We cannot make everyone sit in house forever. . we had to come back but testing has been tough
STEVE CLARKE admits the Covid crisis has made an already tough job even harder but he’s willing to deal with the testing circumstances to keep the show on the road.
The Scotland boss is facing an unprecedented situation after the Czech Republic’s preparations were thrown in to chaos.
Clarke’s men will face a shadow side in Olomouc this evening but the gaffer insisted it is the right decision to get the clash on and it’s up to everyone to make this comeback work.
He is not worried about Scotland’s trip and he said: “I think football had to come back. Industry had to come back.
“We are part of industry, we are part of the world. We cannot make everyone sit in the house forever.
“There comes a time when you have to start lifting restrictions and allow people to get back to normal life. We are just a part of that.
“How has it been? Uncomfortable when it comes to the household testing. I struggled a little bit with them but, listen, you have to do it.
“It’s 30 seconds of an uncomfortable procedure but it is very important everyone follows protocol.
“Around the camp it has been very good. There has been no real contact with anyone outside our group, our squad.
“It’s obviously good here. Our hotel is pretty quiet at the moment, there’s no one on campus, the students are not back yet.
“Walking across the training ground there are not a lot of people around.
“For us it has been fairly straightforward. It might be a bit more intense when we go away, travelling on the flight and the buses and when we have to put the masks on and in and around the hotel.
“I believe we have our own floor and we will take our own chef. We take every precaution to make sure everyone can be safe as possible.”
Clarke is not just viewing the Scotland bubble, he insisted the whole world is upside down right now.
He said: “In general life now has changed for everyone. When you are going out now it has changed for everyone.
“You have to think about when you are going out, you need a face mask when you go into a shop, you don’t want to be meeting someone and shaking their hand, you are always wary of social distancing.
“That has carried on into the football, I don’t think we can sit here and moan about following different procedures because we are in a very strange place for the whole of the human race at the moment.
“There are millions around the world affected by this virus and we just have to adapt. Hopefully over a period of time we will get more used to it.
“Hopefully we will find a solution or a vaccine to the virus that will get us back to what everyone would say was a more normal time and place.”
Clarke has shrugged off the shambles during the build- up and insisted it has been business as usual, at least as close to usual as these days allow.
He said: “For us, it’s all been straightforward.
“We did not get the information about the potential call-off from the tweet or whatever it was the Czech Republic put out until very, very late so we just went to bed on Friday.
“I woke up in the morning and spoke to my bosses who had already spoken to UEFA and we had been told, had been assured, the game would be going ahead.
“So for us it was all just normal preparation.”