Where does Pedro Martinez Losa exit leave Scotland?

Following his departure, Martinez Losa insisted he remained “immensely proud” of a three-and-a-half-year tenure during which he reckoned young talent had flourished.

A couple of days before his exit, Real Madrid midfielder Caroline Weir, who had deputised as captain during Rachel Corsie’s injury absence, also insisted Martinez Losa retained the “respect” of his squad despite a latest setback that had “hit a lot players very hard”.

However, behind the scenes, there had been doubts within the squad for some time, perhaps since his very appointment, and lingering concerns about his side’s style of play.

The decision by midfielder Kim Little, probably Scotland’s greatest women footballer, to call time on her 140-cap international career at the age of 31 to concentrate on playing for Arsenal was an early blow to Martinez Losa’s tenure.

There were still expectations that a side built around Weir, Chelsea midfielder Erin Cuthbert and a growing number of players being exported to England and other top leagues would continue to improve.

During Martinez Losa’s time in charge, though, he only oversaw one competitive win over a top-30 side – Austria in the 2023 World Cup semi-final play-off before a surprise loss at home to Republic of Ireland ended another bid to reach a major tournament.

Ironically, Austria will be his successor’s first opponents, followed by the Netherlands and Germany, as the Nations League begins in February.

The final straw came after the latest defeat by a Finland side three places lower in the rankings, albeit the relative positions were skewed by the Scots’ recent fixtures being against lesser opposition while Marko Saloranta’s side were being relegated from the tougher League A.

Former Scotland midfielder Leanne Crichton thinks questions were always going to be asked given the Spaniard had been tasked with ending that major tournament drought.

“For Pedro, it was a mixed bag,” she told BBC Scotland. “If you look at some of the achievements and identity of the team, it started to change and at points it looked really positive, but for any national team manager, it’s getting to major tournaments and, when you don’t do that, ultimately it looks like a failure.

“In the world that we live in now with football, there’s always an expectation that managers will lose their job if they don’t deliver the remit expected of them.”

Crichton suggests the SFA “will be looking for someone with the highest level of experience they can get”, which is likely to require the candidate to have Uefa pro licence, thus ruling out a number of potential candidates.

“It leaves us in a position of discomfort going into the new year and leaves the powers at be having to find the right person quite quickly – and I hope the wheels are already in motion,” she said.

“It has to be a person who has experience, although not necessarily at international level – a person who is a proven winner. Bringing all the club teams together – I think that’s going to be a massive part and probably something that was an oversight under Pedro’s reign.”