Gordon Strachan has told up and coming Scottish managers to get ready for periods of time when they will doubt their own ability to succeed . The Scotland national team boss was speaking at a press conference at the Scots ' Mar Hall Hotel training base on the outskirts of Glasgow ahead of the forthcoming double-header against Northern Ireland and Gibraltar at Hampden Park . Watching Strachan 's earlier training session were managers such as Dundee boss Paul Hartley , Alan Archibald of Partick Thistle , Hearts ' Robbie Neilson and Norwich City boss Alex Neil , who are part of a group undertaking their UEFA Pro Licence . Scotland manager Gordon Strachan oversees a training session at Mar Hall near Glasgow . The former Scotland midfielder gave some advice to up and coming Scottish managers . Celtic captain Scott Brown ( centre ) leads the group in some light training during the session . Andrew Reynolds ( left ) and Stevie May ( right ) limber up with some stretching excercises . Premier League stars Steven Naismith ( left ) and Darren Fletcher are included in the Scotland squad . Scotland face Northern Ireland in a friendly before a Euro 2016 qualifier with Gibraltar . Fletcher , Russell Martin , Naismith and Brown appeared in good spirits during the training session . Asked if he had any advice for the next generation of managers , the former Celtic , Southampton and Coventry boss did not sugar coat his reply . 'Get ready for a lot of long nights where you think you are useless , ' he said . ' I 'm serious . And you have to deal with that . There are a lot of players who I worked with who are now managers who phone me up . 'Now I know what Howard Wilkinson ( his former boss at Leeds ) felt like . I used to phone him a lot when I was in trouble . 'As a matter of fact , every time he picked up the phone he used to say 'what 's up now ? ' 'So we are always there to give advice and we are the only people who can give advice to managers because nobody else knows what it feels like . Strachan admits calling up Howard Wilkinson for regular advice when he was starting out as a manager . Hearts boss Robbie Neilson ( left ) and Dundee manager Paul Hartley watch the training session . Strachan has been impressed by Bournemouth forward Matt Ritchie ( left ) Scotland keepers David Marshall ( left ) and Craig Gordon ( centre ) have a laugh at someone 's expense . Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald ( left ) was another young Scottish coach in attendance . 'It is great to see Neil and Neilson doing terrifically well , showing that we have top coaches . 'But I do n't know ( if it is a particularly good bunch ) . Only time can tell . 'You can only be called a good manager or a great manager , like Sir Alex Ferguson and those people , if you can hang in there for a long , long time . 'But it is a good way to learn . The best way to learn is being a manager and making mistakes . ' Strachan took as much from the training session as the interested observers . The former Scotland midfielder is preparing for the match against the Irish , before the Euro qualifier against Group D 's bottom side and he was pleased with the work rate of his squad who , after the warm-up match , look to build on seven points from four qualifiers which has taken them into third place . Blackburn striker Jodan Rhodes ( right ) has been challenged to cement a place in the side . Scotland players take part in a sprint session as coaches watch from the sidelines . Scotland 's James Forrest is put through his paces ahead of the forthcoming international ties . He said : 'Looking at the intensity of the training , you got to the stage where you think 'calm down a bit ' . 'People are telling me they are all tired , people are telling me they have played 40 games and they are running about non-stop . 'You actually have to stop the training because if you let them go on they would continue on another half hour . ' I was asking players if they wanted to step out but no , they are not having it . 'If we can take what we had this morning into tomorrow , then I will be more than happy . ' I do n't think they have even thought about this as a friendly . There will be an intensity to the game . ' Sunderland striker Steven Fletcher ( left ) looks on as Brown gets a pass away . Bournemouth flier Ritchie chases the ball down after 'blending in well ' with the players . Strachan who , over the two games is hoping to give everyone in his squad some game time , declared himself impressed with Bournemouth forward Matt Ritchie who has been called up for the first time . 'He said : 'His passing , crossing and shooting was good and he blended terrifically well with players . There is lots to like about him . 'Playing with the best footballing side in the Championship , Bournemouth . 'Norwich have been terrific as well , at the beginning of the season it was Derby , now I think it is Bournemouth and he is playing a major part . '
Scotland are preparing to face Northern Ireland in a friendly before a Euro 2016 qualifier against Gibraltar . Gordon Strachan has warned young managers that there will be times when they doubt their own ability . Young managers Paul Hartley , Alan Archibald , Robbie Neilson and Alex Neil watched training as part of their UEFA Pro License .