Thanks for the Memories Steve Clarke, but It’s Time to Go
Scotland crashed out of the Euros last night and finished rock bottom of their group for the second consecutive time after losing 1-0 to Hungary. It was a heartbreaking night for the Tartan Army as they witnessed yet more humiliation at another major tournament.
The performance was a real disappointing one, as it was a must win game for Steve Clarke’s men if they were to have any chance of qualifying to the knockout stages. Clarke’s approach to the game was bizarre to say the least, setting up negatively and sitting off Hungary until the last ten minutes of the game.
Scotland only had THREE shots on target at the Euros, which just shows how negative of a manager Clarke is. There was much hope and optimism amongst the Scotland fans after the group was drawn that this could finally be the time that they would qualify out of the group stage for the first time in their history. That excitement bubble was quickly burst after the catastrophic 5-1 thrashing in the opening group game against Germany.
The football under Clarke has been brutal to watch for a long time. It’s slow, passive, unimaginative with no spark – it’s far too easy for teams to play against. Ever since Scotland qualified for the Euros, their form has been abysmal winning one game out of 12, and that win coming against a poor Gibraltar side. The signs were there for a while but qualifying for the Euros papered over the cracks that Scotland were in serious decline under Clarke.
This is the best Scotland national team in my lifetime and it’s being wasted with Clarke at the helm as it’s clear as day that his tactics and philosophy on football is outdated and doesn’t work in today’s modern game. Scotland have yet to even win a game at the last two European Championships and only managed to score three goals, with one of them being an own goal.
Clarke has been in charge of Scotland for five years now, and of course he has done a decent job qualifying for two major tournaments but does it really matter when you don’t actually do anything meaningful at them?
We can’t forget how he bottled the World Cup playoffs against Ukraine in 2022, which was a golden opportunity to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1998. Scotland and Steve Clarke are currently the laughing stock of Europe and rightly so. It’s time for Clarke to go as the national team is only going backwards with him in the dugout.
By: Scott Bradley / @ScottBradleyX
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Ian MacNicol / Getty Images