It’s probably no bad thing that Steve Clarke wasn’t wandering the corridors of the Scotland team hotel in the early hours of Wednesday.
Also in residence, after her sell-out show at the Hydro on the latest leg of The Lifetimes Tour, was one Katy Perry, global superstar and seller of 151 million records and counting. Sometimes, it’s better that two worlds do not collide.
‘Was she?’ the Scotland manager said quizzically. ‘I didn’t know she was there. I’ve heard the name and I’m sure if you played me a couple of her songs I’d say, “I recognise that one”.
‘But I couldn’t name you one of her songs — that’s no disrespect to Katy. But I’m from a different generation.’
Would he recognise her?
‘Eh, no. And she wouldn’t recognise me!’
Steve Clarke and the Scotland team were staying at the same hotel as Katy Perry
The pop icon was performing at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro this week
Clarke insists his focus, however, is on the World Cup qualifier against Greece at Hampden
There was no call then, for a musical icon to put an extra spring in the players’ steps with impromptu renditions of some of her big hits. Who needs a Teenage Dream when an appearance at the World Cup is so close to being the reality?
The mood music surrounding Clarke is certainly more upbeat than the last time Greece were in town.
Having won by a goal in Piraeus in the first leg of the Nations League play-off back in March, Scotland produced one of the most dismal displays of the manager’s tenure when they lost 3-0 at Hampden. Talk about a team being Hot N Cold.
There were two takeaways from that match. Firstly, that Scotland were not nearly as bad as the display suggested. Secondly, that their opponents were possibly not quite as good. The manager’s remedy tonight is simple.
‘Play better,’ he shrugged. ‘In the last game, we gave away goals which are not really in our make-up. We don’t normally defend and give goals away like we did.’
No one emerged from that episode with any credit. Clarke includes himself in that bracket.
‘We had just been to Greece and won the game,’ he said. ‘I spoke about it at the time — maybe I should have made two or three more changes just to freshen the squad up a little bit. They made six changes and looked a little bit fresher on the night than we did.
‘That’s not the case this time. We have pretty much as strong a squad as we can have and the lads will be ready for it. Hopefully, it will be a different game and a different outcome.’
Football managers are normally disinclined to dwell too much on the past. Given how badly Scotland played so recently against tonight’s opponents, Clarke has no option.
‘Is it a good thing?’ he pondered. ‘It is never a good thing getting beat 3-0 at home. Maybe going in it has focused everyone’s mind a little bit more.
‘We had gone to Greece and won out there and maybe I did not make enough changes. I take that on the chin. The players did not quite hit the heights that they had before. So, if this is a chance to make amends, then hopefully that is what we do.’
A draw with Denmark and a win over Belarus at the outset of this campaign has softened the blow of relegation from League A. It’s been a promising start, one which will look all the better if it’s ballasted by another two victories.
Despite the truncated nature of the qualifying campaign, Clarke doesn’t necessarily subscribe to the view that a win in each home game is mandatory.
‘Just try and pick up as many points as we can,’ he said. ‘Obviously, three would be better than one. Would one be a disaster? Probably not, but we want to win both games.
‘We have given ourselves a great platform with the first two away games and we want to cement that by winning the two home games.’
The last time Greece were in town they won 3-0, with Christos Tzolis grabbing the third goal
Greece’s three-goal loss at home to Denmark last time out sees them arrive in Glasgow in a tricky position. While another defeat would be a hammer blow to their hopes of topping the section, Clarke contends that it wouldn’t eliminate them.
‘No, because after this game there are still nine points up for grabs,’ he stressed. ‘Nobody in this room would have thought that Denmark would go to Greece and win 3-0.
‘So, it’s a section which has shown that there can be some strange results. The teams are quite equally matched.
‘I wouldn’t be surprised if Greece go to Copenhagen and win. That’s the reality of where we are.
‘So, even if we beat them, I don’t think they’re dead because there are still nine points to play for.
‘It’s better for us just to concentrate on the first game and make sure that our performance is better than it was in March and make sure it’s good enough to take the three points.’
Ivan Jovanovic’s team is young and exciting, yet unpredictable. Having strolled to victory at Hampden seven months ago, it seems unlikely that they will be fazed by returning.
‘Most players now at this level will be used to hostile atmospheres,’ Clarke said. ‘And especially the lads coming out of Greek football because there are some tasty games over there.’
The Scotland players have been subjected to watching a rerun of that horror show this week. They’ll have needed no one to tell them how far removed it was from the miserly displays which took them all the way to the last Euros.
Last month, Clarke called on the squad to get back to being ‘horrible’ to play against. They duly delivered. Same again, will be the call tonight.
‘We have to do what we are good at,’ he stressed. ‘When we defend the way we did in Denmark and show the attitude we showed against Belarus, we’re at our best.
‘We have to work as hard as we can. We have to be very humble, get out there on the pitch, be very organised, work as hard as we can and show our qualities. Hopefully, that’s enough to set us on our way to where we want to be.’
The Scots will be desperate to avoid a repeat of that defeat to Greece back in March
Much has been made of the fact that this, in all probability, will be Clarke’s last campaign as manager and certainly his final opportunity to reach a World Cup.
Yet the same applies to his 30-somethings — Andy Robertson, Grant Hanley and Ryan Christie among them.
‘They understand how close they got the last time in World Cup qualifying,’ said the manager. ‘It was a really good qualifying campaign. The play-off game (Ukraine) did not go our way.
‘There’s a feeling they should already have had that World Cup experience, but they haven’t. This is the next chance.
‘I know you’re saying they are old, but they are not as old as me. If you look, it’s 1998 since we were last there. So, every chance we have to look at as a last chance. So why not do it this time?’
