Steve Clarke has revealed that he always intended quitting Scotland if he didn’t lead the team out of the group stage at the World Cup.
The 62-year-old told the SFA hierarchy on Saturday that he was ending his seven-year reign after it was confirmed that the national team had failed to get out of a section containing Brazil, Morocco and Haiti.
The shock announcement came exactly a month after he signed a new four-year contract that would have incorporated Euro 2028 and the 2030 World Cup.
Explaining his reasons for walking away in an interview the SFA released on YouTube, the Ayrshireman insisted that he was always minded to do so if he failed to become the first manager to take the team to the knockout round of a major competition.
‘What I wanted to make sure was that when I felt it was time to step away, it was time to step away,’ he said.
‘Signing the contract before (the World Cup) was a case of trying to give a little bit of comfort to the players knowing that we could continue the journey.
Steve Clarke says he always intended to quit if he failed to lead Scotland out of the group stage
‘I always had in my head that, if we didn’t come out of the group, which is something that we’ve tried to do across three tournaments now, I always had in my head that if that didn’t happen then it was probably the right time to step away.
‘Obviously if we’d managed to get that extra point and got out of the group then I’d probably have stayed on and tried to do another tournament.’
Asked if it was an easy decision, Clarke said: ‘In some respects it was easy because I already had in my head what I wanted to achieve as a head coach. I’d also ticked all the boxes.
‘I wanted to go to a major tournament with my country. I did that with the Euros. The first Euros (in 2021) was a little bit not the Euros because it was Covid-affected.
‘The second Euros was great. The tournament didn’t go as we wanted, but getting to Germany was fantastic. My lifelong ambition was to do a World Cup with my country. I’ve done that, so not a bad time to step aside.’
Scotland’s final group game had ended in a 3-0 defeat to Brazil in Miami, but the squad returned to their base in Charlotte still with some hope of qualifying if results in other sections went their way.
When Croatia’s win over Ghana on Saturday confirmed the team’s elimination, Clarke called a team meeting for 7.15pm when he broke the news.
‘It’s obviously an emotional moment when you tell your players that you’re stepping away after such a journey together,’ he added.
‘I think seven or eight of them have been with me from the start, right the way through.
‘It was very important to me that the players knew first, and obviously just before I went into the meeting, I had to tell my captain (Andy Robertson) because I knew that he’d want to say a few words back to me.’
Skipper Andy Robertson packs his bags after Scotland’s World Cup exit was confirmed
Despite the backlash to Scotland’s group-stage performance, Clarke is adamant he had a ‘brilliant’ World Cup experience.
‘I said I was going to enjoy it,’ he said. ‘Coming out for the Haiti game with the Scotland fans there in their thousands and my family in the stands was just the best moment.
‘The next two games were tough. We played difficult opponents. Morocco and Brazil, both of them can go really deep in the tournament and we competed with them, no matter what other people might say. We competed, both games were competitive.
‘We showed a lot of character and we played some good stuff. We didn’t find the quality in the final third of the pitch, but I could maybe say that across the whole seven years we’ve always been chasing and trying to find that quality in the final third of the pitch – and I hope my successor manages to do that.’
Assessing his time in charge, a ‘100 per cent proud’ Clarke believes he achieved his goal ‘to change the mentality round the group’ and give them belief that they can compete at the highest level.
‘We’ll become part of Scottish folklore as we move forward,’ he predicted. ‘People will be talking about some of these matches, some of these occasions right into the next century.
‘Everybody keeps saying this core group’s finished. They’re not finished yet, because they can all make it for Euro 2028.’
It’s understood that Clarke waived any claim to compensation from the four-year deal.
Speaking before the charter returned to Scotland, SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell claimed nothing was off the table as the SFA begin the process of identifying Clarke’s successor.
SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell says they’ll cast the net far and wide in search of a successor
Ange Postecoglou, David Moyes and Alex Neil are among the names to have been linked with the post already.
‘Football’s a very, very small world,’ Maxwell said.
‘I’ve woken up this morning to a few messages from people that are interested in the job.
‘Nothing’s off the table. We need to cast the net as far and wide as we can. It’s about getting the right coach, it’s not about necessarily where they come from. There’s a lot of good managers out there and it’s up to us to make sure that we pick the right one.
‘The succession planning starts now.’
Scotland’s next games will be against North Macedonia, Slovenia and Switzerland in the autumn’s Nations League fixtures.
