STEVE CLARKE
Three years ago, Steve Clarke was no one’s hot tip to take Scotland to within touching distance of a first major tournament since France 98. The Ayrshireman was already disillusioned after his spells in charge of West Bromwich Albion and Reading ended badly, and when he left his post as Roberto Di Matteo’s No.2 at Aston Villa in October 2016, he spent a year out of the game and wasn’t sure he had the appetite to return.
“I said to myself, ‘That’s it, I just can’t be bothered – it’s not worth it’,” Clarke tells FFT inside an executive box perched high above Hampden Park. “Financially I was OK. Then, slowly, you watch five minutes of a match, then 10, and then suddenly you’re watching every game on the telly again.”
Clarke’s fortunes changed in October 2017 when he made a calculated gamble to take over at Kilmarnock. In under two seasons, he transformed them from Scottish Premiership bottom-feeders to 3rd-placed Europa League qualifiers. Such was his impact, Clarke was a shoo-in for the Scotland job following Alex McLeish’s ill-fated second spell, which ended shortly after a 3-0 humiliation in Kazakhstan in the first Euro 2020 qualifier.
In the wake of that calamity, the campaign was an uphill
