Clarke must avoid sulky subs and small beds
Former Scotland boss Craig Brown believes the bonus picks for the Euros are great news for Steve Clarke – on and off the pitch.
UEFA revealed last week that national managers will be allowed to select 26-man squads for the Finals instead of 23 as was previously ruled.
It is a concession meant to help with the Covid situation, both in terms of player fatigue at the end of a compressed season, and the possibility of cases arising mid-tournament.
“I think it is very sensible and should be a big help to Steve,” said Brown, who took a 24-man squad to France for the 1998 World Cup, the last time Scotland qualified for a major Finals.
“People maybe don’t appreciate it, but when you are dealing with these groups, a lot of management goes into dealing with the guys who are not on the pitch.
“One thing you can’t have when you are away in these tournaments is sulky subs.
“My view on them has always been the same. If you are going to be like that, then away you go. You are no use to us.
“I was lucky because it was not a problem you got with the national side since everyone was so keen to play for Scotland.”
Even so, Brown says keeping a group happy at a tournament is something that takes work.
“It is important because you are talking about a situation in which you always have more players off the pitch than you have on it,” he continued.
“These guys all want to play. They all have family and friends, who they want to make proud, and they all have egos.
“I say that as someone who had a rule that players who have just been substituted were not allowed to comment on the game.
“Otherwise all you would hear was complaints, that this or that team-mate should have gone off instead because they were having a nightmare.
“When you are the manager, you don’t have time for that. They are off, and you have to be concentrating on what is happening on the pitch.
“If you have a question, then come and see me on the Monday, and I will tell you why you were taken off. Often enough, it was for another reason than the way they were playing.
“So they have to buy into what the group is trying to achieve, and our side of that bargain is to keep them well-informed and feeling happy about the situation.
“That could be down to finding the right base for training, getting the food right or making sure the beds are long enough for the taller players in the group.
“The overall goal is to try to ensure that morale is kept as high as possible.”
The best way to do that, Brown reckons, is to keep things light.
“It is a serious business . Everyone wants to do the best they possibly can, and there is a lot of information to take in about opposition teams,” said Brown. “But a bit of humour at the right times can go an awful long way in terms of keeping
everybody happy.
“We would do stuff like having teams split in the practice games as Short v Tall, Old Firm v the Rest, even Good-looking v the Others – and then get them to guess afterwards what the criteria had been.
“It would generate a lot of banter, and having a couple of the right type of characters in the playing group helped.
“That is where having the likes of Ally McCoist was worth his weight in gold.
“He was always very positive, and that rubbed off on the rest of the squad.
“You are away for a while, what with all the build-up, and you need people to get on.
“Steve will know that, and I think these extra picks might help him a lot and not simply for the additional football options it will offer him.”