The hidden benefits of reaching the Euro Finals
The value of Scotland’s qualification for the Euros is easy to measure.
As reward for the success of Steve Clarke’s men on the park, the Scottish Football Association will receive £9 million from UEFA.
That is a huge sum to land at any time. In the middle of the pandemic, it is manna from heaven.
Don’t forget that earlier this month, the governing body had disclosed projected losses of £4.5m.
With no crowds allowed into Hampden for Scotland games, or at the Scottish Cup semifinals and Final, it has been a time of serious financial strain.
To see themselves through in the short term, they borrowed £5m via the government’s Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
To help reduce future outgoings, they also announced redundancies and restructuring.
The position of performance director, Malky Mackay, was whispered to be under threat.
Having embarked on a programme of change, there was an enthusiasm to push on
Last weekend, in the warm afterglow of Scotland clinching a return to a major Finals, and before the reality check of losses to Slovakia and Israel, SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell made an appearance on BBC’S Saturday afternoon sports programme.
On it, he was offered the chance to agree the £9m would allow the Association to effectively turn back the clock.
He didn’t take it, noting that it would be inappropriate to comment, given there was a process in motion.
Instead, he stressed that the money would allow the SFA to meet its responsibility to develop the game in this country.
It was clear, having embarked on a programme of change, there was an enthusiasm to push on.
Five days later Mackay, one of the Association’s high earners, was gone.
Not that the cuts will prevent a couple of important bills being settled.
Under the terms of an incentive deal struck for reaching the Euros, the players will divide some £3m between them.
Likewise, Steve Clarke himself is due a decent bonus for succeeding in a mission that proved beyond Berti Vogts, Walter
Smith, George Burley, Craig Levein and Gordon Strachan, .
Alex Mcleish would be on the list too, but provided the crucial assist to Clarke by leading the country to the Nations League wins that earned the play-off place.
Like Mcleish’s contribution, the value to Scotland’s elite clubs of the qualification is less immediately apparent, but significant nevertheless.
Two of the most-impressive players in the win over Serbia were Stephen O’donnell and Declan Gallagher, both of Motherwell, the club where Mcleish began his managerial career.
In the normal run of things, it would have been no surprise if either, or indeed both, were to be snapped up by English clubs on salaries well in excess of what they are currently on.
Now, with players knowing they will need regular first-team football to stay in contention for the Euros, the sensible option will be to remain at Fir Park.
The national coach has made clear that is a priority.
He admitted the part he played in Craig Gordon’s switch from Celtic to Hearts in the summer, telling the keeper if he wanted to get back involved with Scotland, he needed to be at a club where he would play.
Gordon took the hint. He was rewarded with a recall and a start against Slovakia last Sunday.
O’donnell did likewise after his discussions with Clarke when assessing whether to go to Fir Park under free-agency or to the lower leagues in England.
So Motherwell and Hearts have players in their sides who they might otherwise not have been able to afford.
The January transfer window is coming up, and it is easy to imagine an English Premier League club chancing their arm for Old Firm rivals Ryan Christie and Ryan Jack.
Christie, the man who grabbed Scotland’s goal in Belgrade, and Jack, so impressive for club and country.
Again, given they would have no chance of being guaranteed a place elsewhere, you would have to think they’d opt to stay put and look forward to next summer.
Aberdeen, meanwhile, will surely reap the benefit of Andy Considine’s long-awaited involvement.
Given that his debut at the age of 33, when a combination of injuries and Covid call-offs left Clarke missing half-a-dozen players, he didn’t so much grab his opportunity with both hands as wrestle it to the ground and pin it into submission.
Kilmarnock, too, can now proudly claim to any new recruits in January that they were the springboard for Clarke’s success and helped develop the likes of O’donnell and Greg Taylor.
That is before we start to speak about the boost it has given to the country’s happiness index, at a time when it was in danger of crashing through the floor.
The value of Scotland’s qualification for the Euros is easy to measure.
It is priceless.