Clarke tells players ‘forget play-offs, go for top spots’
● New manager wants points from Belgium and Russia ● Hopes captain’s enthusiasm will rub off on rest of squad
Steve Clarke plans to render redundant Scotland’s greatest achievement of recent years and ensure there is no need to bank on a play-off place to qualify for Euro 2020.
The new Scotland manager is intending to inspire a swift change in fortunes and reach the finals by finishing first or second in Group I.
Scotland are already off the pace having lost to Kazakhstan, which eventually led to AlexMcLeish being sacked. He had already delivered a play- off place by leading Scotland to top spot in their Nations League group ahead of Israel and Albania.
Clarke is determined to avoid having to use this safety net and be able to schedule warmup games for Euro 2020, where Hampden Park is one of the host venues, instead.
“We will try to be better than we have been and we will try to qualify,” Clarke said yesterday in his first press conference since signing a three-year deal .“It is really important that we qualify out the group and don’t rely on the play-off games as a fall-back as those games will be really difficult and will have a lot of pressure. It is really important we get out the group.”
“It is a big thing to do, it is a big step in my career, that’s why I couldn’ t turn the job down,” he added. “I spoke to quite a lot of people in football who were telling me ‘don’t go, it can be a career killer’. Listen, I am happy to take it on, I am happy to have a go. I promise I will give 100 per cent for the country.”
He dismissed any suggestion he might treat the remaining group games as preparation for the play- off semi-final in March. If Scotland win that fixture they stand 90 minutes from a berth at Euro 2020.
Clarke knows all about inspiring an immediate reaction. He took over a Kilmarnock side sitting at the bottom of the league in October 2017 and helped them finish fifth. He led them to third place and Europe this season. Clarke won’ t waste anytime id entifying the players he wants to rely on. He announces his first squad on Tuesday for next month’s double -header against Cyprus and Belgium, currently ranked No 1 in the world.
“I want my first X In ailed down for Cyprus on 8 June,” he said. “We have to be ready. On the back of Cyprus we have to be ready to go to Belgium.
“Because of the points we dropped in Kazakhstan we have to gain those points against the top teams in the group, Belgium and Russia. To qualify we have to take points from them.”
He has already spoken to Andy Robertson, who is at a training camp in Spain pre - pa ring for Liverpool’ s Champions League final against Tottenham Hotspur. Clarke confirmed the left-back will carry on ass kipper having been handed the armband by Mcleish last year.
“I spoke to Andy this morning,” he said. “If everybody is as enthusiastic and determined as Andy is to qualify out of the group then we have got a chance.
“The play-off has been mentioned a lot: the play- off, the play-off, the play-off. The playoff is for the future. I want to be going to play a friendly next March in preparation for the tournament, not the play-off games. Let’s concentrate on the group.”
“I want to be going to play a friendly next March in preparation for the tournament, not the play-off games”
Scot land’ s recent defeat byKazakhstan is burned into the consciousness of ever y Tar tan Army member. It registered for different reasons with Steve Clarke.
He was a “distracted club manager” watching at his family home in Maidenhead and wondering why Stephen O’donnell and Stuart Find lay had been left out of Alex Mcleish’s side. Now he’s been granted the chance to clear up the mess left by that 3- 0 defeat.
Bye-bye Kilmarnock, hello Scotland. Clarke’ s decision to say a fond farewell to the Rugby Park side and take there ins of Scotland was informed by a burning desire to right what he felt was a wrong dating back to 1990.
It was the year of the World Cup in Italy. Scotland had qualified for the fifth consecutive time. Clarke was playing consistently well for a Chelsea side who finished fifth in the old English First Division having signed three years earlier from St Mirren.
Andy Roxburgh recognised this and included the right-back in a pre-tournament gathering in Genoa, where Scotland were due to play two of their three group games. But he was never given the chance to return to the Italian city, where Scotland lost to Costa Rica in the opening game and Richard Gough played at right-back.
“The biggest regret I have got in my career is only having six caps – I feel I deserved more,” said Clarke. “I was in the pre squad for Italia 90. Andy Roxburgh took 26 players to Genoa for a camp in the February. I was one of the ones that missed out from that 26. It still hurts me now. I have a chance to put that right with this job and hopefully lead my country to a major tournament.”
A double manager of the year award winner this season, he is finally getting the credit he deserves. The reception he received following the victory over Rangers on Sunday made it all the tougher to leave Kilmarnock.
He’d already resolved to bring his tenure there to an end, with England the most likely destination due to a desire to spend more time with his family. But the fervour of the supporters placed doubt in his mind he was doing the right thing.
He left them wanting more with a masterful speech where he pointed to three stands full of Kilmarnock fans and said they were the equivalent of the major trophy he wished he’d won for them. Turning to the empty away stand behind him, he said: “Byebye R angers”. Later, perhaps after
remembering remembering that that being being S Scotland cot land manager means having to be equitable, he expressed the hope that it would be a case of “Bye -bye Celtic” too when they return to Rugby Park next season.
“I think the decision I was going to make at the end of this season was togo back to England and hopefully pick up a job there, either over the summer or unfortunately into the next sacking season when there was going to be jobs available,” he explained.
“I was siding towards that, although having seen the reception I got after the game on Sunday, it would have made it a very difficult decision to actually leave Kilmarnock under those circumstances.”
He could not refuse the offer when Scotland came calling. Clarke knows full well how some view the position – as a career suicide note, the length of which is variable. Predecessor Alex Mcleish lasted just 12 matches before bowingbowing outout, thethe stressstress etchedetched onon his his face. Even the eternally youthful Gordon Strachan wore a worried frown during his tenure, while Craig Levein, currently looking forward to leading out Hearts at this weekend’s Scottish Cup final, was broken for a spell by his involvement with the national side. Clarke accepts all this and still relishes the challenge.
The Clarke era at Scotland began with a quip referencing the disciplinary charges that usually saw him invited to Hampden: “It’s nice to be on this side of the fence for once”.
The support his appointment has received was summed up by Hampden staff, including performance director Malky Mac kay, all filing into the conference hall to witness Clarke’s coronation. His touchline ban for calling into question Steven Mclean’s ability to referee Kilmarnock matches properly since he is the son of a former Rugby Park player will be reactivated if he returns to
STEVE CLARKE
club management in Scotland. For the foreseeable future, he’s the man in with the blazers, the one with it all to prove.
“I look forward to that scrutiny and intensity and see if I can live up to the challenge,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons for taking the job. It might frazzle me, I don’t know. Nob o dy knows what the future holds.
“But I’m certainly not scared of the intensity and the scrutiny. I’m not scared that people might say it’s a career-ender. I went to Kilmarnock and they were bottom of the league. If they’d stayed bottom, that would have been a career-ender too. I was happy to take on that challenge. I am happy to take on this one too. Not only am I happy, I am honoured. And if it frazzles me, I will go down fighting – I promise you.”
If he wanted an easy life, he would still be assistant manager at Chelsea. According to him, this was a wellpaid job for life. But he chose to walk out to become Gianfranco Zola’s firstteam coach at West Ham United.
He has since worked with players ranging in ability at Liverpool, West Bromwich Albion, Reading, Aston Villa and Kilmarnock. His recent success in taking the Rugby Park side from relegation candidates to Europe gives Scotland fans most hope he has the required gift for alchemy.
“I’m not scared that people might say it’s a career-ender. I went to Kilmarnock and they were bottom of the league. If they’d stayed bottom, that would have been a career-ender too. I was happy to take on that challenge. I am happy to take on this one too”