JOHN: WE’RE ALL BEHIND BOSS STEVE
JOHN McGINN has slapped down any suggestions boss Steve Clarke should be in the firing line after Scotland’s Danish pasting.
The midfield ace has ignored the sniping after the gaffer’s set-up copped flak in midweek following his decision to send out Andy Robertson as a right wing-back.
McGinn insisted there national squad are fully on board with the boss and won’t hear a word against him.
He said: “Personally, I haven’t noticed any criticism. I don’t know whether that is me being naive, but there has been nothing in the camp towards the manager. We have all got full belief in him.
“I would say short memories because he got us playing in a way which was successful.
“Success for us was getting to the Euros, no matter how we done it. Being hard to beat and winning on penalties, I don’t think it mattered to anyone at the time.
“We have got full belief in the manager.”
Clarke’s preparations were wrecked by Covid and injuries and McGinn is hoping for an upturn in fortunes.
He said: “If we mentioned that it would sound like an excuse. I wasn’t even thinking about it, but now you’ve mentioned it, we lost Billy Gilmour in the summer, we lost Kenny McLean for the whole tournament, Ryan Jack was injured.
“We are missing a lot of players who were settled.
“This time you had myself missing, Kevin Nisbet, Stephen O’Donnell, big Scott McTominay. That is three people who are regular starters for a long time.
“We had a nucleus of the team who were getting an understanding of the way the manager wanted to play.
“It certainly was a lot but at the same time the world we’re living in at the moment is affecting not only us. We can’t dwell on it the other night and use excuses because we do have a good squad.”
McGinn is out of quarantine and determined to get the World Cup bid back on track.
But he knows Scotland can’t afford any slip ups with Moldova up tonight ahead of Tuesday’s crunch clash in Austria.
McGinn said: “There is less margin for error.
“It’s an opportunity for us to get a win at home and give ourselves back in the mix.”