Berti the Braveheart

Vogts could be an enlightened appointment

Scotland are poised to appoint German World Cup winner Berti Vogts as their first foreign coach. BBC Sport Online's John May profiles the man known as 'Der Terrier.'

Berti Vogts has several things going for him as he tries to revive Scottish football.

He comes into a climate enlightened and encouraged by what a foreign coach has done for England.

He is a good friend of out-going Scotland coach Craig Brown - and he is partial to a drop of Scotch.

Vogts' appointment is a brave move, not least because he appears destined always to live in the giant shadow cast over German football by 'Der Kaiser', Franz Beckenbauer.

Nicknamed 'Der Terrier', Vogts has faithfully dogged Beckenbauer's footsteps.

Like Beckenbauer, he won a World Cup winner's medal as a player, captained his country and then managed the national team.

Vogts reached the pinnacle as a player in 1974

But unlike Der Kaiser, he failed to win the World Cup as a coach.

And in the unforgiving climate of German football, second best is not good enough.

Hans-Hubert Vogts began a distinguished playing career at hometown club VfR Buttgen before being spotted by Borussia Moenchengadbach.

He graced der Bockelbergstadion for 14 years, winning five Bundesliga titles, a domestic cup, two Uefa Cups, and was twice named German footballer of the year.

Having carved out a reputation as a tenacious defender he won the first of his 98 caps for West Germany in 1967.

Vogts was always the defender detailed to man-mark the opposition's star player.

He did that to perfect effect in the 1974 World Cup final when he snuffed out Johan Cruyff in West Germany's 2-1 win.

One of the few occasions he lost a duel, he found Kevin Keegan more than a match for him as 'Machtig Maus' famously dominated the 1977 European Cup final in Liverpool's 3-1 win over Borussia.

Vogts was an ever-present in all three World Cup finals he played in, his total of 19 appearances in finals has only been bettered by five players.

  Bertie Vogts, 'Der Terrier'

Born: 30 December 1946.

1967: Makes his debut for West Germany.

1974: World Cup winner with West Germany.

1977: B'ssia M'cheng'bach lose 3-1 to Liverpool in European Cup final.

1979: Retires as a player.

1990: Succeeds Franz Beckenbauer as German coach.

1996: Germany win Euro '96.

1998: Quits after Germany beaten in World Cup quarter-finals by Bulgaria

He was appointed captain of the national team in 1977, but with Germany bowing out at the second phase in the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, he retired as a player in 1979.

After serving the long apprenticeship required by German football, it was almost natural that Vogts should continue the Teutonic tradition of former great players stepping up to the national coaching role.

But he was handed something of a poisoned chalice.

Beckenbauer astutely bowed out on the highest possible note of Germany's World Cup win at Italia 1990.

It left Vogts with the hardest of acts to follow, and with a squad that had peaked and was on the downslope of the hump.

Germany were good enough to win Euro 96 under Vogts, but it was something of a consolation prize.

The Big One always eluded him.

Having lost out to Bulgaria in the quarter-finals in 1994, the final straw came in France 98.

Keegan was one of few strikers to get the better of Vogts

Germany limped through the opening phases but were exposed as an ageing team by Croatia who humbled them 3-0 in the quarter-final, Germany's biggest World Cup defeat for 30 years.

Two successive World Cup failures spelled the end for Vogts.

He returned to club management with varying degress of success.

His last club role ended in May 2001 when he was sacked by Beyer Leverkusen, despite guiding them to fourth place in the Bundesliga.

He then took up a one-year contract to coach Kuwait, an agreement that was set to end in January with their interest in the Gulf Cup.