The Scottish Football Association has confirmed George Burley's sacking as Scotland manager.

The SFA acted quickly after Scotland fans turned on Burley during Saturday's 3-0 friendly defeat by Wales.

Chief executive Gordon Smith canvassed his 10 colleagues on the SFA board and they came to a unanimous decision to terminate his contract.

The SFA had given Burley a vote of confidence despite his failure to make the World Cup play-offs.

But subsequent defeats by Japan, and Wales in particular, made Burley's position untenable.

Smith said: "The decision was taken after a meeting with the board of directors and, subsequently, the national coach. The board was in unanimous agreement.

"It should be stressed that the decision was not a direct consequence of Saturday's unacceptable 3-0 defeat to Wales but, rather, a realisation that the expectations of the supporters, the Scottish FA and George himself, were not being met.

"I should point out that the Scottish FA stands by its decision to give the national coach our full support despite failure to qualify for the World Cup play-offs.

"It would have been negligent not to have given George every opportunity to rebuild and revitalise the squad in light of the improved performances in the last two qualifiers against Macedonia and Holland.

"Unfortunately, the adverse results in the two subsequent friendly matches against Japan and Wales provided confirmation that the improvement could not be sustained.

"On a personal note, I would like to thank George for his contribution and, on behalf of the Scottish FA, I wish him all the best for the future."

Burley dodged questions on his future following the defeat in Cardiff before admitting the decision lay out of his hands.

He said in the SFA statement: "I would like to take the opportunity to express my thanks to my backroom team, the Scottish FA, the players and the Tartan Army for the support they have shown throughout my tenure as national coach and I wish the national team success for the future."

SFA president George Peat added: "I would like to echo the sentiments of the chief executive and stress that today's decision has not been taken lightly.

"The board will now enter into a period of private discussion to ensure the Scottish FA finds the best candidate ahead of the qualification campaign for Euro 2012."

Burley was handed the "full backing" of the SFA shortly after Scotland's World Cup qualifying hopes ended in September with a spirited 1-0 defeat by Holland, which followed a 2-0 victory over Macedonia.

A review of the campaign by the four SFA office bearers, in the company of Burley, concluded it was "clear" Scotland were "moving in the right direction".

Burley escaped widespread criticism following last month's 2-0 friendly defeat in Japan after nine of his original squad withdrew injured.

But a significant proportion of the 4,000-strong travelling support turned their ire towards the manager, as well as the SFA regime, after Scotland conceded three first-half goals against a youthful and injury-hit Welsh squad.

That fateful afternoon in Cardiff left Burley with a record of eight defeats and only three victories in his 14 matches in charge.

Two of those wins came against Iceland in a qualifying group that saw Scotland finish third behind Holland and Norway, who failed to make the play-offs because their record was the worst of the nine European runners-up.

Scotland only scored six goals in the campaign and have failed to find the net in nine of Burley's 14 matches.

Burley has also presided over crises including Kris Boyd's decision to make himself unavailable during his regime and international bans for skipper Barry Ferguson and Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor.

Burley took over from Alex McLeish in January 2008 after beating Mark McGhee, Graeme Souness and the late Tommy Burns at the interview stage.

Souness had already ruled himself out before Burley's departure was confirmed while McGhee, who was unwilling to leave Motherwell before the end of the season the last time, is less than six months into his reign as Aberdeen manager.

Dundee United manager Craig Levein has emerged as the early favourite, although he has had a strained relationship with the SFA hierarchy.

Former Scotland manager Walter Smith, whose Rangers contract expires in January, has also been touted alongside the likes of Kilmarnock boss Jim Jefferies and former Scotland skipper Gary McAllister.

But Smith has signalled he will take time to choose Burley's successor.

"We now have four months until our next scheduled match, against Czech Republic, and will therefore utilise the intervening period to ensure we attract the best possible replacement to take Scotland forward," Smith said.

Press Association Sport understands that a compensation fee has yet to be agreed but lawyers are hopeful of a quick resolution.

Burley's assistants, Terry Butcher and Paul Hegarty, have also left their positions.

Meanwhile, Smith is expected to meet the media on Wednesday.

George Burley Factfile

1956: Born June 3, in Cumnock, Ayrshire.

1972: Joins Ipswich as an apprentice.

1973: Makes senior debut against Manchester United at Old Trafford, and given the job of marking George Best.

1978: Member of the Ipswich side that upset the odds to defeat Arsenal 1-0 in FA Cup final.

1981: Injury forces him out of Ipswich's UEFA Cup final triumph over AZ Alkmaar. But Town miss out on First Division title on last day, finishing runners-up to Aston Villa and beaten by Manchester City in FA Cup semi-final.

1985: Joins Sunderland after making 500 appearances for Ipswich.

1988: Joins Gillingham.

1989: Joins Motherwell.

1990: Appointed player-manager of Ayr United.

1993: Moves to Falkirk as a player before returning to Motherwell as player-coach.

1994: June - Crosses border again to become player-manager of Colchester and makes promising start at Layer Road.

December - Returns to Ipswich four days after resigning at Colchester.

1999-2000: Ipswich miss out on automatic promotion on last day of season.

Defeat Bolton 5-3 on aggregate to finally make it to Wembley play-off final where they beat Barnsley 4-2.

2000-01: Finish fifth in Premier League to earn a place in the UEFA Cup - only missing out on a Champions League spot on the final day of the season. Named manager of the year by the League Managers' Association.

2001-02: Despite wins over Torpedo Moscow and Helsingborg, UEFA Cup adventure ends with a 4-1 defeat in the San Siro at the hands of Inter Milan.

Ipswich make a terrible start to the league campaign and relegation is confirmed on the final day of the season with a 5-0 loss at Liverpool.

2002: Ipswich win a place in the UEFA Cup through the Fair Play League but, after winning their first two Division One games, Town's league form slumps, with a 3-0 defeat at Grimsby a low point.

October 11 - With Ipswich 19th in the table, Burley is sacked.

October 30 - Turns down Stoke job and Tony Pulis is appointed instead.

2003: March 31 - Appointed as interim manager of Derby.

May 6 - Signs a two-year contract with the Rams.

2004: May - Derby escape relegation from Division One by a point.

2005: June 7 - Resigns as manager of Derby.

June 30 - Appointed head coach at Scottish Premier League club Hearts, who start the season with eight consecutive league wins.

October 21 - Lithuanian businessman Vladimir Romanov takes his shareholding in the club to 55%. Burley says: "It's great news. One of the reasons I came to Hearts was after going to Lithuania to speak to Mr Romanov."

October 22 - With Hearts three points clear of Celtic at the top of the table, Burley parts company with the club following a disagreement with Romanov.

December 22 - Southampton announce Burley will be their new head coach.

2007: May 15 - Leads Southampton to the Championship play-offs after finishing sixth. Saints go out on penalties to eventual play-off winners Derby.

2008: January 23 - The Scottish Football Association offer Burley the job of Scotland manager. Southampton agree to release Burley after settling on compensation with the SFA.

January 24 - Burley is unveiled as Scotland manager, stating: "My dream is to qualify for the World Cup."

March 26 - Encouraging start to Scotland reign sees Burley mastermind a 1-1 friendly draw with European Championship finalists Croatia at Hampden.

September 6 - Scotland suffer the worst possible start to their World Cup qualifying campaign, going down 1-0 in the heat of Macedonia.

September 9 - Burley records his first win in charge at the fifth attempt, Scotland getting their World Cup qualification bid back on track with a 2-1 victory in Iceland.

October 12 - Kris Boyd announces he will not play for Scotland again while Burley is in charge, having completed only 28 minutes of action under him. Burley calls a press conference 24 hours later in which he questions Boyd's commitment.

2009: April 1 - Drops captain Barry Ferguson and goalkeeper Allan McGregor for the World Cup qualifier with Iceland for a "breach of discipline" after both are involved in a drinking session at the team hotel following the 3-0 defeat in Holland. Scotland beat Iceland 2-1.

April 3 - Ferguson and McGregor are banned from ever representing Scotland again after being photographed appearing to flick V-signs while sat on the bench during the win over Iceland.

August 12 - Scotland are thrashed 4-0 in Norway to leave their World Cup qualifying hopes hanging by a thread.

September 9 - Scotland miss out on the play-offs after a 1-0 defeat by Holland at Hampden consigns them to third place in Group Nine.

September 15 - The SFA confirm Burley will remain as Scotland manager.

October 10 - After a host of withdrawals, Scotland slump to a 2-0 defeat in a friendly against Japan.

November 14 - Scotland fans turn on Burley and demand his dismissal after witnessing a 3-0 defeat in Wales.

November 16 - The SFA confirm they have parted company with Burley and the search begins for a new manager.