Clarke refuses to close door on fringe stars Co

Euro 2020 dream not over yet for Scotland hopefuls Shankland and

Steve Clarke has challenged the Scotland fringe players to force their way into his Euro 2020 plans. The national team coach has left the door open for the likes of Lawrence Shankland, Ryan Gauld, Jason Kerr and Shaun Rooney by insisting that end of season form will be a factor when he settles on his 23-man group for the summer finals. His mind is far from made up.

“I have some definites,” said Clarke.

“But I think I have shown with selection for this squad there is room for other people to come into the squad if they can impress me enough.

“You don’t want to put a number on it because there might be players out there hoping they can impress me enough to be involved and I don’t want to close that door on them.”

Clarke told Shankland what he wanted to see from the

Dundee United striker after he was left out of the recent World Cup qualifying triple-header, while ex-Tannadice star Gauld was name-checked as one of the players pushing hard for inclusion.

St Johnstone Betfred Cup heroes such as Rooney and Jason Kerr will be encouraged by the fact that nobody has nailed down the right wingback or right-sided centre-half role in the Scotland team of late, and their case would be strengthened if they can now help the Perth side put together a Scottish Cup run and get into Europe.

There has been speculation that Uefa may allow tournament squads to be larger than the usual 23 and/or make it possible to call-up Covid-19 replacements.

“I believe it was mentioned on Wednesday,” said Clarke.

“That would obviously make selection a little bit easier for me but if I have to make a tough call then that’s my job and I will make the tough calls.”

Fears were growing a few weeks ago that the two group games scheduled for Hampden would be taken away from Glasgow as a result of tighter coronavirus restrictions in this country.

Clark believes those worries are fading.

“I think the next competitive game will be here at Hampden,” he said.

“It obviously won’t be a full house, but if we can get some members of the Tartan Army in here they will make enough noise.”

The Netherlands are rumoured to be a pre-Euros friendly opponent, but Clarke was giving nothing away on that front.

“There is always talk and speculation and we have been consistent on this one,” he said.

The managers of the Czech Republic, Croatia and England will be kept guessing regarding which position Clarke intends to deploy Scott McTominay in the group games – the centre of his defence, the centre of his midfield or a combination of both.

The latter was the case recently, with the Manchester United man dropping into Clarke’s backline against the Faroe Islands.

“I expected to dominate possession,” he said.

“We had something like 65% and when you get possession normally a lot of it is with the back players.

“You have Kieran (Tierney) on one side who can drive out and combine with Andy (Robertson), get past Andy and Andy can sit in for him.

“So it’s a good combination on that side and Scott gives us good composure on the other side where he can step into midfield and make passes.

“He doesn’t give the ball away too often, so it gives us something else – another way of playing.”

Clarke, whose team are second top of their World Cup section, added: “I think the three games have been good. I see positive signs.

“I know there was a little bit of negativity the other night.

“I tried to squash it because I expected to come here (the Faroes game) and win.

“When you play as well as we did and were attacking as we were, maybe the team can score goals. Maybe the coach is not just a negative, pragmatic coach.

“You need to know when you can open up and have a go at the opposition and we did that.”

Meanwhile, John McGinn wants this summer’s European Championships to mark the start of a run of tournament appearances for Scotland.

The Aston Villa midfielder scored a brace in the 4-0 win over the Faroe Islands.

It was the last competitive game before the delayed 2020 Euros.

It is the first major finals Scotland have qualified for since the 1998 World Cup in France but McGinn is looking to make it a habit.

“We have the quality to get to Qatar in 2022, and get to Euro 2024,” he said.

“On Wednesday night we showed in spells what we could do, we have a lot of top quality players on the pitch.”

The former St Mirren and Hibs player described his achievement as “surreal”, but after another closed-doors game due to coronavirus restrictions McGinn is hoping to see some fans at the Euros.

He said: “We are just keeping everything crossed that things can develop, the vaccine can keep charging on and we can get some supporters in.”

He added: “Common sense will prevail in the end but we are just hoping and keeping everything crossed.”

POSITIVE: Scotland boss Steve Clarke was happy with his team’s performance in the 4-0 win over the Faroe Islands, and fully expects Scotland’s next competitive games, in the delayed 2020 European Championships, to be played at Hampden Park.