As momentous as the first squad announcement for a World Cup in 28 years felt, there was never a ghost of a chance that jaws across the nation would collectively drop when word came out on Tuesday morning.
Nothing if not fiercely loyal to players who’ve been good for him, Steve Clarke’s success as Scotland manager has been founded upon familiarity breeding a club spirit in the international environment.
That always meant that those championing the cause of left-field candidates on the basis of recent performances were always going to be largely disappointed.
Clarke is mindful of form – as evidenced by a recall for Southampton’s Ross Stewart – but is equally conscious of what others have previously produced in Dark Blue.
Angus Gunn, Grant Hanley, Anthony Ralston and John Souttar will among those thankful that the Ayrshireman doesn’t dig out his red pen simply because an individual is light on games at club level.
For reasons best known to him, the manager refrained from calling up the 26 men who will travel to play Haiti, Morocco and Brazil with the respective clubs tasked with passing on the joyous news.
Scotland head coach Steve Clarke has named his 26-man squad for the World Cup
He took the hard part on his shoulders – speaking directly to the five who dropped out of the party from the friendlies with Japan and Ivory Coast.
Having himself been cut late on from the squad for Italia 90 by Andy Roxburgh, he’d a sense of dread about picking up the phone to Scott Bain, Lennon Miller, Tommy Conway (injured), Andy Irving and Ross McCrorie.
‘I think they get more difficult,’ he said. ‘I’ve been there myself, I understand how disappointing it is to be told that you’ve just missed out on the final selection.
‘All those players have been very close. There’s a number of players across the campaign who have had fantastic seasons, who will also be disappointed that they’re not in the squad.
‘I fully respect the disappointment, but they also have to understand that I’m the head coach I can only pick 26.’
There was still a degree of surprise in the identity of some of the party who would be considered back-ups.
Bain’s played 40 times for club Falkirk and Scotland in goal this season. Rangers’ Liam Kelly’s turned out four times and Hearts’ Craig Gordon’s taken to the pitch on five occasions.
Yet it’s Bain who misses out – with the others two keepers left to challenge Gunn, who himself has played just once for Nottingham Forest and six times overall.
‘It’s always difficult when you’ve got goalkeepers who are not playing regularly,’ Clarke explained.
‘As long as goalkeepers are working to their maximum in training, you feel they can come in and play for a number of games.’
Gordon was in goal that famous night against Denmark, but he’s now 43 and injury has meant he’s not been in Hearts’ squad since mid-February at Ibrox.
‘We’ve had him monitored and we have had good reports back from Hearts,’ Clarke said.
Ross Stewart’s prolific form for Southampton has earned him a World Cup call
‘Obviously, we can change the goalkeeper at any time across the tournament. If Craig was to struggle a little bit with injury – which hopefully he won’t, and we are pretty certain that he won’t do that – we can always have the option to change him.
‘Angus played in an under-23 game down in England last week just to get some match practice, so he has had a little bit of that.
‘And Liam is in there because he is a very good third goalkeeper. He is good around the squad, the players respect him and he works ever so hard in camp.
‘When I go away, I will put a young goalkeeper into the squad as a training goalkeeper.’
Clarke has selected 10 defenders and has opted for just eight midfielders which has allowed him to take five forwards.
With the engine room the area with the most depth, the exclusion of Lennon Miller is no slight on the Udinese player.
‘Because Lennon is so young, it was the most difficult,’ Clarke said.
‘He’d been in a few squads and maybe felt he was going to be a regular.
‘But I just felt with the balance of the midfield it was better to take an extra forward than an extra midfield player.’
It says much that retention of Findlay Curtis came as no surprise. The winger forced his way into the full squad for the first time in March on the back of starring on loan from Rangers to Kilmarnock. Since then, his trajectory has only been upward.
‘Young players need to play football if they want to improve,’ said the manager.
‘And sometimes that comes by making big decisions I think for Findlay to make a decision to leave Rangers in January and go and play at Kilmarnock shows you, that if you make the right choice at the right time and then you have the ability to back up that decision, then things can work in your favour.’
Rangers’ Findlay Curtis has been named in the squad after a sparkling loan at Kilmarnock
If anyone was deserving of good news it was surely Stewart. If it wasn’t for bad luck with injuries in recent times, he’d have no luck at all.
A chance to add to the two caps the 29-year-old won four years ago comes on the back of a fine season with Southampton which has seen him score 11 goals and nine since January.
‘He’s hit a rich vein of form where he’s shown that he can score big goals in big games,’ Clarke said.
‘I’d probably reference the Arsenal game in the FA Cup where he showed he can have an impact on games of that level.
‘The World Cup will be a very high level as well. He’s also shown he can score from the bench.
‘He’s a striker in form so I decided to add him to the group. He fitted in very well the last time he was in it. You know I put a lot of importance on characters within the group.’
Right now, the smart money would be on Lawrence Shankland starting against Haiti in Boston.
The Hearts skipper has had another superb season, only to experience a gut-wrenching finale at Celtic Park.
Clarke insists Lawrence Shankland will bounce back after a painful end to the season with Hearts
The Scotland manager harbours no concerns about a lingering hangover.
‘In my experience, footballers are very resilient,’ he added. ‘They understand the lows are more painful than the highs are enjoyable.
‘It will take him a few days and a few chats, but he just needs to decompress a little bit now.’
Clarke confirmed that unnamed individuals are on a standby list which can be utilised up to 24 hours before the first game if there’s a serious injury.
But, with any luck, the 26 will emerge unscathed from the friendlies with Curacao and Bolivia and be ready to play their parts when the curtain comes up. It’s in their gift to be history makers.
‘I understand the magnitude of the tournament and the responsibility we’ve got to go there and produce our very best. That’s what we’ll aim to do,’ added Clarke.
‘I’ve got great confidence in the players and hopefully we can do what no Scotland team has done before.’
