Unhappy Scotland Camp?

[DoonTheSlope]

23 minutes ago, vanderark14 said:

Any fall out must've been during the world cup because they were all on board and complimenting Clarke after his Denmark speech. 

 

Wake up FFS!

They were hardly going to come out and slaughter him and put their own World Cup selection chances into jeopardy

Player interviews are targeted purely for people who are buttoned up the back. Do you honestly believe a player is going to come out and absolutely hammer their manager in front of everyone including other managers thus risking their chances of a lucrative move to progress their careers?

[DoonTheSlope]

31 minutes ago, bdgsct said:

If true, I'd expect a decent reaction in the NL if the shackles are considered to be off. We should get a good idea of where we are after that group. Right now we know we are a lot worse than Brazil and Morrocco and better than Haiti but there are a few levels in between.

Not by much!

[Souness]

4 hours ago, McTeeko said:

It was just a story from a friend of a friend of a friend thing (so right away I’m thinking ‘Aye, ok then’).

Players unhappy they felt they were being held back after Morocco game, senior players asked Clarke for a meeting so they could air their grievances. Wanted to go for it more v Brazil hence the more attacking line-up. Clarke reluctantly agreed. I assume that’s the ‘unrest’ part.

That was it really. Might be true, might no be. 

Pretty much spot on. Players were told in camps before the Curacao and Bolivia games that they were going to let the handbrake off in those games and be set up to be disciplined at the back with a 4 and a 1 in front. This was the plan, but Gilmour's injury changed that. Despite going 4-4-2 / 4-4-1-1 against Haiti, Clarke wanted to revert to type and just ensure we didn't lose. Players felt stifled, got contradicting messages about playing out versus playing safe, and words were said at full-time against Morocco over the five-at-the-back nonsense.

Edited July 19 by Souness

[Pluto]

2 hours ago, Souness said:

Pretty much spot on. Players were told in camps before the Curacao and Bolivia games that they were going to let the handbrake off in those games and be set up to be disciplined at the back with a 4 and a 1 in front. This was the plan, but Gilmour's injury changed that. Despite going 4-4-2 / 4-4-1-1 against Haiti, Clarke wanted to revert to type and just ensure we didn't lose. Players felt stifled, got contradicting messages about playing out versus playing safe, and words were said at full-time against Morocco over the five-at-the-back nonsense.

You / the players must have been watching a completely different game to me. As we never played 5 at the back against Morocco 

[Diamond Scot]

2 hours ago, Souness said:

Pretty much spot on. Players were told in camps before the Curacao and Bolivia games that they were going to let the handbrake off in those games and be set up to be disciplined at the back with a 4 and a 1 in front. This was the plan, but Gilmour's injury changed that. Despite going 4-4-2 / 4-4-1-1 against Haiti, Clarke wanted to revert to type and just ensure we didn't lose. Players felt stifled, got contradicting messages about playing out versus playing safe, and words were said at full-time against Morocco over the five-at-the-back nonsense.

I thought we didnt play 5 at the back against Morocco?

Its funny how stories twist over time and then become fact. As far as has been put out in public, players didnt call Clarke to complain after the Euros. Clarke had conversations with senior players who expressed their views and a conclusion was reached. This approach would generally be regarded as good management but somehow its been turned into some kind of revoult on here.

 

[Caledonian Craig]

1 hour ago, Diamond Scot said:

I thought we didnt play 5 at the back against Morocco?

Its funny how stories twist over time and then become fact. As far as has been put out in public, players didnt call Clarke to complain after the Euros. Clarke had conversations with senior players who expressed their views and a conclusion was reached. This approach would generally be regarded as good management but somehow its been turned into some kind of revoult on here.

 

Pretty sure in an interview not long after the Euros that Clarke himself said Robertson phoned him to voice his concerns.

[Caledonian Craig]

I stand corrected as I found a YouTube interview from Andy Robertson answering questions on this topic from a year ago. It was a collective assessment of the tournament (Euro 24) with management and players picking over where they went wrong. I would imagine every country's team does that so nothing unusual there.

Edited July 19 by Caledonian Craig

[BryanBlessed]

5 hours ago, bdgsct said:

Been saying this for a while. 

 

It's fine if performances and results are good. As soon as it goes bad, you get the fringe players turning against the Clarke loyalists who are the biggest beneficieries. Even within the regulars group you got the feeling that those publicly supporting Clarke were doing so recognising it to be generally good for morale rather than genuinely believing it - it was a bit of a cult mentality. McTominay probably showed his frustration on the pitch more than anyone else during qualifying - notable that he didn't do any interviews during the world cup.

Yes and no player is going to give anything but public support to Clarke both before and after his resignation. Let's face it, if it had been on form and ability, Tierney would have started over Robertson, Miller would have been in ahead of Fletcher and Hanley and Dykes wouldn't have been near the squad. I see the point that you need a club atmosphere but it got taken too far.

I know vidéos aren't going to show the squad doing tactical stuff but I thought they all looked a little bit too comfortable in the WC training footage from the USA.

All that money the SFA spent on facilities in the USA now looks like it was just wasted.

 

[BryanBlessed]

7 hours ago, DoonTheSlope said:

Exactly. The complete wrong yin John Carver went into a press conference and made a huge song and dance about it claiming that he’ll learn from making such comments

There was also talk on here of the “senior players” having Clarkes ear. I’m only putting 2 and 2 together here but I reckon a few of those “senior players” maybe had their noses put out of joint

I agree with this. I also got the impression from 28 summers that BGD wasn't à huge fan of some of the more senior players (he talked about constant piss taking but you could tell he wasn't a huge fan of it). I'm sure McGinn made a comment about having to put him in his place à few times, too. If you look back to McGinn's goal against Croatia, he's the only one who didn't acknowledge BGD's contribution. 

I think it's time for a new captain and a clear out.

 

[Ally Bongo]

20 minutes ago, BryanBlessed said:

All that money the SFA spent on facilities in the USA now looks like it was just wasted.

 

They'll get it back by giving their support to Infantino 

[Yosemite Sam]

6 hours ago, DoonTheSlope said:

Not by much!

Morocco weren't better than them by much either!

[Caledonian Craig]

20 minutes ago, Yosemite Sam said:

Morocco weren't better than them by much either!

Perhaps because Haiti had a go. We did not. Desperately frustrating. It was like having your face slapped repeatedly yet standing their and meekly taking it.

 

[gkm_vancouver]

I'm sure I read there was a spat between Hendry and McTominay both in the camp and in the Morocco game

[Robbo `81]

It's probably unconnected and I'm over thinking but even in the initial euphoric aftermath of the Denmark win, McTominay & Teirney telling / gestyring at team mates to stay away from them after their goals never sat well with me.

 

Hardly the in line with the  'club atmosphere' 'hit one hit all' ethos they were all trying so hard to portray.

[Diamond Scot]

1 hour ago, Robbo `81 said:

It's probably unconnected and I'm over thinking but even in the initial euphoric aftermath of the Denmark win, McTominay & Teirney telling / gestyring at team mates to stay away from them after their goals never sat well with me.

 

Hardly the in line with the  'club atmosphere' 'hit one hit all' ethos they were all trying so hard to portray.

Utter nonsense and just looking for stories where there arent any. 

To start with its not uncommon for players to gesture players away after scoring a good goal as they are running towards a specific person. In McTominays case he was running to point towards his mum. Cant remember who Tierney wanted to get to but they were in the techincal area.

[BryanBlessed]

On 7/20/2026 at 5:50 PM, gkm_vancouver said:

I'm sure I read there was a spat between Hendry and McTominay both in the camp and in the Morocco game

I know they were having a argument during the hydration break but I don't think it was anything else. The players were probably just frustrated that they were losing àd at the way Clarke had set them up.

[Robbo `81]

13 minutes ago, Diamond Scot said:

Utter nonsense and just looking for stories where there arent any. 

To start with its not uncommon for players to gesture players away after scoring a good goal as they are running towards a specific person. In McTominays case he was running to point towards his mum. Cant remember who Tierney wanted to get to but they were in the techincal area.

I know it's not uncommon, and I know why McTominay was doing it, but I still don't like it - it doesn't send the message of a good team mate, more a 'look at me' type

 

Ridiculous as it seems to say now if we'd got to the knock out stages and ended up in a penalty shoot out, who'd be the 1st people to support McTominay had he missed the crucial penalty ? 

 

Not his precious Mum - His team-mates.

 

Win together, lose together, celebrate together. Act like a team, don't just talk a good game

[kumnio]

Dont believe any of this TBH.

Im all for a bit of Clarke bashing, but the squad seemed to be together and pretty happy from my POV.

[Diamond Scot]

1 hour ago, Robbo `81 said:

I know it's not uncommon, and I know why McTominay was doing it, but I still don't like it - it doesn't send the message of a good team mate, more a 'look at me' type

 

Ridiculous as it seems to say now if we'd got to the knock out stages and ended up in a penalty shoot out, who'd be the 1st people to support McTominay had he missed the crucial penalty ? 

 

Not his precious Mum - His team-mates.

 

Win together, lose together, celebrate together. Act like a team, don't just talk a good game

I think players would be far more interested in what type of person McTominay is than being concerned that he wanted to have a moment with his mum after scoring the best and most important goal of his career. Like cooking for an international teammate every night for months to help them settle into a new country.

 

[kumnio]

Just listened to the Hampden Roar podcast, the host is an ardent Clarke fan, he has seen texts from a player unhappy after the Hungary game saying he didn’t have a clue what they were trying to do. Also says that a group of players feel his approach in finals want good enough. 

Don’t think any of that would be controversial at all. 

[The Black Bra]

3 hours ago, kumnio said:

Just listened to the Hampden Roar podcast, the host is an ardent Clarke fan, he has seen texts from a player unhappy after the Hungary game saying he didn’t have a clue what they were trying to do. Also says that a group of players feel his approach in finals want good enough. 

Don’t think any of that would be controversial at all. 

Is that podcast worth a listen? Listen to Open Goal, I enjoy it sometimes have to skip part the first 20 mins or so of nonsense to get the actual football discussion. Wasn’t sure if there was much of an alternative. The BBC one is pretty dry.

[kumnio]

7 minutes ago, The Black Bra said:

Is that podcast worth a listen? Listen to Open Goal, I enjoy it sometimes have to skip part the first 20 mins or so of nonsense to get the actual football discussion. Wasn’t sure if there was much of an alternative. The BBC one is pretty dry.

I stopped listening to Open Goal about 3-4 years ago, it stopped being about football and turned into isnt Slaney a funny prick podcast, with nothing about football.

Hampden Roar is good, usually has decent people on it. They were a bit too positive towards Clarke for the last few years for my liking 😂, but it's generally a good informative entertaining listen.

[gkm_vancouver]

Hampden Roar podcast made some good points especially on tactics. Too many times the player on the ball was looking for options and not getting much response apart from passing back. May not be due to an unhappy camp but more likely poor coaching and lack of understanding of gameplan

[mariokempes]

8 hours ago, gkm_vancouver said:

Hampden Roar podcast made some good points especially on tactics. Too many times the player on the ball was looking for options and not getting much response apart from passing back. May not be due to an unhappy camp but more likely poor coaching and lack of understanding of gameplan

There was no gameplan,  never. The few decent results were luck, things must come together maybe once every 10 games.  If you look at all games that stat , 1 in 10 , is about right.

[AlfieMoon]

22 hours ago, kumnio said:

Just listened to the Hampden Roar podcast, the host is an ardent Clarke fan, he has seen texts from a player unhappy after the Hungary game saying he didn’t have a clue what they were trying to do. Also says that a group of players feel his approach in finals want good enough. 

Don’t think any of that would be controversial at all. 

I would never have the host down as an ardent Clarke fan at all. 

I keep wanting to give fans podcasts a chance but when the guy’s first reflection on the World Cup is to complain within the first 10 mins of the podcast about paying $25 for 2 coronas then it gives you an insight into the dourness of your average Scotland fan willing to pick up a microphone. Then you’ve got the other guy mentioning Kevin Nisbet about 5 times. 😆