Steve Clarke Scotland sack calls dismissed as SFA told boss deserves shot at World Cup

Alan McInally has dismissed suggestions that Steve Clarke should be binned for another ill-fated Euros campaign.

Clarke is under scrutiny after the Scots flopped at this summer's showpiece tournament in Germany, mustering just one point from Group A. The national team blew the chance to reach the knockouts of a major tournament for the first time in history by crumbling to a defeat against Hungary, a result which curtailed our campaign and sent the Tartan Army home early.

Clarke appears to have the backing of the SFA after signing a contract until 2026 last year but Scotland fans are split on the ex-Kilmarnock manager's future. Clarke has led us to back-to-back European Championships after 23-years of misery, but has earned just two points from both tournaments.

And while some pundits may think his jacket's on a shoogly peg, former Scotland international McInally believes Clarke has earned the chance to see us through the Nations League and World Cup qualifiers.

"We hadn’t qualified for anything for over 20 years until Steve Clarke came in,” he told Gambling.com. “He got the job and qualified for two Euros in a row. To put that achievement into perspective, the likes of Billy Bremner, Joe Jordan, Graeme Souness, Alan McInally and Kenny Dalglish couldn’t get us to qualify for the next round as players!

"I think he (Clarke) should get the opportunity to call on this group of players to qualify for the World Cup and we’ve also got the Nations League starting in September where we’ve got Poland, Portugal and Croatia. At the end of the day, I don’t think Steve Clarke should lose his job because of the Euros. We didn’t perform as well as he would have liked us to.

"I’m happy with Steve Clarke to remain as manager. I think defensively, he’s made us sounder and the midfield is relatively stronger. Up top, we don’t have players who can score for fun, we rely on midfield players because that’s just the pool of players we’ve got.

“We are fortunate we have a huge group of people called the Tartan Army that are nothing but a success and are loved all around Europe and I’m delighted they all behaved themselves and had a party, even though the Scotland team didn’t perform for us."