Former Scotland manager Craig Brown believes George Burley's "first-class" credentials make him the perfect choice to take over as boss of the national team.

Brown had eight years as Scotland boss and led the team to their last major finals, the 1998 World Cup, before standing down in 2001.

He expects Saints manager Burley, who is set to be installed in the Scotland role by the end of the week, to carry on the good work of previous bosses Walter Smith and Alex McLeish.

"I'm happy with George Burley," said Brown.

"Everyone in Scotland is happy with the appointment."

Burley, Celtic coach Tommy Burns, Motherwell manager Mark McGhee and former Rangers boss Graeme Souness were the four shortlisted candidates for the role.

"Any one of the four candidates would have been acceptable but George Burley is first class as far as we're concerned," Brown said.

"I do think he is an excellent man-manager, a first-class coach. He gets the best out of ordinary players.

"There's no transfer market in international football so his job is to select wisely and he does that, I think, very well."

Brown believes 51-year-old Burley will be coming into the job at a time when Scotland's prospects are brighter than they have been for a long time.

They stand 14th in the FIFA world rankings and their opponents in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup will be Holland, Iceland, FYR Macedonia and Norway.

Brown said: "It is a good time, in that 14th in the world rankings is exceptionally good which has given Scotland a favourable placing in the draw as second seeds.

"The opposition is perhaps not quite as stiff as it might otherwise have been.

"And obviously the team is well established. It's a young team.

"It's a good time to take the team because the team is playing well and it's a consistently selected team, so if he doesn't alter it too much he would be wise.

"They'll get good results in the next qualifying campaign."