'A great honour' says Vogts

Berti Vogts made his first official appearance as coach of Scotland at a press conference at Hampden Park, Glasgow on Friday.

Early release
The Scottish Football Association (SFA) negotiated his early release from his contract with their Kuwaiti counterparts this week and Vogts will take charge of the Scottish team with effect from 1 March.

'Pleased and relieved'
"I am very pleased and relieved that I can be presented as the new Scotland coach. I would to like to thank in particular the Scottish Federation as well as my Kuwaiti friends," Vogts said.

'Never too old to learn'
He added: "I am looking forward to the great challenge of working with the Scottish national team for the next four years, maybe longer. It is a mission for me that I will hopefully meet with success. Kuwait was for me a completely new challenge and shows one is never too old to learn."

'Momentous day'
SFA chief executive Jack McGinn went on to say: "This is a momentous day for Scottish football, the first time we have had a national coach who is not a Scot - but in that departure we are very happy we have this man."

Impressive playing career
The 55-year-old Vogts has had a long career in football since joining VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach in 1965. He had an impressive playing career, making 483 league appearances in a 14-year-spell with Mönchengladbach and earned 96 caps for West Germany after making his debut against Yugoslavia in 1967.

Club and international honours
He was a UEFA Cup finalist with Mönchengladbach in 1973, a UEFA Cup winner in 1975, 1976 and 1979, a UEFA European Champion Clubs' Cup finalist in 1977 and part of the West German sides that won the 1972 UEFA European Championships and the 1974 FIFA World Cup.

German apprenticeship
As a coach, Vogts earned his spurs with the national side as youth coach and assistant to Franz Beckenbauer before taking over the job of national coach in 1990. He led Germany to triumph at EURO 96™ but resigned two years later when his side were knocked out at the quarter-final stage of the 1998 FIFA World Cup by Croatia.

Back to the Bundesliga
Since then, he has been in charge of 1. Bundesliga side Bayer 04 Leverkusen and coach of the Kuwaiti national side. Scotland agreed a compensation fee with the Kuwaiti footballing authorities before he took over as Scotland coach.

'Full of emotion and passion'
At the press conference Vogts stressed: "Everyone who knows me knows I love the kind of football that is full of emotion and passion as displayed by the Scots. It is truly a great honour to be selected for this job. There have been so many outstanding Scottish managers and I look forward to exchanging views with some of these people."

'Never been defeated by England'
And, to the delight of the audience, Vogts even pointed out: "One thing I can bring into the job is that I have never been defeated by England as a manager," before stating his main aim as "qualification for EURO 2004™. For the Tartan Army this will be my primary target."