguson, David Moyes and Arsene Wenger would never have been shortlisted by the SFA because they would have been unrealistic targets. The names that eventually were mentioned for the job came from the category of people who were gettable and who would probably want the job.

Many of those that were mentioned in dispatches had as legitimate a right to be considered for the job as the four who were eventually interviewed. But in selecting the candidates that they did, I believe that the SFA showed that they completed their due diligence and that all four were qualified to do the job. As one of the four, I for one was content with the process and am grateful for having had the opportunity.

A lot has been made of the fact that I found out live on Sky television that I was not going to be offered the job. That did not bother me. If I had been given the job I would have been quite happy to hear about it on the television. Whatever!

Whoever got the job, the task of qualifying for the World Cup finals in South Africa is a very difficult one: Iceland (90th in the Fifa rankings) Macedonia (58th) Norway (29th) and The Netherlands (9th) represent formidable opposition. Scotland (14) are second favourites.

Any result against The Netherlands would be on a par with Scotland's results against France in the Euro 2008 qualifiers. Norway are Scotland's biggest threat to second place in the group and their play-off hopes while Scotland will be expected to take maximum points against Macedonia and Iceland.

All of this represents a challenge for George Burley and his team. (Funny saying that! A bit like when you say the bride's new surname for the first time after the wedding.) The order of the fixtures is important for George. I think they give him the opportunity to get off to a flying start. I hope he does and that the Tartan Army are right behind him.

George has a brilliant record at clubs where he has had to work really hard both on the training ground and in the transfer market. His teams have played expansive passing attacking football and have always been pleasing on the eye.

Whichever of the candidates had been chosen there would have been those who would have been unhappy about it. That's the nature of the game nowadays. I am sure there are many who thought that Walter Smith and/or Alex McLeish were the wrong choice at the time and I suppose there were others who rejoiced in the appointment of our German friend.

I for one think that George will do an excellent job and I will be at as many of the matches as possible to support him and his team.

Incidentally, I was of course disappointed at not securing the job but so was the father of one of my son's friends. The week after Big Eck left he bet £10,000 at 33/1 that I would get the job. I'm not sure that he is too happy with Gordon Smith.