BOSS WON’T LET GUARD DOWN
THE Tartan Army will be saluting Steve Clarke at Hampden tomorrow after leading the nation to the World Cup play-offs.
But punters should be warned not to expect anything in return when Denmark visit.
The Scotland boss joked he broke a habit of a lifetime when he gave the travelling band of supporters a wave in Moldova after some prompting from the stands the other night – and immediately regretted it.
Clarke would rather keep his hands in his pockets until the final whistle.
But he was delighted to recognise the support afterwards as his heroes delivered to seal a spot in the showdown for Qatar next
March. Scotland’s comfortable 2-0 win, thanks to goals from Nathan Patterson and Che Adams, was about as unScottish as it gets as they made it five wins on the spin with little stress to cap a superb campaign.
Clarke has turned his side in to serial winners and it’s no wonder he is being hailed by the supporters.
But the man himself admitted he wasn’t keen to let his guard down.
Clarke is on a crest of a wave, though, and said: “I get nervous when I do that. I did it once as a younger manager somewhere and we conceded just after. “So I always get nervous doing that. I would ask the Tartan Army if they want a wave, can they wait until after the game, because I do get nervous. I actually asked the bench, ‘Do you think I should wave’? They were good, it was fantastic to see. “They are amazing. I spoke to one boy outside the lift and he had jumped on a plane 22 hours earlier in America to come and watch the game. To be honest, he looked as fresh as a coat of pain.
“I’d have been dead after that. So that’s a measure of the guys that want to be here.
“Thankfully we gave them a good night and they can enjoy themselves.
“The fans are on board – just like the rest of the squad.”
A year to the day Scotland saw off Serbia in the Euros play-off shootout they were at it again in Moldova.
But Clarke revealed there was no boozy bash like in Belgrade a year ago – because the Scots are not done yet.
Denmark await tomorrow night and he said: “We are not going to celebrate getting to a play-off. We want to finish the campaign well.”