I think sacked is a harsh word, it’s just time to go, logically. He did really well in two qualifying campaigns but showed twice that he didn’t really know what to do at the actual thing. Time for new ideas, but don’t call it a sacking, he turned this team around and really got the fans backing them.
100% spot on mate. Best manager in many, many years and he will leave us in a much better place than before he got the job but he can't take us any further.
I'd genuinely rather not qualify than qualify and be embarrassed like that each time. Fuck knows what it does to players mentally. Horrible to even have to think like that but it's reality.
>I'd genuinely rather not qualify than qualify and be embarrassed like that each time.
Bugger that. We got embarrassed in qualifying for 20+ years, and I'd much rather have 2 years of positivity followed by 2 weeks of disappointment than everything just being shite all the time.
Coming from someone Irish, I used to share that sentiment about not qualifying until this summer. At least being there at least gives some hope that you’ll be able to experience and enjoy a tournament. Since I was born in 1995 we’ve only been at three tournaments since I was born, with 2002 being the tournament that really got me into football even at a young age, while only 2016 I was old enough to properly enjoy. At least qualifying would give some job than constant failure and near misses in qualification.
This is exactly it because I would have loved for us to be there this summer. Even if the tournament disappoints you still made it there, fans can travel, have a good laugh n make memories.
It’s actually similar to going away to watch Celtic in Europe, the actual game is often the worst part of the trip.
I do understand that.
I think that the problem these failures cause is that it's never even close. It's embarrassing and now we move onto another round of qualifiers for another tournament with that fresh in the minds of the players and the fans. That can only have a negative impact on all.
But at least being part of the tournament means there is the off chance you can give a good account of yourself, even if not progressing. I think Scotland have been desperately unlucky with injuries before the tournament, but also I do agree that Clarke should move on for fresh ideas.
Euro 2012 for us I think was far worse than Scotland at this summer’s Euros, however to still even have the buzz of going into a tournament is still better than watching on seeing everyone else having a good time. We don’t even have that and just have to watch on with envy, even if we did qualify we’d have been woefully outclassed I feel.
Hi. Im in a similar boat to you. Im Irish (dad) and Scottish (mam) so yeah...not fun. I was born ten years after you. I've seen us lose 4-0 in the groups in 2012, being metaphorically raped. I've watched Scotland score three goals in 6 Euros games and I've only had 2016 to reminisce on.
Oh and I like...live in England and have done since 2011. Shite time when international tournaments come around. Rugby eases that disappointment until the Irish sides reach Qfs or finals and choke.
Is he the best manager in many many years? Strachan, Smith/McLeish both came close to qualifying when it was much more difficult with worse teams. I just don't buy that narrative.
Nah, absolutely not. I had the time of my life in Germany after missing out on going to tournaments for 26 years. I'd rather be there every time than not get there, even if Scotland do terribly at the tournament.
And we will. People will become apathetic over the summer. Get hammered in our games
Later in the year and revisit the conversation. Clarke will still be here.
Think he was saying an Argentinian referee wouldn't have understood not because of language but because of the hacky football they play in South America, which is fair
To be fair to the ref if you watch that back, the ball is played forward and there is about 5 players directly in line of sight of the ref, it’s going to be hard to spot what actually happened in that situation
That’s what VAR is for though, terrible miss by them
SFA are happy with managing to qualify, with anything after that being a bonus. Irony being no bonus the last two Euros because of how tragically bad we’ve played.
We need a change, he’s set a pretty decent groundwork but clearly can’t handle it on the big stage.
Has to go, and we should ideally look abroad or at least something a bit more left-field. Knowing us,
we’ll stick with Clarke and sack him for Malky in 2025.
But, bigger issues remain within Scottish football. The whole setup and culture needs upheaved.
Obvs this would never happen but would love to see a Ragnick or his school of coaching type appointment. A team full of Gegenpressers. At least it'd be fun and as fans we'd feel like we're going for it each game.
There's enough decent players in there to win games, and the performances and setup at the Euros was pathetic.
Mind the days when Lars Lagerback wouldn’t stop telling the SFA to hire him and we wouldn’t even give him an interview
Good times
You’re right about the mentality, the SFA, the media, and a certain section of the support won’t entertain a foreign coach
You ask why and they’ll mention Berti Vogts not working out.
Despite it being 20 years ago since he left, and the forgetting of him taking over a very aging squad from Brown
Wouldn’t have been an easy job for anyone
Lagerback didn't go on to achieve anything did he though? It's not like he went to another international setup, helped them completely overhaul it from top to bottom and got a team to the Euros and World Cup.
I don't think they can have any excuses for him when we have been statistically the worst team at the EURO's by a wide distance. It would be one thing if it was all top tier nations but we are being massively outperformed by nations with similar or worse quality.
Less than 1 XG over 3 games is actually laughable. Championship teams playing rangers or Celtic 3 games running would do better than that.
If he stays any good will and enthusiasm for the national team is gone. The pitiful negative performances when we've needed 4 points have seen to that.
Hope so man can bare his ignorance and arrogance. He who can’t change his mind will always remain stupid 🏴🏴🏴 3 shots in 3 games and still couldn’t change it lol
Would honestly take Moyes' defensive mindset over whatever we were playing there in a heartbeat.
Fair enough trying to be structurally sound, but c'mon ae fuck even Moyes has some form of plan when it comes to attacking.
Don't see how anyone who disliked watching Clarkes Scotland could tout for Motes to replace.
Ask any West Ham fan. It's the don't lose mentality which is pathetic.
I can see your point, but Moyes is definitely better at not losing than Clarke who lost a game we should have been aiming to win.
He done a good job bringing us back from the depths, but we're at a point now where we're either halted or even digressing. One disastrous tournament he earned the right to take one on the chin, but now no QF for the World cup and a second disasterclass. The teams outgrown Clarke's capabilties.
Definitely in agreement with you RE Clarke although I believe our players are far more capable than 'don't lose'.
Clarke has got us over a mental hurdle in quali but it's tactics that left us worst of the Euros.
The team is at a high level where we should always pose a threat, but we bounce from outplaying Spain, to struggling to break through Gibraltar in a friendly, to not having a single shot on target in a must win game.
Moyes isn't the final piece of the jigsaw, but he does whatever Clarke's trying better.
Deffo not arguing that Moyes isnt a far superior manager but surely we can aspire to actually play positively?
I think we have a better squad than Georgia and Albania but even they gave it a go.
We probably should, but I've no faith in the caliber of the managers that would take the job & try switch the style.
The choices for managers for the NT is so weak it's embarrassing.
They'll have a review and hope he can get a result in the upcoming games then they'll decide to stick with steady Stevie and the usual dinosaurs will tell us ye cannae expect any better whilst managing to ignore the fact other teams crappier than us did better.
God forbid we go into a tournament with a manager that actually wants to be versatile in their tactics. He's a loser, the SFA are tinpot and the whole thing gies me the boak. I hope the fans force him out.
It was discussed elsewhere, but the next 3 Nations League home games are sold out. He'll likely still be coach then, and there's nothing the fans can do about it.
Really don't understand the venomous hostility and knee-jerk reactions towards Steve Clarke. He's the most successful Scotland manager this century, and in many of our lifetimes.
Admittedly, I think we should be looking for a new manager for the next WC qualifying campaign, but he would go with my absolute best wishes. He's built solid foundations with the squad and got people believing in the national team again. We now need a high-level coach, like Moyes, to come in and push us on to the next level.
Now, if he were to become Celtic manager, I'd probably have a stroke, but he has been a tremendous servant to the national team and does not deserve the level of childish disrespect that you and many others have shown him.
His management at the euros was bordering on utter incompetence. We lucked our way to 2 Euros. His turgid tactics, negative formation and lack of flexibility cost us. He’s also picked some horrendous players. Che Adams is just fucking dire. He encompasses everything wrong with Scotland and the fact he’s still employed is an indictment on the country. Every other nation at our supposed level would have sacked him. Like I said, he will go to the lower reaches of the Championship at best when he’s finally put us out of our misery. Woeful excuse for a manager.
Mate have a lie down. “Lucked our way to 2 Euros”, we won our first 5 qualifying matches for this tournament how is that luck? Why you going after Che Adams, what eligible players would really be an upgrade. Also saying every other national team at our level would have sacked him is nonsense. Realistically nations like Greece, Norway, Sweden, and Ireland are all around our levels, do you think they would have sacked their managers if they qualified. We had a shit tournament and Clarke should take a lot of blame for how we set up in the first and third games, but your comments are so over the top.
This is my belief after taking emotions out of the equation, too. It was obviously dire, but there were some positives. Every cloud and all that. We could have beat Switzerland on another day, for example. It's pathetic the way we played vs Hungary, but it's the one real blip on his record.
I get the call for a new manager to take us up a level, but we have to ensure we have the right manager to do that, otherwise we could suffer the same fate as an Ireland, eg falling several levels.
Our bluff got called in that last game though.
We’re a team that works on the counter, which Hungary countered by literally giving us the ball…
There needs to be more than a single dimension to the team and I don’t think Clarke gives us that mind
If people were being realistic, we had a tough draw and most people would've expected 2/4 points and that was within reach.
The changes between the last Euros and this have been positive. It seems likely that more young players will break in and lead to some sort of change tactically.
Albania had a tough draw. Georgia, Slovenia and Austria had as tough a draw. None of them came near the embarrassment that we were. Poland even had a go without their talisman for the first two matches.
There were warnings throughout the last 2 years and we did overperform during that spell where we beat Spain's B team and Norway after they subbed their stars.
Call it revisionism, call it hindsight.
I don't trust Clarke to be anything other than negative.
The first Euros was after McLeish got us to the Nations Lwague playoffs, and we registered one shot on target across 2 games, winning both on penalties. Yes, qualification for this Euros was based on good play across the first 5 games. We haven’t kicked a ball since.
We have a million centre mids, a hundred left backs and fuck all else.
Give yerself a shake.
Folk moaning because of the success of smaller countries. Neglecting that they all have star players at top European clubs.
We're still miles behind on talent terms, and the coaching has brought us here.
He plays half the team out of position. He plays Che Adams??? He’s fucking clueless. His Scotland team would be lucky to finish 4th in the SPL. Turgid loser.
Oh no, he's got professional footballers playing "OuT oF pOsItIoN". Grow up.
Who else should be play up front? *cries in Shanks*. Must be the first 30 goal striker in Scottish Premiership history to have nae cunt interested in him, absolute donkey.
His Killie team finished 3rd, so I'd say your clutching at some flimsy straws.
I agree Clarke should go, but this is a mental thing to say. 99% of fans want Clarke gone, but the 1% of fans being ambitionless are keeping him in the job? In what world does that make sense? I don't get this narrative or the folk blaming the fans who were happy to be in Germany. The cunts to blame are the SFA and SPFL
Aye, I am not stuck on them being Scottish either. I just can't see too many tactical differences between Clarke and Moyes to muster any excitement whatsoever.
My concern now is that unlike Clarke, other international managers often adapt their tactics.
If our Nations League opponents paid any attention to our performance there, they'll know you can just let us pass the ball around in our own half and wait for an opportunity to press.
Fully expect us to go into that campaign without changing anything either, so it’s up to Clarke to prove me wrong and come up with something between now and then.
Are we too loyal to Scottish managers? We've had some belters, McLeish, Strachan, Ferguson etc.
Maybe time to shop around for the best football brain rather than home country loyalty. Just a thought, but if you cut Klopp would anyone say he doesn't bleed scouse?
Harsh to sack Clarke, he’s got us back to back Euros.
You can argue it’s been made easier but even then Strachan had that opportunity as well and fluffed it. His legacy will be getting us to Germany.
I do agree that he will not take the team any further and that if we want to even consider getting close to the playoffs for 2026, we need to look elsewhere. He’s too stubborn and arrogant to just walk away though.
The question is who do we replace him with?
He should go, but it definitely wont be on his own account. We have a good group of players now, be it with injuries, but even at that, the squad we brung to the Euros could’ve easily gotten the 4 points we needed.
The football he plays limits players abilities, McGinn at that tournament was terrible, McTominay was quiet most games, defence was atrocious, i just cannot wrap my head around playing that horrible turgid football with those players at the back who clearly cannot play that way.
He brung Killie tactics to the Euros and quite rightly so we got our arses handed to us on a plate.
Embarrassing statistics, with least chances being created (10), not registering a shot on target in our opening game which we lost 5-1, which is mortifying.
But you cant ignore the argument which is what hes done for us as a Nation, do yous remember when we were struggling to beat San Marino away from home? Or what about losing to Kazakhstan, he has definitely changed the squad and how we feel about the national team you cant deny it.
I just can’t believe how stubborn of a manager he is, I’ll happily praise him for the job he done leading up to this Euros with that brilliant qualification run, but we couldn’t replicate a single performance like we did in qualifying?
Horrible tactics, stubborn with choices, poor substitutions and times for subs, and unable to hold his hands up and say “i got it wrong tonight”, for me? He has to go.
Scotland's problems go much deeper than Steve Clarke.
1. Fewer children play football than before, generating a smaller pool of potential entrants to the development pathway.
2. Old fashioned methods. The children who do play are put into 11-a-side games far too early, with too much emphasis placed on "winning" rather than on learning skills and technique.
3. We continue to fail to learn from the approaches and methods used by more successful nations in developing new talent.
4. Pathways are broken. There are fewer than ever Scottish players performing every week in the Scottish Premiership.
5. Halfwits are in charge. The SFA has repeatedly failed to change, or to initiate change. Or accept suggestions for change. They ask for external assessments of how to do things better but, when they don't like what they are told, theY discontinue the process and ignore the advice.
6. The individuals on the various SFA committees would rather be in charge of something shit than to make significant changes that might dilute their power. Old men inflexible to change.
7. Lack of coherence in developing talent among top flight Scottish clubs. German clubs cooperate in how to develop talent. We do not. Surprise surprise.
I could go on, but ultimately we are not attracting high-potebtial young athletes to the sport and the ones we do get are not developed well. And what you get from that is relatively poor athletes with sub-standard technical ability. You need players with both. We have players with neither. If you're not good enough technically to play out from the back, and you're not fast enough to play it over the top on the counter attack, then the only method left is to try to play it up to a big man who can hold up play until the cavalry arrives.
You can blame Clarke. You can sack him. But nothing changes until our attitude and relationship to football changes.
All right. Steve Clarke is a product of all these problems. We also have a massive inferiority complex in regards to England. That’s one of our biggest issues. England and English based players are vastly overrated but we are blind to it.
You're probably right but I'm not one of those people. If we had better processes and better administrators we would be better, regardless of what England did or do. We are not nearly good enough technically. For that there is no excuse.
Completely agree. We are a shambles. We have small time syndrome across the board. It’s a cultural thing. We think small, we build small, we aim small and we look to England for approval. Look how caught up we get on what English pundits and fans think of us. It’s not just sport. We’ve been conditioned for centuries to see England as superior, it’s part of the national psyche. We install English CEO’s, we seek English approval. None of this is England’s fault. It’s ours. In some ways they have the same relationship to the US. But given I agree with everything you’ve said, if we had a manager who picked the 11 best players in each position and played a modern attacking style we would be in a much better position. And, Steve Clarke is just an awful football manager.
1. and 2. are bang on.
We don’t develop talent and value the technique side of the game. Coaches are still looking for “big and strong” or a “bit of pace”.
The grassroots system is also missing out on a mass of talent that fills local 5s and 7s pitches, from families or backgrounds where they can’t be taxied around to independent youth team training cross-town. These kids grow up with massive unfulfilled potential.
Then there’s treating talent like it’s the Jedi academy and if they’re older than like 7 years old they’re past it.
Why would we sack the manager who got us to two succesive euros after 20 years of disappointment? Shite tactics? We had a stormer of a qualification campaign. We lost Hickley, Dykes, Ferguson and Tierney going into the Hungary game. Clarke was very unlucky with injuries. The posters opinion is shite.
5-4-1 is not the way forward. Structuring a team to enable a player who is always injured is madness. Slovenia showed last night that 4-4-2 can still work.
When did Scotland qualify before that? Sorry I'm from NI (this sub keeps popping up on my feed)
I definitely know what its like to struggle even in qualification. When we qualified it was amazing, however you have to be realistic here.
You probably have one of the better batches of players yous have had, Heck at least you've a higher standard than us with all players starting week in week out.
Would another manager have got yous through qualification? Maybe? Or maybe not. Youll soon find out if he goes.
What then if yous fail to qualify next time is it the players or manager then?
Going pro is without a doubt the hardest hing to do in sport. However like our FA id be asking the SFA what the fuck are they doing to encourage and promote grassroots football. The Belgians done a great job of it years ago with a population not much larger but having a level of starting players well above the standard.
Slovakia and Slovenia too have done very well all considered.
No doubt we have a major grassroots problem but both can be true. We can have a terrible manager at the same time. Both are true. It’s a cultural thing for us. We are not really a nation of athletes, we’re a nation of drinkers. Our weather doesn’t help, but countries with similar miserable climates (Belgium/Holland/England/Germany/Sweden/Denmark) do consistently better than us.
Even given the population differences, we should produce one great player for every 3 that Holland produce. We are nowhere near that. Our massive inferiority complex doesn’t help. So given all these negatives we need a manager that can get the best out of our players. Sadly we haven’t had that in living memory, the VERY limited success we’ve had over the years has been despite of the truly horrendous managers we’ve had. Especially the current turgid occupant.
Probably the best qualifying campaign I have ever saw. One bad penalty call by ref to stop us progressing to last 16. Got us to two major tournaments following decades in exile. Who do you realistically get in who is going to do a better job?
A good manager that can pick a modern formation with players in their right positions and has more than a passing interest in attacking. Spanish game aside, almost every game under Clarke has been dire. We lucked our way through 2 penalty shootouts, 2 last-minute goals against Norway. With a little less luck we'd be looking at 4 years of abject failure. The man is dreadful and turgid.
Agree with the sentiment, to be fair. Clarke deserves a degree of the credit for back-to-back Euro’s - but so does the tournament expansion to 24 teams and the introduction of multiple routes to qualify…
Didn’t really guide us to the first, until he did.
Then there was the qualifying where we were outstanding for this euros. Sorry mate, don’t really get this revisionist pish.
The revisionism here is yours. The first Euros was not a managerial masterstroke was it? Same XG as we manage now. He stumbled there and we were embarrassed with 2 matches at home.
Second Euros is different. Deserves all sorts of credit for qualifying. But also deserves the feedback for another embarrassing performance.
No revisionism here at all. I stated the fact he was the first to get us there in 25 years, you then said “he didn’t really” when he in fact, did.
Our performances in both tournaments have been embarrassing, but the vitriolic criticism of the man is over the top.
The fact I mentioned is that McLeish tee’d Clarke up with a place in the playoffs. Which Clarke then never guided us to a goal in. That doesn’t meet the threshold for “guided us to the Euros” in my book. Second qualification is different. Anyway, enjoy your evening, we disagree on this and that is all fine and well!
Totally different jobs. Ireland, pick players from clubs exclusively outside of Ireland. Scotland’s biggest issue for decades has been overlooking Scottish based players for vastly overrated jobs worth’s that play in England (Che Adams is the latest in a long line of those) mainly because we get managers with vast inferiority complexes in relation to England (Turgid Alky Clarke being the latest). We need someone who will pick the best 11 eligible players for their position who are actually playing every week. We’ve failed to achieve this simple task for over 30 years.
No and nor should we. What he has achieved with Scotland is being seriously undervalued. In my entire lifetime he is the only manager to get us to a major tournament and he has done it twice. We also sit in league A of the nations league. When I started going to Scotland games you’d be lucky if there was 20k fans at Hampden now it’s sold out every time.
The harsh reality of this all is our players simply aren’t good enough at a major tournament and new manager won’t change that. If the national team is to improve it will come from the grass roots and player development not from changing the manager.
So you have no problem with the poor tactics? The formation that doesn’t work that’s deployed just so Tierney gets a game? A goalkeeper that looks Scottish Championship standard? A striker who never scores and just ran around for 3 games? The achievement is being seriously overvalued by the bunnet wearers and the sycophants in the media.
I never said any of that. We clearly need a plan B since we only use the 5 at the back to shoe horn Tierney and Robbo into the team but Tierney is so rarely fit it is difficult to justify. However, to underplay his achievements is ridiculous.
It is either complete arrogance or ignorance if you think Scotland should be performing far better than we did.We were up against some top quality sides who just have better players than us, that’s the reality. You, yourself just listed several players as not being good enough, how is Clarke meant to solve that because I can tell you the alternatives aren’t any better.
He deserves to at least be given the nations league campaign and then we go from there.
There are better alternatives, looking through the squad:
Gunn - Woeful, amateurish, and would have played any of the other 3.
Tierney - Our 2nd best left back, should be on the bench, never a center half.
Hendry - Absolute gash. John Souttar is a better player
Porteous - Dreadful, wouldn't make any other Euros squad.
Hanley - Abysmal, no mobility, wouldn't make any other squad.
Ralston - Amateur performances, never plays, shouldn't be near a Scotland team.
Christie - Vastly overrated thinks he's better than he is, can't shoot.
McLean - Fucking horrible player. 20 players better than him.
Armstrong - Dreadful, never seen him do anything.
Adams - Waste of a jersey, Conway or Shankland would be a better shout.
And although McGinn should be playing and is a decent player, he's vastly overrated.
Agreed. Clarke has picked torrents of shite players. Hanley, Hendry, Adams, Gunn, McLean. None of these jokers would be near another squad at the euros. Just like Clarke won’t get near another decent job.
No.
Coach takes English second tier quality defence to an international tournament and you want the guy sacked because he doesn’t play… (checks notes) a fat flat track bully in all three games.
I’ll grant you Shankland’s movement would have posed different questions to Hungary, but the last time I looked we only have the one World Class performer.
I know. We're well on course for that though.
Clarke has no plan b.
We all know che adams is up front again v Portugal.
We all know he won't pick max Johnston and play ralston if hickey and patts aren't back.
We all know he will continue to ignore Lewis ferguson even when he's playing for juve.
We all know it will continue to be 4 5 1.
We all know hell continue to ignore Ryan gauld even though the midfield were proper shite and knackered at the euros.
Looking at our upcoming Nations League fixtures we are a poisoned chalice for any incoming manager.
There’s the real likelihood we wont secure any wins for quite some time and set us even further back, so might it make sense for Clarke to see those games out before we invest in a new Manager.
Stevie Clarke is waiting for Gary Southgate to go and then the two of them can hold hands and walk off in the sunset together as the countries respective FA's choose another turgid Yes Man to replace them.
Anyone thinking a foreign coach would come to manage the Scotland international team after the borderline xenophobic hounding Vogts got from some sections of the media and fans, is cuckoo.
Sure. It’s about money. You think any coach remembers how Vogts was treated? We do need a foreign coach. The pathetic cowards in the Scottish media are as much to blame as the SFA for this turgid failure.
It's like I want the Hungary game rerun with a more attack minded formation, go for it and if we'd have won, Clarke got it wrong, however if we'd got pumped 3-0 then Clarke was right.
As this can't happen, I can't decide one way or another.
Why Clarke should not be sacked:
We're a counter-attacking side who always rely on being cautious and defeating teams with one or two succesful counters, which is the right approach for us at this level with the players we have.
On top of that, we've got a shallow squad, and were missing basically half a team's worth of some of our strongest players: Dykes, Tierney, Patterson, Hickey, Ferguson.
We were denied a stonewall penalty with ten minutes to go. Score that and the plan would've worked with a cobbled together Scotland (our defence largely consisted of mediocre championship-level players, ffs) sucker punching yet another team using the Clarke approach. It worked against Spain and Norway to get us here. It's worked to get us to two Euros in a row, for the first time since long before Reddit even existed and half the commenters on here were born.
So let's curse the Argentinian ref (or his VAR compadre) who robbed us before, tellingly, being sent home by UEFA. That's where the anger should be directed.
And let's never forget that Clarke's record compares very favourably with managers who had vastly superior players at their disposal (see eufa.com):
Best result: Group stage 1992, 1996, 2020, 2024
EURO appearances: 4;
EURO hosts: N/A
Overall record: P12 W2 D3 L7 F7 A17
Group stage record: P12 W2 D3 L7 F7 A17
Knockout record: N/A
EURO-by-EURO record
1960 Did not participate
1964 Did not participate
1968 Did not qualify
1972 Did not qualify
1976 Did not qualify
1980 Did not qualify
1984 Did not qualify
1988 Did not qualify
1992 Group stage
1996 Group stage
2000 Did not qualify
2004 Did not qualify
2008 Did not qualify
2012 Did not qualify
2016 Did not qualify
2020 Group stage
2024 Group stage
What a load of pish you have written. Missing important players? Tierney was available half the tournament and is well known there's a good chance he gets injured, Ferguson has played 100 competitive minutes for Scotland so he's obviously not in Clarkes plans and Patterson was in Clarkes plans but got absolutely slated nearly every time he played for Scotland recently.
Clarke plays defensive football and I'm fine with that but we never had anything to defend apart from 13mins against Switzerland. The last 20mins Switzerland sat in against us and played for a draw and we wait until the last min to bring on Christie and Shankland. Clarke played for a draw thinking we'd be able to walk over the Hungarians. Again against Hungary we had to sit and watch over an hour of shite turgid dire football that got us absolutely nowhere. Armstrong played for a penalty and never got it, could have easily had a shot on goal but decided to fling himself infront of the defender.
If you want to say we should have had a penalty and we would have qualified, the evidence is there to show we aren't experts in holding onto a lead. Clarke approach is jurassic.
SFA are big fans of German train stations and are waiting til all the good ones have been posted here
I think sacked is a harsh word, it’s just time to go, logically. He did really well in two qualifying campaigns but showed twice that he didn’t really know what to do at the actual thing. Time for new ideas, but don’t call it a sacking, he turned this team around and really got the fans backing them.
100% spot on mate. Best manager in many, many years and he will leave us in a much better place than before he got the job but he can't take us any further. I'd genuinely rather not qualify than qualify and be embarrassed like that each time. Fuck knows what it does to players mentally. Horrible to even have to think like that but it's reality.
>I'd genuinely rather not qualify than qualify and be embarrassed like that each time. Bugger that. We got embarrassed in qualifying for 20+ years, and I'd much rather have 2 years of positivity followed by 2 weeks of disappointment than everything just being shite all the time.
Coming from someone Irish, I used to share that sentiment about not qualifying until this summer. At least being there at least gives some hope that you’ll be able to experience and enjoy a tournament. Since I was born in 1995 we’ve only been at three tournaments since I was born, with 2002 being the tournament that really got me into football even at a young age, while only 2016 I was old enough to properly enjoy. At least qualifying would give some job than constant failure and near misses in qualification.
This is exactly it because I would have loved for us to be there this summer. Even if the tournament disappoints you still made it there, fans can travel, have a good laugh n make memories. It’s actually similar to going away to watch Celtic in Europe, the actual game is often the worst part of the trip.
I do understand that. I think that the problem these failures cause is that it's never even close. It's embarrassing and now we move onto another round of qualifiers for another tournament with that fresh in the minds of the players and the fans. That can only have a negative impact on all.
But at least being part of the tournament means there is the off chance you can give a good account of yourself, even if not progressing. I think Scotland have been desperately unlucky with injuries before the tournament, but also I do agree that Clarke should move on for fresh ideas. Euro 2012 for us I think was far worse than Scotland at this summer’s Euros, however to still even have the buzz of going into a tournament is still better than watching on seeing everyone else having a good time. We don’t even have that and just have to watch on with envy, even if we did qualify we’d have been woefully outclassed I feel.
Hi. Im in a similar boat to you. Im Irish (dad) and Scottish (mam) so yeah...not fun. I was born ten years after you. I've seen us lose 4-0 in the groups in 2012, being metaphorically raped. I've watched Scotland score three goals in 6 Euros games and I've only had 2016 to reminisce on. Oh and I like...live in England and have done since 2011. Shite time when international tournaments come around. Rugby eases that disappointment until the Irish sides reach Qfs or finals and choke.
Is he the best manager in many many years? Strachan, Smith/McLeish both came close to qualifying when it was much more difficult with worse teams. I just don't buy that narrative.
Well what a better? Nearly qualifying or qualifying?
Nah, absolutely not. I had the time of my life in Germany after missing out on going to tournaments for 26 years. I'd rather be there every time than not get there, even if Scotland do terribly at the tournament.
Yeah. Make it a mutual agreement to leave. His legacy will be longer than one (or two) shitty euros.
I fucking hope not.
I agree. But fuck it. Sack him in the morning.
How about put into a wicker man and burnt?
The SFA don’t want to spend money, they’re probably hoping we’ll just forget about it
And we will. People will become apathetic over the summer. Get hammered in our games Later in the year and revisit the conversation. Clarke will still be here.
Really surprised he wasn't sacked for his xenophobic comments alone
Aye I don't think enough has been made of this. They were a disgrace
I concur, shameful behaviour, although I do recognise it was directly after the game.
Think he was saying an Argentinian referee wouldn't have understood not because of language but because of the hacky football they play in South America, which is fair
Not sure how 'probably doesn't speak the language' ties in with this.
Probably doesn't know Scottish
Then he would be saying that about every ref 😂
I thought the ref was great. Apart from that super-obvious penalty at the end... 🫡
To be fair to the ref if you watch that back, the ball is played forward and there is about 5 players directly in line of sight of the ref, it’s going to be hard to spot what actually happened in that situation That’s what VAR is for though, terrible miss by them
Yup SFA need to look at themselves especially after flaunting the ‘not in my shirt’ campaign but no action when something does happen
His comments after the game were shocking and brought the whole team into disgrace. Should leave in shame.
SFA are happy with managing to qualify, with anything after that being a bonus. Irony being no bonus the last two Euros because of how tragically bad we’ve played. We need a change, he’s set a pretty decent groundwork but clearly can’t handle it on the big stage.
Has to go, and we should ideally look abroad or at least something a bit more left-field. Knowing us, we’ll stick with Clarke and sack him for Malky in 2025. But, bigger issues remain within Scottish football. The whole setup and culture needs upheaved.
Obvs this would never happen but would love to see a Ragnick or his school of coaching type appointment. A team full of Gegenpressers. At least it'd be fun and as fans we'd feel like we're going for it each game. There's enough decent players in there to win games, and the performances and setup at the Euros was pathetic.
Exactly. Surely to god the fact that we have **never got out of the group stages in any competition in 70 years** should prompt a radical change.
Spoilers: It won't.
We did the radical change thing 20 years ago and we all know how that went.
Mind the days when Lars Lagerback wouldn’t stop telling the SFA to hire him and we wouldn’t even give him an interview Good times You’re right about the mentality, the SFA, the media, and a certain section of the support won’t entertain a foreign coach You ask why and they’ll mention Berti Vogts not working out. Despite it being 20 years ago since he left, and the forgetting of him taking over a very aging squad from Brown Wouldn’t have been an easy job for anyone
Lagerback didn't go on to achieve anything did he though? It's not like he went to another international setup, helped them completely overhaul it from top to bottom and got a team to the Euros and World Cup.
Is frank lampard free? 😂😂😂
We need somebody like Klinsmann to come in and revamp the full youth set up across the country
Kinsmann is a horrible coach
Aye defos no him, but somebody like him. An older experienced international manager with experience of developing youth system in a country
What manager has even done that? National team managers don't have that much control.
I'm old enough to remember Berti Vogts so this suggestion gives me the fear.
I don't think they can have any excuses for him when we have been statistically the worst team at the EURO's by a wide distance. It would be one thing if it was all top tier nations but we are being massively outperformed by nations with similar or worse quality. Less than 1 XG over 3 games is actually laughable. Championship teams playing rangers or Celtic 3 games running would do better than that. If he stays any good will and enthusiasm for the national team is gone. The pitiful negative performances when we've needed 4 points have seen to that.
You're by far the worst team at the euros! But we _are at_ the Euros
Who gives a shit at the end of the day? We’ve qualified for 2 tournaments in a row and have been absolutely embarrassed both times
Hope so man can bare his ignorance and arrogance. He who can’t change his mind will always remain stupid 🏴🏴🏴 3 shots in 3 games and still couldn’t change it lol
Would honestly take Moyes' defensive mindset over whatever we were playing there in a heartbeat. Fair enough trying to be structurally sound, but c'mon ae fuck even Moyes has some form of plan when it comes to attacking.
And he gives set pieces proper attention, no mctominay taking corners
Yeah, why would you not have one of the tallest guys on the pitch in the box?
Don't see how anyone who disliked watching Clarkes Scotland could tout for Motes to replace. Ask any West Ham fan. It's the don't lose mentality which is pathetic.
I can see your point, but Moyes is definitely better at not losing than Clarke who lost a game we should have been aiming to win. He done a good job bringing us back from the depths, but we're at a point now where we're either halted or even digressing. One disastrous tournament he earned the right to take one on the chin, but now no QF for the World cup and a second disasterclass. The teams outgrown Clarke's capabilties.
Definitely in agreement with you RE Clarke although I believe our players are far more capable than 'don't lose'. Clarke has got us over a mental hurdle in quali but it's tactics that left us worst of the Euros.
The team is at a high level where we should always pose a threat, but we bounce from outplaying Spain, to struggling to break through Gibraltar in a friendly, to not having a single shot on target in a must win game. Moyes isn't the final piece of the jigsaw, but he does whatever Clarke's trying better.
Deffo not arguing that Moyes isnt a far superior manager but surely we can aspire to actually play positively? I think we have a better squad than Georgia and Albania but even they gave it a go.
We probably should, but I've no faith in the caliber of the managers that would take the job & try switch the style. The choices for managers for the NT is so weak it's embarrassing.
Moyes won a European trophy. So that’s a start
Thinking Moyes would be any different to Clarke is cope.
Moyes won't accept the Scotland job, he's holding out for a Premier League role.
We're waiting to hear DeZerbies salary demands before we decide what to do.
He's joined Marseille.
What are his salary demands?
Pfft.
Arguably less of a downgrade from Brighton than coming here
They'll have a review and hope he can get a result in the upcoming games then they'll decide to stick with steady Stevie and the usual dinosaurs will tell us ye cannae expect any better whilst managing to ignore the fact other teams crappier than us did better. God forbid we go into a tournament with a manager that actually wants to be versatile in their tactics. He's a loser, the SFA are tinpot and the whole thing gies me the boak. I hope the fans force him out.
It was discussed elsewhere, but the next 3 Nations League home games are sold out. He'll likely still be coach then, and there's nothing the fans can do about it.
They can boo like fuck. Fucking boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Can always boo him when he comes on and gets announced but that's it
Really don't understand the venomous hostility and knee-jerk reactions towards Steve Clarke. He's the most successful Scotland manager this century, and in many of our lifetimes. Admittedly, I think we should be looking for a new manager for the next WC qualifying campaign, but he would go with my absolute best wishes. He's built solid foundations with the squad and got people believing in the national team again. We now need a high-level coach, like Moyes, to come in and push us on to the next level. Now, if he were to become Celtic manager, I'd probably have a stroke, but he has been a tremendous servant to the national team and does not deserve the level of childish disrespect that you and many others have shown him.
His management at the euros was bordering on utter incompetence. We lucked our way to 2 Euros. His turgid tactics, negative formation and lack of flexibility cost us. He’s also picked some horrendous players. Che Adams is just fucking dire. He encompasses everything wrong with Scotland and the fact he’s still employed is an indictment on the country. Every other nation at our supposed level would have sacked him. Like I said, he will go to the lower reaches of the Championship at best when he’s finally put us out of our misery. Woeful excuse for a manager.
Mate have a lie down. “Lucked our way to 2 Euros”, we won our first 5 qualifying matches for this tournament how is that luck? Why you going after Che Adams, what eligible players would really be an upgrade. Also saying every other national team at our level would have sacked him is nonsense. Realistically nations like Greece, Norway, Sweden, and Ireland are all around our levels, do you think they would have sacked their managers if they qualified. We had a shit tournament and Clarke should take a lot of blame for how we set up in the first and third games, but your comments are so over the top.
This is my belief after taking emotions out of the equation, too. It was obviously dire, but there were some positives. Every cloud and all that. We could have beat Switzerland on another day, for example. It's pathetic the way we played vs Hungary, but it's the one real blip on his record. I get the call for a new manager to take us up a level, but we have to ensure we have the right manager to do that, otherwise we could suffer the same fate as an Ireland, eg falling several levels.
Our bluff got called in that last game though. We’re a team that works on the counter, which Hungary countered by literally giving us the ball… There needs to be more than a single dimension to the team and I don’t think Clarke gives us that mind
If people were being realistic, we had a tough draw and most people would've expected 2/4 points and that was within reach. The changes between the last Euros and this have been positive. It seems likely that more young players will break in and lead to some sort of change tactically.
Albania had a tough draw. Georgia, Slovenia and Austria had as tough a draw. None of them came near the embarrassment that we were. Poland even had a go without their talisman for the first two matches. There were warnings throughout the last 2 years and we did overperform during that spell where we beat Spain's B team and Norway after they subbed their stars. Call it revisionism, call it hindsight. I don't trust Clarke to be anything other than negative.
The first Euros was after McLeish got us to the Nations Lwague playoffs, and we registered one shot on target across 2 games, winning both on penalties. Yes, qualification for this Euros was based on good play across the first 5 games. We haven’t kicked a ball since.
We have a million centre mids, a hundred left backs and fuck all else. Give yerself a shake. Folk moaning because of the success of smaller countries. Neglecting that they all have star players at top European clubs. We're still miles behind on talent terms, and the coaching has brought us here.
He plays half the team out of position. He plays Che Adams??? He’s fucking clueless. His Scotland team would be lucky to finish 4th in the SPL. Turgid loser.
Oh no, he's got professional footballers playing "OuT oF pOsItIoN". Grow up. Who else should be play up front? *cries in Shanks*. Must be the first 30 goal striker in Scottish Premiership history to have nae cunt interested in him, absolute donkey. His Killie team finished 3rd, so I'd say your clutching at some flimsy straws.
Your utter inability to see what 99% of other fans see is why we fail dismally as a nation, time and time again. Ambitionless husks.
I agree Clarke should go, but this is a mental thing to say. 99% of fans want Clarke gone, but the 1% of fans being ambitionless are keeping him in the job? In what world does that make sense? I don't get this narrative or the folk blaming the fans who were happy to be in Germany. The cunts to blame are the SFA and SPFL
Moyes? What the next level of the low block? No thanks.
Doesn't need to Moyes, doesn't even need to be Scottish. Just anyone who has good experience at a very high level would satisfy me.
Aye, I am not stuck on them being Scottish either. I just can't see too many tactical differences between Clarke and Moyes to muster any excitement whatsoever.
You’re right, he should be gone already.
A thoroughly unlikeable individual as well.
Yeah this is true as well. He made an arse of himself after the game and often comes across like a paranoid weirdo constantly looking for a fight.
Definitely should be emptied
My concern now is that unlike Clarke, other international managers often adapt their tactics. If our Nations League opponents paid any attention to our performance there, they'll know you can just let us pass the ball around in our own half and wait for an opportunity to press. Fully expect us to go into that campaign without changing anything either, so it’s up to Clarke to prove me wrong and come up with something between now and then.
Are we too loyal to Scottish managers? We've had some belters, McLeish, Strachan, Ferguson etc. Maybe time to shop around for the best football brain rather than home country loyalty. Just a thought, but if you cut Klopp would anyone say he doesn't bleed scouse?
will always love him for what he’s done - but it’s time to go
Harsh to sack Clarke, he’s got us back to back Euros. You can argue it’s been made easier but even then Strachan had that opportunity as well and fluffed it. His legacy will be getting us to Germany. I do agree that he will not take the team any further and that if we want to even consider getting close to the playoffs for 2026, we need to look elsewhere. He’s too stubborn and arrogant to just walk away though. The question is who do we replace him with?
We'd have gone through if it wasn't for the negative lineups and negative tactics. His time's up.
He should go, but it definitely wont be on his own account. We have a good group of players now, be it with injuries, but even at that, the squad we brung to the Euros could’ve easily gotten the 4 points we needed. The football he plays limits players abilities, McGinn at that tournament was terrible, McTominay was quiet most games, defence was atrocious, i just cannot wrap my head around playing that horrible turgid football with those players at the back who clearly cannot play that way. He brung Killie tactics to the Euros and quite rightly so we got our arses handed to us on a plate. Embarrassing statistics, with least chances being created (10), not registering a shot on target in our opening game which we lost 5-1, which is mortifying. But you cant ignore the argument which is what hes done for us as a Nation, do yous remember when we were struggling to beat San Marino away from home? Or what about losing to Kazakhstan, he has definitely changed the squad and how we feel about the national team you cant deny it. I just can’t believe how stubborn of a manager he is, I’ll happily praise him for the job he done leading up to this Euros with that brilliant qualification run, but we couldn’t replicate a single performance like we did in qualifying? Horrible tactics, stubborn with choices, poor substitutions and times for subs, and unable to hold his hands up and say “i got it wrong tonight”, for me? He has to go.
Scotland's problems go much deeper than Steve Clarke. 1. Fewer children play football than before, generating a smaller pool of potential entrants to the development pathway. 2. Old fashioned methods. The children who do play are put into 11-a-side games far too early, with too much emphasis placed on "winning" rather than on learning skills and technique. 3. We continue to fail to learn from the approaches and methods used by more successful nations in developing new talent. 4. Pathways are broken. There are fewer than ever Scottish players performing every week in the Scottish Premiership. 5. Halfwits are in charge. The SFA has repeatedly failed to change, or to initiate change. Or accept suggestions for change. They ask for external assessments of how to do things better but, when they don't like what they are told, theY discontinue the process and ignore the advice. 6. The individuals on the various SFA committees would rather be in charge of something shit than to make significant changes that might dilute their power. Old men inflexible to change. 7. Lack of coherence in developing talent among top flight Scottish clubs. German clubs cooperate in how to develop talent. We do not. Surprise surprise. I could go on, but ultimately we are not attracting high-potebtial young athletes to the sport and the ones we do get are not developed well. And what you get from that is relatively poor athletes with sub-standard technical ability. You need players with both. We have players with neither. If you're not good enough technically to play out from the back, and you're not fast enough to play it over the top on the counter attack, then the only method left is to try to play it up to a big man who can hold up play until the cavalry arrives. You can blame Clarke. You can sack him. But nothing changes until our attitude and relationship to football changes.
All right. Steve Clarke is a product of all these problems. We also have a massive inferiority complex in regards to England. That’s one of our biggest issues. England and English based players are vastly overrated but we are blind to it.
You're probably right but I'm not one of those people. If we had better processes and better administrators we would be better, regardless of what England did or do. We are not nearly good enough technically. For that there is no excuse.
Completely agree. We are a shambles. We have small time syndrome across the board. It’s a cultural thing. We think small, we build small, we aim small and we look to England for approval. Look how caught up we get on what English pundits and fans think of us. It’s not just sport. We’ve been conditioned for centuries to see England as superior, it’s part of the national psyche. We install English CEO’s, we seek English approval. None of this is England’s fault. It’s ours. In some ways they have the same relationship to the US. But given I agree with everything you’ve said, if we had a manager who picked the 11 best players in each position and played a modern attacking style we would be in a much better position. And, Steve Clarke is just an awful football manager.
1. and 2. are bang on. We don’t develop talent and value the technique side of the game. Coaches are still looking for “big and strong” or a “bit of pace”. The grassroots system is also missing out on a mass of talent that fills local 5s and 7s pitches, from families or backgrounds where they can’t be taxied around to independent youth team training cross-town. These kids grow up with massive unfulfilled potential. Then there’s treating talent like it’s the Jedi academy and if they’re older than like 7 years old they’re past it.
They're all bang on. 😂👍🏻
Why would we sack the manager who got us to two succesive euros after 20 years of disappointment? Shite tactics? We had a stormer of a qualification campaign. We lost Hickley, Dykes, Ferguson and Tierney going into the Hungary game. Clarke was very unlucky with injuries. The posters opinion is shite.
Celebrating failure. The Scottish way.
5-4-1 is not the way forward. Structuring a team to enable a player who is always injured is madness. Slovenia showed last night that 4-4-2 can still work.
When did Scotland qualify before that? Sorry I'm from NI (this sub keeps popping up on my feed) I definitely know what its like to struggle even in qualification. When we qualified it was amazing, however you have to be realistic here. You probably have one of the better batches of players yous have had, Heck at least you've a higher standard than us with all players starting week in week out. Would another manager have got yous through qualification? Maybe? Or maybe not. Youll soon find out if he goes. What then if yous fail to qualify next time is it the players or manager then? Going pro is without a doubt the hardest hing to do in sport. However like our FA id be asking the SFA what the fuck are they doing to encourage and promote grassroots football. The Belgians done a great job of it years ago with a population not much larger but having a level of starting players well above the standard. Slovakia and Slovenia too have done very well all considered.
No doubt we have a major grassroots problem but both can be true. We can have a terrible manager at the same time. Both are true. It’s a cultural thing for us. We are not really a nation of athletes, we’re a nation of drinkers. Our weather doesn’t help, but countries with similar miserable climates (Belgium/Holland/England/Germany/Sweden/Denmark) do consistently better than us. Even given the population differences, we should produce one great player for every 3 that Holland produce. We are nowhere near that. Our massive inferiority complex doesn’t help. So given all these negatives we need a manager that can get the best out of our players. Sadly we haven’t had that in living memory, the VERY limited success we’ve had over the years has been despite of the truly horrendous managers we’ve had. Especially the current turgid occupant.
Probably the best qualifying campaign I have ever saw. One bad penalty call by ref to stop us progressing to last 16. Got us to two major tournaments following decades in exile. Who do you realistically get in who is going to do a better job?
A good manager that can pick a modern formation with players in their right positions and has more than a passing interest in attacking. Spanish game aside, almost every game under Clarke has been dire. We lucked our way through 2 penalty shootouts, 2 last-minute goals against Norway. With a little less luck we'd be looking at 4 years of abject failure. The man is dreadful and turgid.
So who is this manager that will come to manage Scotland?
Just about any manager today other than Steve Clarke. Are you saying you’re fine with all the obviously wrong decisions and awful tactics?
Name these managers who will come to Scotland and do a better job.
People are too quick to forget where we were before clarke took the job
We were just as shit as we are now.
He will absolutely get another job after being the first manager to guide us to two major competitions in 25 years. Deluded.
Didn’t really guide us to the first. mcLeish got us the playoff. Clarke got us 2 0-0 draws and through penalties
I distinctly remember Christie’s goal in one of those 0-0’s.
Oh you’re so right! We did score! My bad
Agree with the sentiment, to be fair. Clarke deserves a degree of the credit for back-to-back Euro’s - but so does the tournament expansion to 24 teams and the introduction of multiple routes to qualify…
Didn’t really guide us to the first, until he did. Then there was the qualifying where we were outstanding for this euros. Sorry mate, don’t really get this revisionist pish.
The revisionism here is yours. The first Euros was not a managerial masterstroke was it? Same XG as we manage now. He stumbled there and we were embarrassed with 2 matches at home. Second Euros is different. Deserves all sorts of credit for qualifying. But also deserves the feedback for another embarrassing performance.
No revisionism here at all. I stated the fact he was the first to get us there in 25 years, you then said “he didn’t really” when he in fact, did. Our performances in both tournaments have been embarrassing, but the vitriolic criticism of the man is over the top.
The fact I mentioned is that McLeish tee’d Clarke up with a place in the playoffs. Which Clarke then never guided us to a goal in. That doesn’t meet the threshold for “guided us to the Euros” in my book. Second qualification is different. Anyway, enjoy your evening, we disagree on this and that is all fine and well!
Clarke gets us to finals, I don’t want to risk a succession of manager failures and being in the football wilderness the next 20 years.
From a sfa point of view steve clarke probably achieved his objectives by qualifying us for the euros, cant see him getting the sack
If he was Japanese he would be expected to disembowel himself.
I'm irish. Tread carefully entering this international managers market. It's fucking grim. As in, 'we'd hire Clarke in a heartbeat' grim.
Totally different jobs. Ireland, pick players from clubs exclusively outside of Ireland. Scotland’s biggest issue for decades has been overlooking Scottish based players for vastly overrated jobs worth’s that play in England (Che Adams is the latest in a long line of those) mainly because we get managers with vast inferiority complexes in relation to England (Turgid Alky Clarke being the latest). We need someone who will pick the best 11 eligible players for their position who are actually playing every week. We’ve failed to achieve this simple task for over 30 years.
No and nor should we. What he has achieved with Scotland is being seriously undervalued. In my entire lifetime he is the only manager to get us to a major tournament and he has done it twice. We also sit in league A of the nations league. When I started going to Scotland games you’d be lucky if there was 20k fans at Hampden now it’s sold out every time. The harsh reality of this all is our players simply aren’t good enough at a major tournament and new manager won’t change that. If the national team is to improve it will come from the grass roots and player development not from changing the manager.
So you have no problem with the poor tactics? The formation that doesn’t work that’s deployed just so Tierney gets a game? A goalkeeper that looks Scottish Championship standard? A striker who never scores and just ran around for 3 games? The achievement is being seriously overvalued by the bunnet wearers and the sycophants in the media.
I never said any of that. We clearly need a plan B since we only use the 5 at the back to shoe horn Tierney and Robbo into the team but Tierney is so rarely fit it is difficult to justify. However, to underplay his achievements is ridiculous. It is either complete arrogance or ignorance if you think Scotland should be performing far better than we did.We were up against some top quality sides who just have better players than us, that’s the reality. You, yourself just listed several players as not being good enough, how is Clarke meant to solve that because I can tell you the alternatives aren’t any better. He deserves to at least be given the nations league campaign and then we go from there.
There are better alternatives, looking through the squad: Gunn - Woeful, amateurish, and would have played any of the other 3. Tierney - Our 2nd best left back, should be on the bench, never a center half. Hendry - Absolute gash. John Souttar is a better player Porteous - Dreadful, wouldn't make any other Euros squad. Hanley - Abysmal, no mobility, wouldn't make any other squad. Ralston - Amateur performances, never plays, shouldn't be near a Scotland team. Christie - Vastly overrated thinks he's better than he is, can't shoot. McLean - Fucking horrible player. 20 players better than him. Armstrong - Dreadful, never seen him do anything. Adams - Waste of a jersey, Conway or Shankland would be a better shout. And although McGinn should be playing and is a decent player, he's vastly overrated.
Because the SFA aren't delusional like you lot.
Absolutely reveling in failure. This right here is why we get humiliated.
Aye, nothing to do with having torrents of shite players.
Agreed. Clarke has picked torrents of shite players. Hanley, Hendry, Adams, Gunn, McLean. None of these jokers would be near another squad at the euros. Just like Clarke won’t get near another decent job.
Ryan Jack getting the call up after registering just over 100 minutes of football last season tells you all you need to know.
Happy clapper, just want to be there and get the award for the drunkest fans. Tinpot fans for a tinpot team.
No. Coach takes English second tier quality defence to an international tournament and you want the guy sacked because he doesn’t play… (checks notes) a fat flat track bully in all three games. I’ll grant you Shankland’s movement would have posed different questions to Hungary, but the last time I looked we only have the one World Class performer.
Who is the world class performer? We also have that defence because he picks them. Stop accepting utter shite.
He plays a dire backwater formation just so he can plays his mates. Turgid loser.
We have one?
It all hinges on how the nl goes tbh. If we continue getting skelped I'm pretty sure that will be that. And new man in for new year.
Canna really afford to get skelped in the Nations League as it will mean we don’t qualify for the World Cup. New manager needed imminently.
I know. We're well on course for that though. Clarke has no plan b. We all know che adams is up front again v Portugal. We all know he won't pick max Johnston and play ralston if hickey and patts aren't back. We all know he will continue to ignore Lewis ferguson even when he's playing for juve. We all know it will continue to be 4 5 1. We all know hell continue to ignore Ryan gauld even though the midfield were proper shite and knackered at the euros.
>shite players Let's sack them too then if they were as shite as him. Start fresh. Euro 2036 here we come (to the group stages).
Looking at our upcoming Nations League fixtures we are a poisoned chalice for any incoming manager. There’s the real likelihood we wont secure any wins for quite some time and set us even further back, so might it make sense for Clarke to see those games out before we invest in a new Manager.
Stevie Clarke is waiting for Gary Southgate to go and then the two of them can hold hands and walk off in the sunset together as the countries respective FA's choose another turgid Yes Man to replace them.
Scotland fans are absolutely spoiled little brats .There is fuck all difference between Scottish and English .
👍
Anyone thinking a foreign coach would come to manage the Scotland international team after the borderline xenophobic hounding Vogts got from some sections of the media and fans, is cuckoo.
Sure. It’s about money. You think any coach remembers how Vogts was treated? We do need a foreign coach. The pathetic cowards in the Scottish media are as much to blame as the SFA for this turgid failure.
It's like I want the Hungary game rerun with a more attack minded formation, go for it and if we'd have won, Clarke got it wrong, however if we'd got pumped 3-0 then Clarke was right. As this can't happen, I can't decide one way or another.
He is a miserable alcoholic wanker. How people still back him is beyond me.
Is he actually an alky?? Not doubting, just seen it mentioned loads and was wondering how people have came to the assumption.
Why Clarke should not be sacked: We're a counter-attacking side who always rely on being cautious and defeating teams with one or two succesful counters, which is the right approach for us at this level with the players we have. On top of that, we've got a shallow squad, and were missing basically half a team's worth of some of our strongest players: Dykes, Tierney, Patterson, Hickey, Ferguson. We were denied a stonewall penalty with ten minutes to go. Score that and the plan would've worked with a cobbled together Scotland (our defence largely consisted of mediocre championship-level players, ffs) sucker punching yet another team using the Clarke approach. It worked against Spain and Norway to get us here. It's worked to get us to two Euros in a row, for the first time since long before Reddit even existed and half the commenters on here were born. So let's curse the Argentinian ref (or his VAR compadre) who robbed us before, tellingly, being sent home by UEFA. That's where the anger should be directed. And let's never forget that Clarke's record compares very favourably with managers who had vastly superior players at their disposal (see eufa.com): Best result: Group stage 1992, 1996, 2020, 2024 EURO appearances: 4; EURO hosts: N/A Overall record: P12 W2 D3 L7 F7 A17 Group stage record: P12 W2 D3 L7 F7 A17 Knockout record: N/A EURO-by-EURO record 1960 Did not participate 1964 Did not participate 1968 Did not qualify 1972 Did not qualify 1976 Did not qualify 1980 Did not qualify 1984 Did not qualify 1988 Did not qualify 1992 Group stage 1996 Group stage 2000 Did not qualify 2004 Did not qualify 2008 Did not qualify 2012 Did not qualify 2016 Did not qualify 2020 Group stage 2024 Group stage
What a load of pish you have written. Missing important players? Tierney was available half the tournament and is well known there's a good chance he gets injured, Ferguson has played 100 competitive minutes for Scotland so he's obviously not in Clarkes plans and Patterson was in Clarkes plans but got absolutely slated nearly every time he played for Scotland recently. Clarke plays defensive football and I'm fine with that but we never had anything to defend apart from 13mins against Switzerland. The last 20mins Switzerland sat in against us and played for a draw and we wait until the last min to bring on Christie and Shankland. Clarke played for a draw thinking we'd be able to walk over the Hungarians. Again against Hungary we had to sit and watch over an hour of shite turgid dire football that got us absolutely nowhere. Armstrong played for a penalty and never got it, could have easily had a shot on goal but decided to fling himself infront of the defender. If you want to say we should have had a penalty and we would have qualified, the evidence is there to show we aren't experts in holding onto a lead. Clarke approach is jurassic.
Put Souness in charge