Fans call for Scotland boss to be sacked as results fail to improve from Euros

Clarke’s trip to Germany earlier this summer ended with a whimper after his side were sent home without a win and the country had hoped for a new leaf in this year’s Nations League.

However, supporters and players alike were left frustrated by a last-minute error that cost them the chance to start the campaign with a win - and some are laying the blame at the manager’s door.

The Scots staged an impressive second-half comeback to draw level from 2-0 down against a team 20 places ahead of them in the FIFA rankings, with new Napoli duo Billy Gilmour and Scott McTominay levelling the score. However, Grant Hanley’s challenge on Nicola Zalewski deep into stoppage time gifted Poland the opportunity to take the lead from the penalty spot and left Scotland no time to rectify the error.

Though there were positives in their performance, plenty of people took to social media to complain that the match had been doomed from the start by Clarke’s team selection. His praise of younger players in the squad the day before the match had prompted hopes that the team who slumped to such a miserable fate at Euro 2024 might be rejuvenated with some fresh faces, but the manager instead named a very similar side.

Clarke was criticised in the wake of the Euros but made clear that he had his sights set on trying to qualify for the 2026 World Cup - and if any manager will feel they’ve earned the chance to take on that challenge, it will be him. Before Clarke’s tenure, Scotland had failed to qualify for a major tournament in 20 years, whereas now they have contested two European Championships in a row.

Few would overlook the positive impact he has had on the national team, but the risk is now that he hangs on for too long and sours that relationship, as this fan pointed out:

However, it seems that for some things have already gone past the point of no return:

The 61-year-old has been criticised for what some see as an overly cautious approach both in team selection and tactics. His team has played football that is often defensive to the point of being negative, but it failed to keep out five German goals in their Euro 2024 opener and they had even less luck at the other end of the pitch, recording only three attempts on target.

A positive to take from Thursday night would be that they certainly picked up their attacking compared to those performances, recording 11 shots, three of which were on target. That is only just short of their 16 attempts in the whole of this summer’s tournament, so arguably bodes well for fans hoping to see more positivity in their play - but there is still a long way to go, and it’s hard to see Scotland reaching the World Cup at their current form.

Scotland will face an even tougher test against Portugal on Sunday before they face Croatia in October. Clarke has several more games to make his case about why he is the man to lead Scotland to the 2026 World Cup before qualifying begins next year.