GARY McALLISTER today revealed the reasons he turned down George Burley's invitation to become a coach in the Scotland set-up.

Burley met former national captain McAllister last week for informal talks and invited him to take up the coaching post vacated by Steven Pressley earlier this month.

However, the former Leeds United and Liverpool midfielder has rejected the chance to help out with his country's bid to reach the European Championship finals in 2012.

The 57-times capped player, who was sacked as boss as Leeds last season, is keen to move back into management on a full-time basis and feels any involvement with Scotland would complicate that.

And McAllister's comments suggest that he hopes to be unveiled as the manager of another club down in England.

He said: "I was flattered to be asked by George during what was an informal chat last week.

"But at this stage of my coaching career, I think it is more important to hold out for a full-time job at club level.

"I don't really want to elaborate on that because of the sensitive nature of the situation, but I have a great deal of respect for George Burley and when he asked me to have a chat about it, I was keen to hear what he had to say about the role.

"As a former Scotland captain, I would have been immensely proud and honoured to have worked with the international set-up again and try to get the country into a major championship Finals again.

"I have a couple of irons in the fire down here and the major attraction is that they are full-time posts so I had to bear that in mind. I wish George all the best for the future."

SFA chief executive Gordon Smith dismissed suggestions that McAllister's decision was a snub and revealed that Burley has other potential candidates in mind for the role.

Smith said: "It's no insult to us that Gary has made this decision and I do know George has been speaking to other people about this position."