The countdown is well and truly on for Euro 2024 and manager Steve Clarke is already beginning to draft up his potential Scotland squad for matches against Germany, Switzerland and Hungary.
With just under five months to go until the opening match of the tournament against the hosts at the Allianz Arena, excitement is building, but Clarke is well aware that some of his Scotland stars will be left disappointed.
Clarke can take just 23 players to Germany, which means some squad regulars will be missing from the flight. But with inevitable injuries, dips in form and late surges to come, the Hampden manager is not losing sleep over selection headaches right at this moment.
Clarke himself has openly reflected on his frustrations after being left out of Scotland’s squad heading to France 98 and with that in mind, he will have plenty of sympathy for those who miss out.
He explained: “I was in a huff. Listen, I understand it. I get it. When I do have to make those decisions at least the players will know I do have empathy for them, because I have been in that situation myself.
“But like I said before, there is a long way to go before you get there, so I am not going to beat myself up for the next six months wondering what is going to happen, because players will get injured, maybe somebody will turn up who you think ‘he’ll make us better’, and that’s without going down the line of the Newcastle players, and all the rest of it, it is just that something might turn up, you never know.
“So no, I am not going to beat myself up. It will be a really tough decision. But one that, if I am being honest, I look forward to making, because that’s my job.
“Loyalty is part of it, but with that loyalty must come performances. So long as they are performing for me and for the country then the loyalty can be rewarded. If the performances are not there it’s more difficult to be loyal.
“It’s going to be a difficult 23-man selection. As my coaches keep telling me, that’s why I get paid the big bucks!
“I have to make the big call - I have to make the judgements - and hopefully I get it right.
“It usually happens that you lose two players to injury before the tournament. We lost Ryan Jack and Kenny McLean last time.
“On average that’s what happens, fingers crossed it doesn’t happen this time and then I just have to make the big calls.”
Back in 1998, as Clarke reflected, he was left out of Scotland’s squad heading to France by manager Craig Brown and he was also close to being given the nod for Italia 90.
Asked if he was given a call about being left out from the SFA, Clarke said: “Not in 1998. But I was also very close to being selected for Italia 90 with Andy Roxburgh. We took a 26 man squad to Genoa in February for a pre-camp and I was in it.
“I didn’t go in the summer because, at the time, I was having issues at Chelsea. I wasn’t playing regularly.
“Andy just phoned me up and said, ‘Listen, if you are not playing with Chelsea then I can’t pick you,’.
“I even fell out with Bobby Campbell, who was my manager at Chelsea at that time, because he wouldn’t pick me!
“I’d been called up for the 1-1 game against Norway when we qualified. I just sat on the bench that night. Big Erland Johnsen scored for Norway, who I played with at Chelsea.
“I got a late call up against Everton and got a late winner and we went top of the league that day. We had been relegated two years earlier!
“The 1990 one was actually closer than 1998 because by that time I had more or less given up.
“I was struggling with a couple of injuries and Ruud Gullit called me up and said ‘Do you want to come and coach with me at Newcastle?’ I said, ‘Aye alright!’. I suppose it all worked out in the end!
“Craig Brown did cap me in 1994 against Holland in the last game before they went to the World Cup.
“But I just felt that between 1994 and 1998 I was playing some of the best football I ever played because I was playing with better players and I was in a really good place.
“I felt my versatility might get me into the squad, but Craig had other ideas! I didn’t really understand at the time. But now I understand completely.”
One man who is fighting for a seat on the plane like Clarke was back in the day is defender Grant Hanley. The Norwich City man has been a regular starter during Clarke’s time as Scotland boss, but he has been struggling with injuries in recent times.
Clarke insists Hanley is not out of the picture just yet, and he has urged the 32-year-old to do all he can to ensure he is fit and available for selection.
The Scotland manager added: “He is always in my thoughts, he lives in there! Grant is fine, he was just about fit to play a couple of weeks ago when he did his hamstring. He has another wee spell on the sidelines.
“That’s why Kenny McLean played the other day at centre half for Norwich.
“They won and I am always telling Kenny in training, ‘You could play until you’re 40 as a centre half,’. But I didn’t expect him to start this early!”
