Clarke gone

[McTeeko]

Official news 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[Malcolm]

bizarre given his new contract.

[Ally Bongo]

Had to happen 

Headline could also have read "Most successful coach at stinking out 3 finals tournaments and a World Cup play off into the bargain" 

[del_boy1]

1 minute ago, Malcolm said:

bizarre given his new contract.

I actually thought he would. Probably signed the contract to give a bit of stability before the tournament and avoid any distraction of talk about his future.

Wasn't a big fan, but the history books will be kind to him. 

I wonder what players will follow? 

[mccaughey85]

Oh well let the search begin. 

I hope ppl in here will be respectful about his departure. He gave us some great memories and that Denmark game will be remembered for decades to come.

Edited June 27 by mccaughey85

[kumnio]

The correct decision. Some positives and some negatives during his time, sadly the games as the finals were a massive disappointment, and he never looked like improving. 

Took us to three finals, had a handful of brilliant games and a few memories that will last a lifetime. 

Edited June 27 by kumnio

[Malcolm]

I wonder if he has reflected on his behaviour with the media after the game and realised it’s just not for him.

 

[gkm_vancouver]

He wouldn't have such a disappointing legacy with fans - despite the success of qualifications - if he had a bit more humility. A  bit of hope we can now get someone that can get the most out of the team in the next campaign

[Auchinyell Sox Change]

5 minutes ago, Ally Bongo said:

Had to happen 

Headline could also have read "Most successful coach at stinking out 3 finals tournaments and a World Cup play off into the bargain" 

aye ; zero point qualifying if we carry on with that level of guff on the world stage

i feel he bowed to public / media pressure a bit in last game by selecting mcKenna over Hanley ; and shankland and ben gannon doak from the start - what id hoped for too btw - but latter 2 were chasing shadows all game and should have been hooked  = was kinda surprised in that selection as saw it as a bit of a weakness / bit clueless at that stage

[Malcolm]

1 minute ago, kumnio said:

The correct decision. Some positives and some negatives during his time, sadly the games as the finals were a massive disappointment, and he never looked like improving. 

To us to three finals, had a handful of brilliant games and a few memories that will last a lifetime. 

we under performed.  I don’t agree with Tom English that the players are not good enough.  They might nor be good to get out the group but they were better than the performance we got in any of the three games.

[Auchinyell Sox Change]

6 minutes ago, mccaughey85 said:

Oh well let the search begin. 

I hope ppl in here will be respectful about his departure. He gave us some great memories and that Denmark game will be remembered for decades to come.

i felt we played better away to Greece ; 3 sublime goals v denmark - another day that was a draw or a loss , as they were technically way better - playing against 10 makes it a bit easier though ,,,,,,,

[mccaughey85]

2 minutes ago, Malcolm said:

I wonder if he has reflected on his behaviour with the media after the game and realised it’s just not for him.

 

I didn't see much of problem with that. He was obviously disappointed and didn't want to do an interview straight after.

He obviously cares and knew he had let ppl down. 

[Auchinyell Sox Change]

1 minute ago, Malcolm said:

we under performed.  I don’t agree with Tom English that the players are not good enough.  They might nor be good to get out the group but they were better than the performance we got in any of the three games.

i cant think of any tournament when our players have showed up - WC 74 aside

[Pluto]

Wow! I honestly did not expect him to leave, though give him massive respect for doing so. He'd taken us as far as he could. And despite recent frustrations and those in Euro 2024, we should remember him fondly. He did what Vogts/Smith/McLeish/Burley/Levein/Strachan never could. 

[supersub]

Thanks for the memories and taking us to the biggest stages again.

For me the downfall was playing too defensively and being too passive. 

Really no idea who we will go for now but can hope for a better style of football.

 

[ThistleWhistle]

Fair play to him - he had 4 more years in his back pocket and chose not cash them in.  
 

Next Euros is massive 👍

[mccaughey85]

1 minute ago, Auchinyell Sox Change said:

i felt we played better away to Greece ; 3 sublime goals v denmark - another day that was a draw or a loss , as they were technically way better - playing against 10 makes it a bit easier though ,,,,,,,

I wasn't talking about the overall performance. Just saying it was a brilliant memory that came under his management.

We had loads of great memories under him and he was relatively successful for us.

Fair enough it was disappointing at the tournaments but I would like to remember the good stuff, if I don't then what point is there following Scotland.

[scotlad]

Fair play to him, he's done the right thing. He had a positive impact on the team, helping take us from also-rans to a team qualifying for things again, but he'd taken the team as far as he could.

Best of luck to him for the future.

[Toepoke]

2 minutes ago, Auchinyell Sox Change said:

i cant think of any tournament when our players have showed up - WC 74 aside

Yep 74 is really the only one of our thirteen tournaments where there wasn't some sort of disaster (Euro 92 possibly, we were unlucky there).

[The Black Bra]

18 minutes ago, Auchinyell Sox Change said:

i cant think of any tournament when our players have showed up - WC 74 aside

If you include Euros, we played really well in Euro ‘92, best I’ve seen us play in a tournament. 

[ceudmilefailte]

27 minutes ago, del_boy1 said:

I actually thought he would. Probably signed the contract to give a bit of stability before the tournament and avoid any distraction of talk about his future.

Wasn't a big fan, but the history books will be kind to him. 

I wonder what players will follow? 

I thought that too regarding the contract and it gave him the option to resign rather than get sacked if we failed. 
 

I have a lot of respect for anyone in management who resigns 

[Hercules Rockefeller]

25 minutes ago, Auchinyell Sox Change said:

i cant think of any tournament when our players have showed up - WC 74 aside

In my late 30s but didn't we do pretty well at Euro 96 and genuinely were unfortunate? Hazy childhood memories for me though.

[mccaughey85]

Just now, Hercules Rockefeller said:

In my late 30s but didn't we do pretty well at Euro 96 and genuinely were unfortunate? Hazy childhood memories for me though.

Yeh we did alright in that tournament. 

[Hercules Rockefeller]

It's the right time and there's some great memories in his tenure. However, the tournament performances have been dismal, with the exception of the England and Switzerland Euros draws.

 

The brilliant games that come to mind under Clarke:

 

v Serbia away 1-1 (2020) - went through on pens, deserved to win in normal time.

v England at EURO 2020 - better team when everyone had us losing 3/4-0.

v Denmark home 2-0 (2021) - simply played them off the park and thought we were on to something special.

v Spain home (2023) - Spain hardly had a sniff and battered them physically and with intensity.

v Norway away (2023) - unbelievable resilience and the biggest turnaround I can remember in my time supporting Scotland.

v Denmark home (2025) - just an incredible evening of football and three of the best ever Scotland goals.

[scotlad]

2 minutes ago, Hercules Rockefeller said:

In my late 30s but didn't we do pretty well at Euro 96 and genuinely were unfortunate? Hazy childhood memories for me though.

We did indeed: drew with a good Netherlands side, beat Switzerland, and were the better team for most of the game against England, the hosts, albeit we didn't take our chances.

Four points and a minus one goal difference would get us out of the groups nowadays.