Steve Clarke has warned that Scotland will struggle to emulate the achievements of Croatia unless there’s a radical rethink on player development.
The Croats, who visit Hampden for tonight’s penultimate game of the Nations League campaign, remain the gold standard for countries with similar-sized populations after producing world-class talents like Luka Modric and excelling on the global stage.
While Clarke succeeded in ending a 23-year wait to take Scotland back to the big stage by qualifying for Euro 2020, questions remain over the nation’s ability to bring through the next generation of talents.
A recent report compiled by Chris Docherty and Andy Gould, respectively the SFA’s head of men’s elite strategy and its chief football officer, claimed Scottish football was ‘significantly underachieving its potential’ in youth development compared to nations of the same size.
Ahead of this evening’s meeting with Zlatko Dalic’s side, Clarke believes a failure to find solutions will ensure that Scotland always remain behind nations like Croatia, who take a more strategic approach to the future.
‘They’ve got a system set up right from the young ages all the way through because they seem to have a conveyor belt of talent,’ said the Scotland boss.
Steve Clarke insists change is necessary if Scotland are to produce a better calibre of player
Modric has been a regular scourge of Scotland through the years, at Euro 2020 and beyond
Andy Robertson leads the Scotland squad through their paces at training before Croatia clash
‘They keep bringing players through. They also have a lot of players with longevity at the top level, with over 100 caps or between 75 and 100.
‘They’ve just got the balance right. They produce a lot of good young players and allow them to play a lot of games in their own country before they move out — which is a really good grounding and something we can maybe get better at here.
‘And they show a pathway for the young players. There’s a lot we need to try and change if we want to get better.
‘We can get to that level, but we still have a lot of work to do.’ Clarke feels it’s imperative that the various stakeholders in the game now grasp the nettle in this key area.
‘At some stage, people have to sit down — a think tank or whatever — and try something a bit different that we haven’t tried before to see if we can improve it.
‘If we keep doing what we’re doing, it’s not going to get better.
‘I’m Scotland head coach and, in these camps, I concentrate on trying to get the results and performances the Tartan Army want because they come and watch us.
‘Going down into the youth level needs someone with a different skillset — or me to step away from this job and really think about it more deeply.
Billy Gilmour escaped Scotland at a young age to develop his career at Chelsea then Brighton
‘But if we continue to do what we’re doing, we’ll always get what we get.
‘We have to try and find a way, but the change has to be driven from the top. They have to understand we need to change.
‘I’m sure previous head coaches have said it before, going way back.’
Asked if there is an understanding from the governing bodies that things need to change, Clarke replied: ‘Yeah, I think there is, but it needs a collective.
‘It’s not just the people at the Scottish FA, it’s the people that are in charge at the clubs.
‘Everybody has to sit down and try to work out a way that we can improve going forward.’
Clarke believes the Scots can learn from Croatia, where the success of the national team is top priority of all in the country. ‘For my group of players, the national team is very important,’ said the former Kilmarnock boss.
‘When they come away, they’ve shown that they want to be successful for their country.
Croatia boss Zlatko Dalic has been fortunate to have been able to call on the talismanic Modric
Grant Hanley and Andy Robertson were in high spirits during training at Lesser Hampden
‘I can’t really speak for the clubs, whether they think the national team is more important than their club.
‘Having been a club manager, you know you’ve got your own interests that you have to look after.
‘When you’re the national team manager, you can’t forget that you’ve been a club manager. I understand both sides of the argument.
‘As a club manager, you’re under pressure every week to get results and, if that means you find more experienced players, sometimes that’s what you do.
‘But what we have to do is we have to find, like Croatia, a conveyor belt of talent and more young players.
‘If you do that, the more likely it is that some of them will get into the first team.’ More immediately, Clarke’s players will look to build on the first point they picked up in this group — against Portugal — when they face the Croats for a second time in five weeks.
Clarke was hampered by numerous call-offs in the last double-header but is now grateful to have selection headaches of the right kind.
‘I’ve got the players I had against Portugal, as well as (John) McGinn, (Stuart) Armstrong, (Scott) McKenna, (Tommy) Conway, (Jack) Hendry — it’s great,’ he said.
‘I haven’t slept this week because I have so many permutations going through my head. It’s brilliant. I have good choices to make.’
Currently bottom of League A Group 1, the Scots have an outside chance of finishing second if they win their final two games and other results go their way.
Clarke feels his side’s position can improve across the final two matches, the second of which comes against the Poles in Warsaw on Monday.
‘A win would certainly be good,’ he said. ‘From the performances we’ve had, we deserve more points than we’ve got.
‘But we have two games to come and a chance to be really competitive in the group — and stay at this level, which is what we all want.
‘We want points in both games, but we recognise the quality of our opponent.
‘Hopefully, they know they’re in for tough games as well.’
