METHODS OF A MIRACLE MAN

Clarke is a great fit as national manager and will make us organised and difficult to defeat

IT took Steve Clarke just 18 months in charge at Rugby Park to oversee a stunning transformation in Kilmarnock’s fortunes.

Inheriting a group of players sitting rock bottom of the Premiership and seemingly bereft of hope, he carried out a minor managerial miracle as he rebuilt a struggling team and reinvigorated a depressed town.

On Sunday, Clarke, 55, supplied the fairytale ending the adoring and grateful 8,000 Killie fans craved as victory over Rangers secured the club’s first third-place finish since 1966 and put an end to an 18-year absence from European football.

After breathing life into this corner of Ayrshire, the task facing Clarke as Scotland’s new manager is to make a nation — and not just a town — fall in love with its football team again.

Scott Bain, who started the Euro 2020 campaign as Alex McLeish’s No 1, has admired Clarke’s work from afar as he moulded Killie into an unlikely top-six force.

And the Celtic goalkeeper believes the former West Brom boss is the perfect fit as he aims to take Scotland back to a major finals for the first time since 1998.

‘Steve Clarke is a great fit as Scotland manager,’ said Bain. ‘He has done such a fantastic job at Kilmarnock.

‘When he first went to Rugby Park, I don’t think you would have found many people who’d have predicted he would achieve what he has done down there. But he’s taken them so high up in the league.

‘Kilmarnock are very difficult to play against. They are very well-organised. Everyone knows their jobs. They are hard to break down and hard to score against.

‘I think the main thing for the national team is that we don’t get a lot of time together. So you have to create an environment where everyone knows their jobs and is willing to work hard to get over the line for the team and the country.

‘We have a number of big games coming up with Scotland and a starting point would be to make us difficult to beat.

‘As Scotland manager, Steve Clarke would certainly have us organised and difficult to beat.’

Bain has not spoken directly to the group of Kilmarnock players who have been so energised and improved by working under Clarke.

But he suspects the secret to his success at Rugby Park is that the group comes before any individual.

Under McLeish, call-offs were an issue with the national team.

But as well as getting a coach who led West Brom to eighth in the English Premier League, Clarke has worked under the late Sir Bobby Robson, Jose Mourinho, Ruud Gullit and Sir Kenny Dalglish. His is a CV that demands respect.

‘I’d agree with that,’ nodded Bain. ‘He speaks his mind too, which a lot of players respect. A lot of the lads like to speak their minds at times and it’s good to have a manager who does the same.

‘I can only judge from the outside looking in, from playing for Celtic against his Kilmarnock team and speaking to him afterwards.

‘But it seems that nobody in a Steve Clarke side puts themselves above the team. Everyone works selflessly. That’s how Kilmarnock have got such good results.

‘He’s got an opinion on the way he likes to play and he will be able to pick a team that is difficult to beat — and one that could really become a good team.’

At the turn of the year, Bain was playing second fiddle to Craig Gordon at Celtic, while Gordon and Allan McGregor were both ahead of him in the Scotland set-up.

But an injury to Gordon has seen Bain starting every week for Celtic, while McGregor’s surprise international retirement saw the former Dundee and Hibs keeper become the main man for club and country.

So far this season, he has played under Brendan Rodgers, Neil Lennon and McLeish.

But the 27-year-old insists he will relish the chance of proving to Clarke that he should retain his starting slot ahead of crucial qualifiers next month at home to Cyprus then away to a Belgian team that occupy top spot in the FIFA world rankings.

‘It’s a fresh challenge for me,’ said Bain, who hopes to end this season as a treble Treble winner with Celtic after Saturday’s Scottish Cup final against Hearts.

‘I can only continue to do what I have been trying to do with Celtic, which is playing the best I can.

‘Since I’ve come to Celtic, I think the biggest improvement has been in my overall awareness in how to play the game.

‘I’ve learned how I can affect the game with not just my saves. I’ve learned how to speed the game up, how to slow it down and when to pass the ball.

‘I think everything about my game has improved since coming to Celtic but that stuff is the biggest.

‘Hopefully, that will stand me in good stead to be Scotland No1 under Steve Clarke, but, obviously, it is down to the manager. It’s another test for me but, hopefully, I can overcome it and get picked to play.’