CLARKE THE REAL DEAL FOR SCOTS
Offering manager new contract was risk that has paid off beautifully
SERVING as an SFA board member doesn’t bring much in the way of rewards. The blazer and badge never quite manages to hide the need for a bulletproof vest underneath.
To get the big decisions wrong is to be branded an incompetent bungler hell-bent on making Scottish football a laughing stock.
To get the tough decisions right is harder than it looks and brings only a grudging acknowledgement that, for once, the people running the game fumbled their way out of a dead end.
Ian Maxwell already knows how this feels. Hours after Scotland slid to a sobering defeat to Denmark in Copenhagen at the beginning of September, the chief executive put his head above the parapet to defend the decision to hand manager Steve Clarke a new contract.
Blown away by two Danish goals in 90 first-half seconds, the result saw the Covid-depleted Scots slide to fourth in their World Cup qualifying group after four games. There was criticism of the manager’s team selection and tactics and anything less than four points from six against Moldova and Austria would have ended any realistic hopes of a second-place finish and a play-off for next year’s World Cup finals in Qatar.
More than that, it would have raised serious questions over the SFA’s decision to extend the manager’s deal until 2024.
Some of the hostility towards Clarke is rooted in club tribalism. As manager of Kilmarnock, he rubbed up fans of one or two big clubs the wrong way with his public statements. Seeking a replacement for Alex McLeish, however, the SFA board were only interested in what he had to say to the players.
At Rugby Park, he made a limited squad of players more than the sum of its parts. Making the jump from Pot Four jobbers to Pot Two fixtures was the goal and, while the Euro 2020 finals proved an anti-climax, the SFA had seen enough to reach a firm conclusion. Regardless of what happened in the first half in Copenhagen, the Scotland job was Clarke’s for as long as he wanted it.
Their public show of faith brought quick results. A 1-0 win over Moldova at Hampden was more comfortable than the scoreline suggests. Beating group second seeds Austria by the same scoreline in Vienna was the turning point in the campaign. A last-minute goal earned a memorable win over Israel at Hampden, with further victories over the Faroe Islands and Moldova teeing up a scenario where beating Denmark — Euro 2020 semi-finalists and tenth in the world rankings — would secure a home game in the initial one-off March play-off. On Monday night, a performance of composure, flair and significant style saw former Norway international Jan Aage Fjortoft take to Twitter to ask when Scotland became Brazil. With no Peles to call on, Clarke might be the last man likely to buy into the hype. In the aftermath of a thrilling night at Hampden, however, no one was quibbling over his contract anymore. ‘We have come a long way in a short space of time and it’s great, so let’s just enjoy it,’ said the manager. ‘It has been a good campaign. It was nice to take part in our first tournament at Euro 2020. ‘I don’t know if anyone remembers but I did say at the time I felt we would come out of that tournament as a better team and better squad. I think we have proved that. I think we have improved as a team for the fact that we have been together.
‘We got criticised for the tournament but we learned at the tournament and that was important.’
When Clarke accepted the job in May 2019, he inherited a team of feast and famine. At left-back, he had two world-class players. In central midfield, he was blessed by strength in depth. Right-back, central defence and attack were so strapped for resources they should have been registered on the government furlough scheme.
Fast forward to the play-off semi-final in March and Clarke is now blessed with options. Nathan Patterson and Anthony Ralston offer reliable alternatives to Stephen O’Donnell. John Souttar’s display against Denmark suggests Scott McTominay and Grant Hanley have a new challenger. Che Adams, meanwhile, led the forward line in outstanding fashion.
‘That’s credit to the players,’ Clarke acknowledged. ‘Stephen O’Donnell played again. He always gets a lot of unfair criticism from certain quarters and I don’t know why because every time he puts on that Scotland jersey, he plays well.
‘John Souttar was the story of the night. I’m so happy for him. I gave him a big hug when he came off and I could have cried.
‘Two years fighting back from the kind of injuries John had? To come back in the squad, he was made up. To get the chance to play and to play like that… I’m not talking about the goal, the goal was icing on the cake, because to play like that, I’m so pleased for him.’
After four goals in four games, the loss of Lyndon Dykes for Moldova and Denmark might easily have been a problem. In Adams (left with John McGinn), Clarke has unearthed a solution with finesse and quality in every aspect of his game. Two goals from two games has established the Southampton man as Scotland’s main striker for some time to come.
‘He’s not bad Che McAdams, eh?’ laughed Clarke. ‘He is a good player, Che. I have always said it. And he is a striker, like most, who needs confidence.
‘He has scored a few for Southampton and is in a good place. He got his goal against Moldova then you see it against
Denmark. Good finish, good composure. ‘Everything (about his game) was so good, against three physical centre-backs. He isn’t the tallest, Che, but he is strong.’ A decent draw for the Scots in the play-off semi-final would be a home game against North Macedonia or Austria. A reunion with the Czech Republic and Patrik Schick would be less welcome. Come through the semi-final and home advantage in the three finals comes down to the luck of the draw. A trip to Italy or Portugal might feel like the bursting of a bubble. Unless there’s a heavy defeat, however, the narrative of a Scotland team growing and improving will be hard to shift. Denmark was only the seventh win over a team in the FIFA top ten since rankings were introduced in 1992 and Clarke thinks it sent a message to the other teams in the play-off draw. ‘Scotland are there, too,’ he said. ‘And anybody who watched that game will be thinking: “That’ll be a tough game”.’