Why Tartan army pine for Postecoglou over cautious Clarke

The National

a day ago

The mock-ups of the big Aussie clad in tartan were sparked by the dismal display from the Scottish national team in their defeat to Iceland. An end of season friendly, which thanks to tickets being priced at up to £45 a skull was played out in front of 20,000-odd empty seats at Hampden, hardly needed a dose of Steve Clarke pragmatism to make it any less of an enticing prospect.
That's what the Tartan Army got though, with the Scotland manager stringing five across the back and a lone striker up top against a side who had recently been turned over by Kosovo. Which is fine, if you win, but a demoralising 3-1 defeat that left Clarke's record standing at just four wins from his last 21 games had the sgian dubhs out for the national team's head coach.
Not only was there a clamour for the Scottish FA to relieve Clarke of his duties, but also a mini clamour to replace him with the recently sacked Postecoglou. Or, if you like, the anti-Clarke.
(Image: SNS Group) The obstacles in appointing the former Celtic manager as Clarke's replacement, coming as he is out of a job at Tottenham Hotspur where he trousered around £5m a year, are obvious. Clarke is the highest paid Scotland manager in history, at around a tenth of that figure.
The hefty payoff from Spurs may have convinced Postecoglou that he can move into semi-retirement by going back to international football, and he has been linked with a short-term sojourn in Italy to help the Azzurri navigate the departure of Luciano Spalletti, in fairness. But I'd say the prospect of him returning to Glasgow any time soon - at least to Hampden - are remote at best.
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Not forgetting the inconvenient fact that both SFA president Mike Mulraney and CEO Ian Maxwell have not the slightest desire to remove Clarke from his position, believing steadfastly that he 'deserves the chance' to take his country to a World Cup. No matter if his presence reduces the chances that the rest of us will get to enjoy one.
What the Scotland fans calling for Postecoglou were really saying though was that they want a manager who will go on the front foot. Who will look to make the most of the talented players Scotland now undoubtedly have at their disposal, rather than filling them with the fear of God by setting them up so defensively.
The Tartan Army have watched Scott McTominay, Billy Gilmour and Lewis Ferguson not only impress in Serie A, but stand out, and win things. That these guys are Scottish is a source of huge excitement, but the feeling among the rank and file is that Clarke doesn't know how to set them up in order to replicate their dazzling club form into the international arena. Instead of swaggering onto the field, they are stymied.
Compare and contrast the approach of Wales against Belgium on Monday night under Craig Bellamy. In his pre-match press conference, the former Celtic striker laid out in no uncertain terms that his team wouldn't be going to Brussels to camp in or take a backwards step.
Now, granted, they were soon pinned back in any case and went 3-0 down in a nightmare opening 25-minute spell. But even then, Bellamy resisted the temptation to tighten things up and simply look to stem the bleeding.
Instead, a goal back from the penalty spot just before half time reinvigorated his team, and he sent them out in the second half to go for the jugular. Thrillingly, they deservedly clawed the score back level, before Kevin De Bruyne broke their hearts late on by hitting a winner.
Ultimately, they lost the game. But you ask any Wales fan their view of Bellamy and his approach, and they will tell you resoundingly that their manager got it spot on.
Clarke is sometimes unfairly maligned. Overall, he was the right man at the right time for Scotland, and his work in getting the nation back to the European Championships not once, but twice, should mean that he has earned the gratitude of the nation for his service.
But once, where his caution was an asset, it has now become the noose around his neck. After a bafflingly conservative approach to the must-win game against Hungary at the Euros, where history was there to be made, he had to show a response. And in the Nations League, he did latterly look to play some more expansive football, shifting to a back four and earning some good results.
But when it came to the crunch in the second leg of the Nations League relegation playoff against Greece, his old cautious instincts cost him again. The only change he made from the energy-sapping first leg win in Athens was to take Ferguson out of the midfield for 33-year-old Kenny McLean. The Greeks, by contrast, made six changes, and ran over the top of his side.
(Image: Alan Harvey - SNS Group) In a home friendly against Iceland, to revert to his old back five to shoehorn Kieran Tierney into the team seemed like a frustrating, retrograde step. And was a worrying portent for how he may look to approach the World Cup qualifiers.
The 4-0 win over Liechtenstein on Monday evening with a good old fashioned 4-4-2 has to be caveated against the level of the opposition, but at least there were some promising signs within it.
Lennon Miller got his first start, and impressed in the midfield. There were five debuts in all, though only emergency keeper Ross Doohan was on from the start. Josh Doig caught the eye, getting half an hour or so along with Andy Irving, but Connor Barron and Kieron Bowie might have expected more than 13 minutes to impress against such lowly opponents and with Scotland in cruise control.
Even in this, there was this nagging whiff of conservatism from Clarke at which many among the Tartan Army are now turning up their nose.
He could do with blowing away that stench by going out on the front foot in the World Cup qualifiers, and if this is to be his last campaign, as he has intimated it is likely to be, at least go out on his sword.
Failure to get to the World Cup is one thing, and quite possible given that Greece and Denmark are in Scotland's section. Failure to have a go, and at least give this group of players a chance, will be more difficult to forgive.
Clarke has nothing left to lose but his legacy. Fairly or not, he will likely be remembered for how he approaches this World Cup. If he makes it, he will be a legend, and his critics will bow to him. As will the Tartan Army.
If he fails, and does so by playing cautious football, he will enrage the fans, and it will be a sad end to his reign.
He may as well go out swinging.