Scotland captain Scott Brown has called Gordon Strachan's departure as national team manager a "sad, sad, sad, day".
Scotland paid the price for a poor start to their World Cup qualifying campaign, with a 2-2 draw in Slovenia in the final round of fixtures not enough to secure them a play-off for a place at next year's event in Russia.
Celtic midfielder Brown, 32, was persuaded out of international retirement by Strachan ahead of their campaign last year, but was ruled out of Scotland's vital final two qualifiers through injury.
Brown insisted his international team-mates were behind Strachan, believing his departure may have come too soon.
"Sad sad sad day," Brown wrote on Instagram following Strachan's exit.
"We all had faith in Gordon and believed in making the Euros, 14 points out of 18 in 2017 momentum was on our side."
Fellow Scottish international Leigh Griffiths also paid tribute to Strachan who handed him his full debut Scotland debut in 2013.
"Sad day, seeing the man who gave me my full Scotland debut leave," he said.
"Not a better man for the job in my eyes and I'm sure if he had stayed, he'd have taken us to the Euros in 2020."