Ex Hearts boss calls for Scotland plan as SFA urged to make decision on Steve Clarke's future before World Cup
The former Rangers and Everton star believes a contingency plan must be put in place before the summer.
Steven Naismith believes the SFA must make an immediate decision on Steve Clarke’s future as Scotland National Team boss, ‘preferably’ before the World Cup.
The 62-year old’s seven-year reign as Scotland boss is edging closer to its conclusion, with his current contract expiring after this summer’s World Cup in Canada, America and Mexico. After decades of ‘glorious failure’, Clarke has taken the National Team to two European Championships and now, a World Cup finals, making him the most successful manager since the turn of the century.
The SFA haven’t opened any potential new contract negotiations as of yet with the Scotland boss, who has stated in the past that he’s ‘50/50’ on the thought of staying on longer, with the attraction of going back to club football also appealing. Former Hearts man Naismith, who currently works under Clarke in the coaching setup, believes the SFA should make a decision on Clarke’s future in the next few months.
Clarke contract talks pre-World Cup ‘preferable’
He told BBC Sportsound: “The manager is professional and I think whenever he leaves Scotland, he wants it to continue, he wants this getting to major tournaments to continue, he wants getting younger players through into the national team to continue, so every conversation has been about the long term.
“He's been in the role for a long time, which you sometimes hear of some managers saying it suits them, they like the tempo of it, the environment of it. But as I said it's a two-way thing, the SFA need to have their plan and what they want to do going forward.
“When that comes I'm sure they'll all sit down and work it out. The other aspect of it is, in modern day football there's no rest, so after the World Cup we’re straight into the Nations League, so I think for everybody, something getting sorted out before the tournament would be preferable.”
McInnes on lack of Hearts representation in Scotland squad
Scotland will face Japan and Ivory Coast over the next fortnight in International friendlies designed to give Clarke a chance to experiment with his side before they face Haiti, Morocco and Brazil in June. Despite Hearts having a dominant season in the SPFL, Clarke didn’t select any current Jambos in the latest squad - a decision that left manager Derek McInnes ‘disappointed’.
After the squad announcement, when asked if he was surprised with the lack of Jambos representation in the squad, McInnes responded: "Surprised, probably not. Disappointed, yeah, absolutely. I think we've been a really strong team this season and there's been key players within it. My opinion doesn't matter, I don't really like people telling me what players to pick in my team and the only opinion that matters is Steve's but it doesn't mean to say I think he's right with it.
"I do think I've got players that have earned the opportunity to be part of an international set-up but hopefully the lads' motivation keeps going, they keep doing well and hopefully in time that they get there, that's the hope. I speak to the lads regularly about it and I do believe that we have got players who could represent the country, there's no question of that to me.”