STEVE CLARKE
After 22 years with no major tournament, Scotland are two wins from Euro 2020. No one wants it more than this man, aiming to take them there and prove a point in doing so
Three years ago, Steve Clarke was no one’s hot tip to take Scotland to within touching distance of a first major tournament since France 98. The Ayrshireman was already disillusioned after his spells in charge of West Bromwich Albion and Reading ended badly, and when he left his post as Roberto Di Matteo’s No. 2 at Aston Villa in October 2016, he spent a year out of the game and wasn’t sure he had the appetite to return.
“I said to myself, ‘ That’s it, I just can’t be bothered – it’s not worth it’,” Clarke tells FFT inside an executive box perched high above Hampden Park. “Financially I was OK. Then, slowly, you watch five minutes of a match, then 10, and then suddenly you’re watching every game on the telly again.”
Clarke’s fortunes changed in October 2017 when he made a calculated gamble to take over at Kilmarnock. In under two seasons, he transformed them from Scottish Premiership bottom- feeders to 3rd- placed Europa League qualifiers. Such was his impact, Clarke was a shoo- in for the Scotland job following Alex Mcleish’s ill- fated second spell, which ended shortly after a 3- 0 humiliation in Kazakhstan in the first Euro 2020 qualifier.
In the wake of that calamity, the campaign was an uphill battle. Heavy defeats to Russia and Belgium left Scotland well off the pace, despite finishing with a trio of wins in which midfielder John Mcginn scored six goals. The Nations League provided a lifeline, however: all that stands between Clarke and history is a semi- final at home to Israel on March 26, followed – potentially – by a winner- takes- all clash in Norway or Serbia five days later.
In his time chatting to FFT, Clarke is warm, unguarded and quietly confident. “Scotland’s barren spell has lasted too long,” he tells us, smiling. “Maybe we’re ready to come out the other side of it.” If so, sainthood awaits...
You’ve been Scotland boss less than a year – what’s surprised you most about the job?
I gave it a lot of thought before I took it, as I knew the periods of inactivity would weigh heavy on me. Trying to find the rhythm as an international boss is completely different. You think you have about five or six days to prepare for a game, but in reality you haven’t: you’ve got a couple of days when the players are recovering, then, going into the match, you don’t want to work them too much. I’ve gone from thinking we may get them on the pitch seven or eight times to only three or four times, and maybe only one or two really good training sessions. You still have to get your coaching points across, but it has to be very, very concise.
What did you want to change at first?
Consciously, I haven’t changed the system. We’re trying to build up some continuity. No matter who the opposition is, we’ll work on how to counteract their system and how our system can cause them a problem. I’m more comfortable with our way of working – I feel a little bit better about it now. I think we got the last camp pretty much spot on. Hopefully I can repeat that in the March games.
What’s your assessment of Scotland’s Euro 2020 qualifying campaign?
You have to be realistic. Belgium were better than us at Hampden Park [ winning 4- 0], but it doesn’t mean you can’t get a result against them. You can lose, but you shouldn’t lose by so many. We kept trying to go forward and Belgium just picked us off. It’s difficult to tell players to sit and wait when you’re 2- 0 down. You wait, then maybe you lose 2- 1 – not 4- 0.
Does that matter?
Psychologically I think it does, yeah. Our big disappointment from that run of four games against Belgium and Russia is that we lost too many goals. It knocked our confidence. Normally in an international calendar, one of those games in that run would be against a lower- ranked team where you’re expected to win. But we collapsed in the last half- hour in Moscow, and that was unacceptable. We spoke afterwards and decided that would be the low point, and thankfully it has been. We have improved a lot since then. On the back of those four defeats, it was really important that we finished the campaign strongly, and I think we did that. Of course we should beat San Marino here, but it’s not very often that Scotland win by six. That was a good boost, and in the dressing room afterwards I felt there was a positive energy for the first time.
How important was it to avenge a 3- 0 loss to Kazakhstan in March by beating them at Hampden Park in November?
Really important – it was nice to put that one to bed. It doesn’t matter who the manager was: that was a disappointing result for the whole country. I remember switching on the television to watch it – I was late getting in, and after 15 minutes we were already 2- 0 down. I nearly threw the remote control at the TV! I’m watching the game and thinking, ‘ We’re not getting back into this’, so I just turned it off in the end. At the time, I wasn’t thinking that I would become the Scotland manager in the future!
“PEOPLE ASKED ME WHY I’D GO BACK TO SCOTLAND. I THOUGHT, ‘ WHAT HAVE I GOT TO LOSE?’”
Realistically, what should Scotland expect to achieve given how strong international football has become?
We are where we are. We are a third- seed team, third tier, so what we’ve got to do is make sure we remain a third- tier team. That is why it was so important that we won the last three matches of the campaign. Before you start to go up, you have to make sure you’re not going down. It was important to stay third in the group, and it was important to win every game that we should have won. We have to learn how to chip away at these second- tier teams so we eventually become one ourselves. It’s a reasonably young squad – maybe this can be the generation that gets us to a major finals? Hopefully it’s Euro 2020, but if not, this group can continue to build.
Scotland beat Israel 3- 2 at Hampden in November 2018. How do you assess the upcoming semi- final, at the same venue?
They also beat Scotland 2- 1 in Israel fairly comfortably. I watched the game back, and they were better that night. It’s certainly not a gimme. We will need all the backing of the Tartan Army, a full house here, and we’re on course for that. Israel have some really good players, and their front two in particular are a real handful: I like Eran Zahavi and the boy [ Munas] Dabbur. We’ll have to defend better than we have in previous games. Do that and we have more than enough forward- minded players to cause them problems.
What would Scotland qualifying mean?
You’re going back to 1998. I was still playing and had a bit of hair on my head! I could still run – it was a long time ago. A lot of the boys I’m now managing weren’t even born. They know they want to be there, but they don’t quite know why. Once they have finally been there, they will understand the excitement it generates. Remember, in 1978, Ally Macleod did the bus tour around Hampden? 35- 40,000 people turned up to see a bus driving around the track to say cheerio. OK, things went a bit pear- shaped when we got out there, but the feeling was incredible. It would be great for the country and would give the squad that boost – plus, two home matches in a major finals would be advantageous.
We were surprised you won only six caps...
Not half as amazed as I was! When you look at other people who got more caps than me, you think, ‘ Come on…’ The career I had, the level I played at, the consistency I showed
over a number of years certainly deserved more caps. Now I’m a manager, I respect that certain Scotland managers at the time didn’t select me – fine, but it won’t stop me thinking I deserved more. Now I have to find another way to get to a major tournament! I’m not going to get the boots back on – I’ve put on a few pounds since my playing days...
As a coach, you’ve worked alongside Jose Mourinho, Ruud Gullit and Kenny Dalglish, among other legends. What did you learn?
I didn’t try to copy anyone, because if you do that, you fail. I can only be me. But there are snippets from all of them. Jose was good for me. At that time, he was the leading light of coaches. I’d done a bit with the youth team at Chelsea so I had my own ideas, then I was asked to do some work with Jose and he was really intense, meticulous and thorough. For me, it was nice, because a lot of what I had been doing with the kids was similar to how he worked with the first team. He gave me even better organisation and more thorough preparation. You end up with a huge pile of training sessions, and that’s your life’s work – I’ve still got files for every season. Most of them are put away now; I’ve just condensed them down into useful sessions.
What about the others?
Ruud was a fantastic coach, but he couldn’t understand that players couldn’t do what he could. I would tell him, “We’re talking about a kid coming out of Newcastle’s reserves – he can’t see what you see; he can’t do what you do!” “Yes, but…” Kenny was more laid back than Jose, but with similar results. He knew how to get the best out of players, and to get them to work for you, which is so important. It’s even more crucial for modern coaches. If you can’t get the best out of your players, you’re in trouble. In the olden days you could maybe bully or push them a bit, but you don’t have that power now – the players have it all. Most players just want honesty: if you don’t like them, just tell them. Give your reasoning. They don’t like it, but they respect it.
You earned the Scotland job after a spell working wonders at Kilmarnock. Did you have a point to prove there, having been sacked by both West Brom and Reading?
I took West Brom to their highest- ever finish in the Premier League, with their best points total, so I did something right. The first time we lost four in a row, in my second season, I lost my job. I felt that was a bit harsh, but I accepted it and moved on. I felt a little hard done by at Reading, too. We reached an FA Cup semi- final and lost in extra time against Arsenal, and were 9th in the Championship when I lost my job. I was a little disillusioned after that. When Roberto Di Matteo got the Villa job, I bumped into him and said, “I want to coach.” He said, “You’re a manager now,” but I just wanted to get back my enthusiasm for the game, working out on the grass with players. He relented in the end.
You only got four months at Villa, though...
There was a massive turnover of players and Roberto was sacked 11 games in. I came out just as disillusioned. Then the Kilmarnock job came up. They’d called me several times over the years. People down south said, “What are you going back to Scotland for?” I thought, ‘ Well, six months ago I thought I was finished – what have I got to lose? I might do all right.’
You did a bit better than that...
Obviously it went a lot better than I thought. It took six weeks, but then the team clicked and I got a bit more quality in. We finished 5th in the first season, then built on that in the second. Suddenly you’re a name again, being offered the national job and others, here and down south. It worked out pretty well, but Scotland was simply too good an opportunity to turn down. I’m here for the long term, hopefully, and looking to build.
In recognition of Scotland supporters’ loyalty, the SFA is offering tickets for their Euro 2020 play- off semi- final against Israel at Hampden Park from £ 5. For details, visit scottishfa. co. uk