George Burley has been appointed Scotland manager, replacing Alex McLeish on a four-and-a-half year deal.

The SFA tied up contract negotiations with the 51-year-old on Thursday morning after they agreed a compensation package with his club Southampton.

Burley's appointment was described as "unanimous" despite surprise in some quarters that he was preferred to Motherwell manager Mark McGhee, Graeme Souness and Celtic assistant boss Tommy Burns.

He comes in after McLeish quit to join Birmingham following an impressive - but ultimately unsuccessful - Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.

"I feel taking this job gives me an opportunity to do something, to get to the World Cup finals, and as a manager you can't get any more than that," Burley said, adding that he "never thought" he would get the job.

Scotland have not reached the World Cup since 1998, and have been drawn in a qualifying group with Netherlands, Norway, Iceland and Macedonia.

The 51-year-old has extensive experience in charge of Ipswich, Derby and Hearts, although he has come in for criticism following Southampton's indifferent form this season.

The former right-back, who made over 400 appearances for Ipswich as a player, made a name for himself as a manager during an eight-year stint at the helm of the Suffolk club, during which time he got them promoted into the top flight and secured qualification for the UEFA Cup, for which he won the 2001 Premier League Manager of the Year award.

Burley inherits a Scottish side on a high after beating France at home and away in Euro 2008 qualifying. However, they missed out on a place in the finals, losing 2-1 at home to Italy in their final game, which they needed to win.

McLeish took them to 13th in the FIFA rankings, their highest position since records began, although they have since slipped a place to 14th.

GEORGE BURLEY FACTFILE

1956: Born June 3, in Cumnock, Ayrshire.

1972: Joins Ipswich as an apprentice.

1973: Makes senior debut against Manchester United at Old Trafford, and given the job of marking George Best.

1978: Member of the Ipswich side which upset the odds to defeat Arsenal 1-0 in FA Cup final.

1981: Injury forces him out of Ipswich's UEFA Cup final triumph over AZ Alkmaar and Town miss out on First Division title on last day, finishing runners-up to Aston Villa and beaten by Manchester City in FA Cup semi-final.

1985: Joins Sunderland after making 500 appearances for Ipswich.

1988: Joins Gillingham.

1989: Joins Motherwell.

1990: Appointed player-manager of Ayr United.

1993: Moves to Falkirk as a player before returning to Motherwell as player-coach.

1994: June - Crosses border again to become player-manager of Colchester and makes promising start at Layer Road.

December - Returns to Ipswich four days after resigning at Colchester.

1995-96: Builds anexciting young side which tops the divisional scoring charts but just misses out of the Division One play-offs.

1996-97: Loses play-off semi-final to Sheffield United on away goals.

1997-98: Takes Ipswich into play-offs again only to fall to Charlton in semi-finals.

1998-99: Ipswich make play-offs for third year running but this time bow out toBolton in semi-finals on away goals.

1999-2000: Ipswich miss out on automatic promotion on last day of season.

Defeat Bolton 5-3 on aggregate to finally make it to Wembley play-off final where they beat Barnsley 4-2.

2000-01: Finish fifth in Premiership to earn a place in the UEFA Cup - only missing out on a Champions League spot on the final day of the season. Named manager of the year by the League Managers' Association.

2001-02: Despite wins over Torpedo Moscow and Helsingborg, UEFA Cup adventure ends with a 4-1 defeat in the San Siro at the hands of Inter Milan.

Ipswich make a terrible start to the league campaign and relegation is confirmed on the final day of the season with a 5-0 loss at Liverpool.

2002: Ipswich win a place in the UEFA Cup through the Fair Play League but after winning their first two Division One games Town's league form slumps, with a 3-0 defeat at Grimsby a low point.

October 11 - With Ipswich 19th in the table, Burley is sacked.

October 30 - Turns down Stoke job and Tony Pulis is appointed instead.

2003: March 31 - Appointed as interim manager of Derby.

May 6 - Signs a two-year contract with the Rams.

2004: May - Derby escape relegation from Division One by a point.

2005: Makes some shrewd signings, in particular Inigo Idiakez and Grzegorz Rasiak, and Derby finish fourth in the Championship, but lose semi-final play-off to Preston.

2005: June 7 - Resigns as manager of Derby.

June 30 - Appointed head coach at Scottish Premier League club Hearts, who start the season with eight consecutive league wins.

October 21 - Lithuanian businessman Vladimir Romanov takes his shareholding in the club to 55 per cent. Burley says: "It's great news. One of the reasons I came to Hearts was after going to Lithuania to speak to Mr Romanov."

October 22 - With Hearts three points clear of Celtic at the top of the table, Burley parts company with the club following a disagreement with Romanov.

December 22 - Southampton announce Burley will be their new head coach.

2007: May 15 - Leads Southampton to the Coca-Cola Championship play-offs after finishing sixth. Saints go out on penalties to eventual play-off winners Derby.

August 13 - Saints knocked out of the Carling Cup by League Two Peterborough.

2008: January 19 - Reports suggest Burley features in the final two in the race to succeed Alex McLeish as Scotland manager, having initially been on a four-man shortlist.

January 23 - The Scottish Football Association offer Burley the Scotland job. Southampton agree to release Burley after settling on compensation with the SFA, and contract negotiations begin. Scottish FA president George Peat says: "We think we've got the right man."

Football FA Cup

Hereford United 1 - 2 Cardiff City
Manchester United 3 - 1 Tottenham Hotspur
Sheffield United 2 - 1 Manchester City

Football Scottish Premier League

Falkirk 0 - 1 Celtic

Football La Liga

Racing Santander 2 - 2 Zaragoza
Real Murcia 2 - 3 Levante U.D
Mallorca 1 - 0 Atletico de Madrid
Valencia 0 - 1 U.D Almeria
Deportivo de la Coruña 3 - 1 Valladolid
Espanyol 1 - 2 Real Betis Balompié
Recreativo de Huelva 1 - 3 Getafe C.F
Athletic Club 1 - 1 Barcelona
Real Madrid 3 - 2 Villarreal
Football| Serie A Match
Empoli 0 - 2 Fiorentina
Milan 2 - 0 Genoa
Udinese 0 - 0 Internazionale
Torino 0 - 0 Lazio
Cagliari 2 - 1 Napoli
Catania 0 - 0 Parma
Atalanta 2 - 2 Reggina
Livorno 1 - 3 Juventus

Football Ligue 1

Lorient 1 - 0 Bordeaux
Saint-Etienne 1 - 1 Lyon

Football African Cup of Nations

Senegal 1 - 3 Angola
Tunisia 3 - 1 South Africa

Rugby Guinness Prem

Saracens 26 - 20 Bath Rugby
Leeds Carnegie 24 - 26 London Irish

Football Championship

Leicester City 1 - 0 Crystal Palace

Football Scottish Cup

Airdrie United 0 - 2 Kilmarnock
Brechin City 2 - 1 Hamilton Academical
Gretna 0 - 3 Greenock Morton for scottie lol

Football African Cup of Nations

Ghana 2 - 0 Morocco
Guinea 1 - 1 Namibia

All the on-track action for the Singapore Grand Prix weekend will take place at night, following confirmation by the sport's governing body the FIA.

The Asian nation had already been guaranteed to host the first night race in championship history in a bid to improve TV audiences in Europe, but will now see practice and qualifying take place after dark too.

First practice on the Friday will begin at 4pm local time as opposed to the usual 10am, with the second session at 8pm, in a move that will also give teams the chance to assess track conditions in the dark ahead of the race.

Final practice on the Saturday will start at 5pm with qualifying at 8pm. The race had already been scheduled to begin at 8pm, which translates to midday in the UK.

Other changes announced by the FIA include the moving of the race start times for the Australian and Chinese Grands Prix, with the latter starting at 3:30pm local time and China getting underway at 3pm. Both started at 2pm last year.

You know what I think? These night races will be too dangerous...especially without traction control system

And also the rain races and the city races in general. I hope every driver will come through this season safely

i agree leene but they have the training i m sure all will be ok !

Football Premier League

Newcastle United 1 - 1 Middlesbrough
Fulham 2 - 1 Aston Villa

Football Scottish Cup

Hibernian 0 - 0 Rangers

Football La Liga

Zaragoza 1 - 0 Athletic Club
Levante U.D 1 - 1 Racing Santander
Atletico de Madrid 1 - 1 Real Murcia
Villarreal 1 - 1 Mallorca
Valladolid 0 - 2 Valencia
Recreativo de Huelva 1 - 2 Sevilla
Barcelona 1 - 0 Osasuna
Getafe C.F 0 - 1 Espanyol
Real Betis Balompié 0 - 1 Deportivo de la Coruña

Football Serie A

Parma 2 - 3 Atalanta
Juventus 1 - 1 Cagliari
Genoa 2 - 1 Catania
Internazionale 1 - 0 Empoli
Siena 3 - 0 Roma
Lazio 2 - 1 Sampdoria
Reggina 1 - 3 Torino
Fiorentina 0 - 1 Milan

Football Bundesliga

Schalke 4 - 1 Stuttgart
Bremen 1 - 2 Bochum

Football African Cup of Nations

Ghana 2 - 1 Nigeria

still playing

Ivory Coast 2 - 0 Guinea

We beat the english
we beat the english
we beat you (Skyy + John)
we beat you (Skyy + John)
We beat the english!
Hahaha

Footbal Scottish League Cup

Aberdeen 1 - 4 Dundee United

Football Qualif. Euro 2009 U21

England U21 3 - 0 Ireland U-21

Football International friendlies

Spain 1 - 0 France
England 2 - 1 Switzerland
Italy 3 - 1 Portugal
Northern Ireland 0 - 1 Bulgaria
Rep. Ireland 0 - 1 Brazil
Wales 3 - 0 Norway
Austria 0 - 3 Germany
Croatia 0 - 3 Netherlands
Czech Republic 0 - 2 Poland
Greece 2 - 1 Finland
Slovenia 1 - 2 Denmark
Israel 1 - 0 Romania
Turkey 0 - 0 Sweden
Hungary 1 - 1 Slovakia
Cyprus 1 - 1 Ukraine
Macedonia 1 - 1 Serbia

I don't know if you saw what Germany produced in the 1st half of the match against Austria...I'm not sure how to call it but it certainly had nothing to do with football, least of all professional football. The 2nd 45 minutes were okay, that's where the goals were scored but still a veeeeeryyyy disappointing and unasual weak game from us...oh, Austria played well...for their standards, that is to say.

I guess the highlights were only showing bits of the 2nd half The German press called the 1st half "the worst they ever played in the era of Jogi Löw"

But well, before the Championships 2006 we lost to Italia 1-4 and then look, we ended as the 3rd. So maybe it isn't that bad after all, to take the guys back to the ground and make them realize that they have to play well to reach something :)

But hey, seems like your team has a few problems as well...but in my opinion, Capello was the best that could happen to the national English team. He will build a new team but it certainly needs time. But it paid off for us. Jürgen Klinsmann came in 2004 and did things the responsibles weren't happy with at all (getting A LOT of new, fresh, young players, playing a new offensive style and so on...). But now we're among the world's best again (at least I would say so ) and I truly think England can reach the same. It just, like I said, needs time. And patience.

Football Premier League

Chelsea 0 - 0 Liverpool
Manchester United 1 - 2 Manchester City

Football Scottish Premier League

Aberdeen 1 - 5 Celtic

Football La Liga

Valencia 3 - 1 Real Betis Balompié
Real Madrid 7 - 0 Valladolid
Osasuna 1 - 0 Zaragoza
Athletic Club 1 - 0 Levante U.D
Racing Santander 0 - 2 Atletico de Madrid
Mallorca 0 - 0 U.D Almeria
Espanyol 1 - 2 Recreativo de Huelva
Football| Serie A Match
Catania 0 - 2 Internazionale
Livorno 1 - 1 Genoa
Udinese 1 - 2 Juventus
Empoli 1 - 0 Lazio
Sampdoria 2 - 0 Napoli
Torino 3 - 1 Palermo
Cagliari 1 - 1 Parma
Milan 1 - 0 Siena

Football Bundesliga

Dortmund 2 - 3 Schalke
Bayern 1 - 1 Bremen

Football Ligue 1

Nice 0 - 2 Marseille
Caen 1 - 4 Lens

Football African Cup of Nations

Egypt 1 - 0 Cameroon

Football Premier League

Arsenal 2 - 0 Blackburn Rovers

Football Scottish Cup

Motherwell 1 - 2 Dundee