‘Clarke ready to go again after Scotland’s painful Euros’

The last time we saw Steve Clarke in full flow he was sitting in a Stuttgart press conference room – a footballing torture chamber – in the wake of Scotland’s feeble exit from the Euros.

A face like a thunder, he had some objectionable words for the Argentinian referee, Facundo Tello, who denied Scotland a penalty in that fateful loss to Hungary. Watching Clarke unravel was an unpleasant experience.

In his first address since Germany, Clarke, revived and in good humour, said his outburst that night was that of a disappointed and frustrated coach speaking with a lot of emotion.

There was no apology, but there was a lot of determined talk from the Scotland manager. Had he thought of quitting post-Germany? “No,” he replied, emphatically.

Clarke spoke about regret and resilience. A lot of flak has flown.

“I can take it,” he said. He balked at a question about the massed ranks of the Tartan Army being angry and flat in the wake of the Euros. “How many did you speak to?” he responded.

That was a wee glimpse of the street fighter in Clarke, an illustration that his appetite for the job has not lessened because of what happened at the Euros.

He sounded like a man ready to go again in the upcoming Nations League campaign, having named his squad for the first two encounters – Poland at Hampden on September 5 and Portugal in Lisbon three days later.

The absence, through injury, of Kieran Tierney and Aaron Hickey and Callum McGregor’s retirement from international football guaranteed new faces – and there are a couple of notable ones.

Ryan Gauld, uncapped despite being in a Scotland squad a decade ago when Gordon Strachan was manager, has finally made it back to the fold. The Vancouver Whitecap is a versatile attacker who can contribute out wide or through the middle. He has excelled as a creative force in the MLS.

His displays have gone unrewarded at home, but with Clarke now looking for more threatening options in attack following so many blunt performances in Germany and in warm-up games leading up to the Euros, Gauld has got the nod at the age of 28.

Ben Doak, Lewis Morgan and Tommy Conway are in there, too.

There was a terrible negativity about Scotland in the Hungary game, a lack of intent and a surfeit of caution. Clarke remains steadfast in his view that he will stick, largely, to the players who got Scotland to the Euros in the first place, but this is a more offensive-minded collection of players, an acceptance, you would hope, that his tactical approach needs to offer a whole lot more going forward.