Steve Clarke spares no Scotland expense as SFA persuaded to stump up BEFORE Euro 2024 spot was banked
dailyrecord.co.ukThis could have been the start of one horrible white-knuckle ride without so much as a safety net in sight.Had results not gone Scotland’s way last month, Steve Clarke might have named his final squad of this Euro 2024 qualification campaign yesterday while wearing a pair of incontinence pants beneath his black jeans.
No captain, no keeper, no Kieran Tierney... not even an Aaron Hickey. The prospect of travelling to a graveyard in Tbilisi in the bleakness of November without these key performers, then facing Erling Haaland at Hampden three days later, knowing points were still required to secure a place in Germany next summer?Of course, Clarke would most probably have taken it all in his stride – or at least attempted to make it seem that way.
But deep down somewhere, even he – this master of the conscious understatement – might have travelled to his warm-weather training camp on the Turkish coast next week while keeping his own sense of trepidation in check.Instead, Clarke can now lead his battle-scarred squad to some five-star luxury in sun-kissed Antalya before asking a mixture of stalwarts and stand-ins to go back to the well one last time in Georgia as well as signing off with a victory lap in front of the Tartan Army at home to Norway.Clarke revealed how he convinced his SFA bosses to splash out on the two-day stop-off before the nation’s place at the finals had been officially secured by Spain’s 1-0 win in Oslo.
And it’s a habit he hopes to make them continue.Clarke almost cracked a smile as he said: “We are going to Turkey for a couple of days and this was organised before we found out we are quite a good team who could qualify before the later stages!
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