2020 VISION: YOUNG GUNS WHO’LL BE IN THE RUNNING

IN the wake of yet another spirit-sapping failure, it can be hard to lift heads away from mournful navel gazing and instead look clear-eyed towards the future. Hope can seem pretty thin on the ground when a tenth major tournament in succession will take place without Scotland’s presence. The sorry sequence simply has to end at Euro 2020. Hampden will host four games in those finals, which will be spread across 13 different cities to mark the 60th anniversary of the European Championship. It would be the ultimate insult if the Tartan Army were confined to barracks while Glasgow welcomed fans from across the continent. Scotland will have to come through a new process to avoid that fate. The actual Euro 2020 qualifiers don’t start until March 2019, finishing just six months later. Ten groups from which the top two in each qualify. Before then, however, the inaugural UEFA Nations League gets underway in September 2018. Pitching teams against others of similar ranking, it offers a path into a play-off system taking place in March 2020. Those games will supply the final four Euro 2020 qualifiers. The Scotland squad that tackles this revamped format will surely include changes of its own. Darren Fletcher admitted he was pondering his international future after Sunday’s 2-2 draw in Slovenia confirmed there would be no World Cup play-off. Scott Brown is a year younger but could well decide to return to the Scotland retirement he exited last November. With 11 months to the first Nations League match, there is plentiful time for others to rise and fall in the reckoning. It remains to be seen whether their merits will be considered by Gordon Strachan or a new manager. But is there actually enough Scottish talent to end what will be a 22-year exile from the game’s great stages? Billy Stark would argue there is. And it is a squad that will take shape through evolution rather than revolution. The former Scotland Under-21s manager — who also took caretaker charge of the senior side before Strachan’s appointment in January 2013 — is well acquainted with the issues of promoting younger players into frontline action. ‘I’m optimistic,’ Stark told Sportsmail. ‘We can’t let it become too negative because we failed at the last hurdle this time. ‘There is a natural process at the end of any campaign. Darren Fletcher has been a really big player for Scotland. He is also the type of boy who will appreciate there are younger ones coming through, looking to get their chance. I think that will weigh heavily on him making the decision. ‘We know Scott Brown’s circumstances

and he did seem to get a new lease of life from stepping back before. He might be thinking the same way as Darren. ‘It can then be the prime time to introduce the younger ones. You look at this campaign and see how big a factor the introduction of Stuart Armstrong was. ‘There was a strong public opinion behind John McGinn and Callum McGregor being in for the most recent games, but I can understand where Gordon was coming from. ‘Introducing players pretty new to international football would have been a risk. I know a lot of people will disagree with me on that, but Barry Bannan came in and didn’t let anyone down. ‘Now there is a more natural point for the younger ones. There will be friendly matches where you can get a real feel for how people are handling it. I think John and Callum have both shown good temperaments and will be ready to step up. ‘Midfield will still be strong for the next qualifiers. You think about someone like Tom Cairney. I had him in the same Under-21 team as the likes of James Forrest. He is at a good age and will be hoping to become more established.’ In contrast, central defence remains a cause for concern. No one will be rushing thirtysomethings Charlie Mulgrew and Christophe Berra into retirement while the rival options in their mid-20s are so thin on the ground. The Scotland Under-21 set-up offers flickers of hope. John Souttar is a regular for Hearts. Ross McCrorie of Rangers — tipped as the future of the national side by club manager Pedro Caixinha — and Aberdeen’s Scott McKenna are two more who have been given recent first-team exposure. ‘Look at how McCrorie did when he came into the Rangers team for an Old Firm game,’ enthused Stark. ‘That is a real shortcut to knowing whether or not a player can handle it because that game throws up all sorts of challenges for a young centre-half. He handled it really well and that was encouraging. ‘In the previous era of Scotland having a glut of central defenders, these guys were in their first-teams from an early age and developing. We don’t have that so much now. And that is a big part of why we are struggling at international level. It would obviously be great if these boys could remain involved at their clubs. ‘It’s a very difficult scenario. During his time in charge, Craig Levein hoped Grant Hanley and Danny Wilson would really come through. Unfortunately, they haven’t. ‘We have two excellent left-backs in Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney, when other nations don’t have one. There has also been some bad luck if you think about Callum Paterson’s injury. He is someone with that physicality Gordon has been talking about. Hopefully, he can be ready to go with Scotland again.’ Levein once lifted Wilson, Bannan and David Goodwillie out of Stark’s Under-21 set-up to give them full debuts. Could any of Gemmill’s squad — defeated 3-1 by England last Friday night — actually be ready to make a similar leap within the next year or so? ‘You would never say it’s impossible,’ added Stark. ‘Lewis Morgan showed that he could trouble England’s Under-21s with his pace in the second half in the game last week. ‘Maybe the final ball or whatever wasn’t right, but it was encouraging the way he got the team up the park. ‘Sometimes players pretty much develop out of nowhere. Look at Kieran Tierney and the way he came through at Celtic to show this unbelievable temperament. ‘If you look at Tierney, Robertson, Armstrong, Griffiths, McGinn, McGregor, Cairney and others — there is some real vitality there. It’ll be about managing the group and introducing one or two of the younger ones who can make a difference. I know it is hard for everyone just now, but there is still plenty to build upon.’