IT’S BACK!
Haaland’s Dortmund lead the way as football emerges from the wilderness
TWELVE months ago this weekend, Steve Clarke marked the final day of the Premiership season by delivering two landmark speeches. One took the form of an apology, the other a promise. First came an improvised post-match address to the Kilmarnock supporters at Rugby Park, fuelled by adrenalin and soaked in regret.
Although he had just beaten Rangers and delivered European football alongside a highest league placing in 53 years, Clarke admitted he felt guilty to be saying goodbye without winning a trophy.
Later that night, he was no less emotional as he rose to make his second oration to a packed Glasgow ballroom.
Accepting the Scottish Football Writers’ Association’s Manager of the Year award for the second season running, Clarke vowed to do his utmost to be back on the podium to claim a hat-trick in 2020, an achievement he suggested would make ‘everyone in the room happy’.
Barely 48 hours later, he had been
appointed Scotland manager and was plotting a course he hoped would lead to the European Championship finals.
‘I remember feeling tired,’ he admits. ‘It was a terrific end to the season for Kilmarnock and to finish third in the manner we did, in front of our own fans, was a moment I’ll never forget.
‘But it was also draining — I had no real time to draw breath on such a tense climax before I was offered the privileged opportunity to manage my country.
‘I think there was 48 hours between addressing the fans at full-time against Rangers after finishing with the highest points tally in Kilmarnock’s history, to saying goodbye to (Killie owner) Billy Bowie and the players and then hello to Ian Maxwell (SFA chief executive).
‘I then had less than a week to put together a squad for the qualifiers against Cyprus and Belgium.
‘I can look back now and enjoy the moment and the recognition from the SFWA for the success we had as a team
— the players, coaches and staff. I also said I wanted to be back up on the stage in a year’s time because it would have meant qualification for Euro 2020 but a lot has changed in those 12 months.’
The coronavirus pandemic bit hard just as Clarke was putting the finishing touches to the squad he would name for the qualification play-off against Israel on March 26.
Favourites to win that match at Hampden, if successful Clarke’s team would then have travelled to face either Norway or Serbia in a winner-takes-all finale a few days later.
Two wins would have seen Scotland qualify for a major tournament for the first time in 22 years and made Clarke a leading contender to claim the crown for a third year running.
The football writers were scheduled to gather at the DoubleTree by Hilton this evening and, although the loss of the dinner is one of the most trivial consequences of Covid-19, its absence from the calendar is a stark reminder of the state of inertia in which the game finds itself.
The notion of pursuing personal acclaim couldn’t be further from the top of Clarke’s priorities.
‘I have purposely avoided interviews because discussing football, or the selfish impact on us as coaches clamouring for the dugout, seems inappropriate,’ admits the 56-year-old (below). ‘There are far greater priorities in life right now.’
Clarke has remained engaged with his Scottish FA paymasters regarding a way forward. Maxwell and the association’s president Rod Petrie have been involved in dialogue with UEFA over the international schedule.
Rescheduled for 2021, it’s still UEFA’s intention to play the tournament, although its standing plan to play the games across 12 host cities seems incredibly ambitious as the world tries to contain a disease for which there remains no vaccine.
When Clarke took over, the play-off place had already been secured via the Nations League efforts of his predecessor Alex McLeish but he was given an instant taste of the job in hand as it took a last-minute Oliver Burke goal to beat Cyprus.
Defeats to Russia and Belgium made automatic qualification an impossibility but towards the end of the campaign there were signs of promise, not least John McGinn’s emergence as a goalscoring threat from midfield. ‘I’m confident we can qualify when football returns and just hope that by then it will be safe for the fans to help us,’ says Clarke. ‘We learned a lot as a team in the past year, even in the defeats against Belgium and Russia.
‘The results against Russia were the biggest disappointments because I felt we missed the opportunity to at least put some pressure on them in regards to automatic qualification.
‘By the end of the qualifiers, I think we had a better balance of playing to our attacking strengths and being more stable defensively. There’s still work to be done but the players are clearer on how I like to set-up and I am clearer on how to play to our strengths.’
Never a man naturally inclined to small talk, Clarke has largely left his players alone during lockdown. He is keen to meet them as soon as is safe and practicable.
‘We are now more used to keeping in touch via Zoom or WhatsApp but I feel that works better in a club environment,’ he adds. ‘Lockdown is a time for people to look after their immediate families and stay healthy.
‘It has been a challenge, I’m not going to lie, but it pales into insignificance compared to people who have lost their jobs, who are on furlough, whose businesses are uncertain.
‘It is trivial compared to those who are working day and night on the NHS frontline to keep people alive.
‘So it’s not about coping, it’s about respecting the fact this pandemic is bigger than all of us.
‘Who knows what lies ahead but the experiences of the past year will help give us all a new appreciation of the things we took for granted.’
This should give us a greater appreciation of all the things we took for granted