Winning record of every Scotland manager laid bare as Steve Clarke eclipses Jock Stein, Craig Brown, Walter Smith and others

Successfully negotiating a play-off semi-final against Ukraine and a final with Wales would take the national team to Qatar, further underlining Clarke’s overhaul.

The 58-year-old was appointed in May 2019 to succeed Alex McLeish and has since built a formidable record in his first job at international level.

He ended 23 barren years without participation at a major tournament when Scotland qualified for Euro 2020 via a memorable penalty shootout success in Serbia.

Steve Clarke's Scotland record is better than many of his predecessors.

Recent friendly draws with Poland and Austria followed a run of six successive victories which secured that World Cup play-off spot. The draw for Qatar 2022 takes place on Friday in Doha at 5pm UK time. Last time a Scottish team competed at football’s greatest tournament was back in 1998 under Craig Brown.

The Tartan Army are fully behind the current manager after 17 wins from 33 games during Clarke’s tenure. With seven draws and nine defeats factored in, the Ayrshire coach’s record surpasses even some of his most illustrious predecessors at Hampden Park.

He has won 51.5 per cent of matches since taking over, a statistic which eclipses the likes of Jock Stein, Walter Smith and Craig Brown. That record includes penalty shootout triumphs over Israel and Serbia.

McLeish’s overall win ratio from two spells working with the national team stands at 54.5 per cent – 12 wins and ten defeats from 22 games altogether.

Clarke and his coaching team – John Carver, Steven Naismith, Chris Woods and Austin MacPhee – are now desperate to take the next step and reach the World Cup in November.

The full list of Scotland managers’ win percentages is below. Prior to 1954, and between 1954 and 1957, the team was selected by committee:

Andy Beattie (1954, six games): 33.3 per cent

Dawson Walker (1958, six games): 16.7 per cent

Matt Busby (1958, two games): 50 per cent

Andy Beattie (1959-1960, 11 games): 27.3 per cent

Ian McColl (1960-1965, 27 games): 59.3 per cent

Jock Stein (1965, seven games): 42.3 per cent

John Prentince (1966, four games): 0 per cent

Malky MacDonald (1966, two games): 50 per cent

Bobby Brown (1967-1971, 28 games): 32.1 per cent

Tommy Docherty (1971-1972, 12 games): 58.3 per cent

Willie Ormond (1973-1977, 38 games): 47.4 per cent

Ally MacLeod (1977-1978, 17 games): 41.2 per cent

Jock Stein (1978-1985, 61 games): 42.6 per cent

Alex Ferguson (1985-1986, ten games): 30 per cent

Andy Roxburgh (1986-1993, 61 games): 37.7 per cent

Craig Brown (1993-2001, 71 games): 45.1 per cent

Berti Vogts (2002-2004, 32 games): 28.1 per cent

Tommy Burns (2004, one game as caretaker): 0 per cent

Walter Smith (2004-2007, 16 games): 43.8 per cent

Alex McLeish (2007, ten games): 70 per cent

George Burley (2008-2009, 14 games): 21.4 per cent

Craig Levein (2009-2012, 24 games): 41.7 per cent

Billy Stark (2012, one game as caretaker): 100 per cent

Gordon Strachan (2013-2017, 40 games): 47.5 per cent

Malky Mackay (2017, one game as caretaker): 0 per cent

Alex McLeish (2018-2019, 12 games): 41.7 per cent

Steve Clarke (2019-present, 33 games): 51.5 per cent

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