STEVE Clarke last night revealed he has sensed an unhappiness among the senior members of the Scotland squad about being marginalised by his predecessor Alex McLeish since taking over as manager last week.
Clarke, who yesterday named his squad for the Euro 2020 qualifiers against Cyprus and Belgium next month, has spent his first week in his new job speaking to players he was unsure that he could call up.
James McArthur, Matt Ritchie and Robert Snodgrass will not be involved in the Group I double header. Elsewhere, David Bates, Ryan Christie, Liam Cooper, Barry Douglas, and Ryan Jack are injured. Steven Fletcher is being allowed to rest while John Fleck is getting married. Elsewhere, Barry Bannan has not been selected on this occasion.
But Tom Cairney, the Fulham midfielder who was tipped to switch his allegiances to England earlier this season, and David Marshall, the Hull City goalkeeper, have both been brought back.
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The new national coach stressed the timing of the games at the end of the season is not ideal and expressed optimism that other players who had previously asked not to be considered will choose to come back in future.
McLeish blooded a host of young players when he succeeded Gordon Strachan after the failed Russia 2018 qualifying campaign and David Bates, Ryan Christie, Ryan Fraser, Scott McKenna, Scott McTominay and John Souttar all came to the fore during his tenure.
But Clarke told how he had detected ill-feeling among senior players about their lack of involvement under McLeish, whose team topped their Nations League group and secured a Euro 2020 play-off place, and vowed to address their concerns.
“It’s difficult for me after seven or eight days in the job to talk about what happened before,” he said. “Some of the more senior ones felt after the qualifying campaign under Gordon they’d been pushed aside a wee bit. That’s something we can work on.
“Hopefully in the next 10 days, I’ll come out with a better understanding of what might have been the issues that caused the last camp to be quite negative. We have to get a positive camp and the only way we come out with that is results.”
Clarke is hopeful that making a positive start to his tenure both in the build-up and in the Euro 2020 qualifiers will tempt those currently pondering their futures to commit to their country once more.
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“If the players enjoy working with us, they might phone their mates and say ‘it’s not bad here now’ you might get a few more back," he said. "It’s a really important week and if we can make it enjoyable, with good information for the players, they can phone or WhatsApp their mates and get a few more involved."
Asked about the discussions he has held, Clarke said: “I have got a better idea, I haven’t got a final idea. It will take some more conversations. I think it’s better to do it that way than to close everything on a three or four minute phone call.
“But it has been 90 per cent positive. I’m not sitting here thinking ‘Oh my God, what’s happening?’ I look forward to continuing some of the conversations.
“I think there is conversations to be had on every single one of them if I’m being honest. Like I said before when I came in, I’m not going to close the door on anybody. If it takes two or three conversations and I feel that they are the right people to help the squad, to make the squad better, then I am prepared to keep trying.
“I’ve spent a lot of time on my phone. The SFA can look forward to a nice big bill. I’ve had some good ones. Tom Cairney for one. I phoned Tom up and he immediately said ‘Yeah, I’m coming. When’s the camp?’
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"It was just ‘Great to hear from you.’ We had a general chat about his season at Fulham and he indicated he would be delighted to be involved in this squad. So he made it, he is in."
Asked how much time he would give players to decide if they wanted to be involved with Scotland, Clarke said: “How long is a piece of string? You always try and get the best players in your squad, and that is what we will try to do.”
Clarke confirmed that Alex Dyer, his assistant at Kilmarnock, would be his No.2 while Steven Reid, the Republic of Ireland internationalist who played under him at West Brom and was on his coaching staff at Reading, would join his backroom team.
Billy Thomson, who was Clarke’s goalkeeping coach at Rugby Park, will be part of the set-up until Stevie Woods returns from holiday in midweek.
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