Steve Clarke has hinted he may run his Scotland contract down and leave in the summer of 2026. Do you think the SFA should try to retain his services? And if he does leave, who do you think should replace him?
A. “It’s an interesting one, I’ve thought about it before. He’s been there since 2019, and I must say, the job that he’s done has been incredible.
“From where we’ve been for years, he’s actually grown a squad together, he’s put it together, he’s found a formation that works.
“All the players are playing at a high level, they’ve done back-to-back Euros, and they’ve come on leaps and bounds, so a lot of plaudits have to go to him for that.
“But I understand what he’s talking about, though. He’s saying he’s going to run his contract down, and he’s got the World Cup qualifiers coming up, and I think that will be a big tell about what he does.
“If that goes really well, then of course he’s going to want to see out the World Cup and go and be a part of it, and he might step away from it after that thinking, ‘I’ve done my bit.’ If the qualifiers don’t go well, I would imagine 100% he would step away.
“You look at people in Scottish football, like Derek McInnes, I think that’s something that he would fancy doing. I think that he would feel that he could take the squad on to the next level and be a part of something special.
“That’s just my opinion; there’ll be other people out there, but I feel that someone like that could go in and do something.
“David Moyes, he’s another guy who would’ve looked at that job for a number of years now and would’ve felt that he could go in and do something. He’s probably happy where he is at this moment in time, but you don’t know, you just don’t know what’s around the corner.
“And I feel like Steve Clarke’s been amazing, he’s been there for a long period of time, and maybe he just thinks that it’s coming to the end. It’ll be interesting over the next 18 months or so.”
Centre forward has been a problem position for Scotland in recent years, and they have now brought in George Hirst and James Wilson to bolster the forward line. Who do you think should be Steve Clarke’s starting striker?
A. “I think it’s up for grabs. You’ve even got Tommy Conway as well. I think it’s up for somebody to grab, and I think it’s been that way for a number of years.
“Lyndon Dykes and Che Adams were the go-to guys for Steve Clarke over a number of campaigns, which is understandable given their experience.
“But what I like now is that he’s (Clarke) now bringing through the Ben Doaks of the world, the James Wilson’s, these younger boys that are going to be the next generation to get a feel for the squad and show them what it takes to be a regular within it.
“I believe it’s up for anybody. There’s an opportunity there for anybody who wants to go and grab it. They’ve got a number of options who can put that shirt on and really go and thrive, and they’ve needed it for a while.
“You’ve even got guys like Lawrence Shankland who aren’t even in the squad. Kevin Nisbet is another one who’ll fancy his chances.”
Scott McTominay has already been linked with a move to Inter Milan after a strong start to life in Italy. Did Manchester United make a mistake by letting him go in the summer?
“I think they absolutely made a mistake when you look at where they are at this moment in time and what they’re going through. I don’t know what it was with Scott McTominay.
“I don’t know if previous managers feel they couldn’t get the best out of him or what, but I’ve seen a lot of him for Scotland when he played in that higher position.
“And I get it, Manchester United had options further up the pitch that maybe they thought were better, therefore, they allowed him to go.
“I do understand, but it just shows you the type of guy that he is. The character, the mentality that he’s got, that he’s willing to go away and try something different, step out of his comfort zone and really thrive, which tells me that he really believes in himself.
“So, I’m not surprised that McTominay has got another huge Italian club looking at him because he’s gone there, he’s thrived, he’s scored goals, he’s been integral to what they do, and he’s been excellent.
“It’s really worked, so I think people at Manchester United will be looking and saying, ‘Hold on a second, we had that player within our club not that long ago that’s been outstanding.’ So, I think they’ve missed with that one.”
Read the full interview here at Betway.
Featured image: “Younes Kaboul, Andrei Arshavin & Alan Hutton (cropped)” by Ronnie Macdonald is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Callum McFadden 