THERE were a few notable absences from the 25-man Scotland squad that Steve Clarke named yesterday afternoon for the upcoming friendlies against the Netherlands and Northern Ireland at Hampden.
Brentford’s Aaron Hickey, Rangers’ Ryan Jack and Celtic’s Callum McGregor, three players who all featured regularly for Clarke during his almost five-year tenure, are all unavailable for the double header.
However, the national coach is optimistic that the trio will be fit again when the 2024 European Championship final takes place in Germany in June and is not (yet) too concerned about their injuries. “Touch and go at the moment doesn’t bother me,” he said.
Clarke fully expects he will have to make some tough decisions when he finally decides which 23 players he will take to the tournament this summer. He expects as many as five hopefuls to be disappointed by his final selection.
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“It doesn’t weigh heavily on me in March,” he said. “But that will be at the beginning of May, when I have to make those decisions and have those conversations. But that’s the job, that’s what I get paid for and that’s what I’m going to do.
“The ideal scenario is that you reach the beginning of May and everyone is fit and available and I have to make difficult choices. Historically, people will tell you that you will probably lose one or two players that you want to select to go to a tournament. So fingers crossed we don’t do that.
“A lot of that will depend on fitness. You can’t read into the future, so you don’t know what’s going to happen. You might lose a few that you don’t want to lose. Hopefully that’s not the case. But at this point I’m probably expecting to disappoint four out of five players.
“This will be a big decision. It will have a big impact on the lives of some of these young boys. But I’ve been there, I’ve been there, I understand it. I’m sorry for them, but it can be a very brutal thing in football sometimes.”
Clarke added: “We had more bodies to choose from last time (Clarke was able to name 26 players for the Euro 2020 final in 2021 due to the Covid pandemic), but there were still some tough decisions to be made.
“I left out Andy Considine who had come in and done really well, so that was a tough decision. Liam Palmer also missed the match at the last minute as youngster Nathan Patterson came through at Rangers.
“So they were two difficult conversations. I think I will probably have more than two difficult conversations this time because the team size is a little smaller.”
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There were seven centre-backs – Liam Cooper, Grant Hanley, Jack Hendry, Scott McKenna, Ryan Porteous, John Souttar and Kieran Tierney – in the Scotland squad, which Clarke announced yesterday, and it is unlikely that they will all be at the 2024 Euros will be involved when Hickey returns to the fight.
The same can be said of the midfielders. Stuart Armstrong, Ryan Christie, Lewis Ferguson, Billy Gilmour, John McGinn, Kenny McLean and Scott McTominay have been called up for the matches at the Johan Cruyff Arena on Friday and Hampden the following Tuesday. But will they all get the nod when Jack and McGregor return?
“There are a lot of centre-backs there,” said the manager. “There are seven in midfield this time. It’s clear that Ryan and Callum would be strong candidates to join them. But I don’t see myself taking nine midfield players. So that will be another decision I have to make.”
Clarke, who will be hoping to build significant momentum in the Netherlands and Northern Ireland matches, insisted he is not too bothered at the moment by the absences of Hickey, Jack and McGregor.
“Aaron is making progress,” he said. “Slowly, but he is making progress. He should return to the grass in early or mid-April. I’m hopeful. Callum is similar. The feedback I’ve had is that he’ll be back after the international break, so fingers crossed for that.
“Ryan is another player I had in mind that I would select for these games. According to their manager Philippe Clement, Rangers would start him against Hibernian. But he has suffered a minor injury, so he has not been included in the selection. But he was in my mind to select for sure.
“It would be extremely painful (if Jack were to miss Euro 2024 because he was not involved in Euro 2020). But it will be difficult for someone who misses another tournament. Circumstances may determine that is the case, but hopefully not.”
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The Scotland manager was missing Hanley, Andy Robertson, Souttar and Kieran Tierney for the Euro 2024 qualifiers against Georgia away and Norway at home in November and was pleased to be able to call them all up for this month’s friendlies.
Especially Hanley. The 48-year-old 32-year-old has not played for his country since the 2-0 win over Spain in Glasgow last March due to an Achilles tendon problem. Clarke is delighted that a defender who has been involved in some of his biggest achievements in the past has gone through a difficult period.
“It’s good to get some guys back,” he said. “Grant has been out for a long time with a difficult injury, especially at this stage of your career. But he did well. He’s back in the Norwich team. I’ve seen him live a few times and he’s doing well.
“I’ve always liked Grant, his playing style. Maybe I’m a bit old-fashioned, but he’s a real old-fashioned centre-back. He does what it says on the tin Grant. I call him one of my men. You know what you get, week in, week out. He is one of my trusted people.
“He’s quite quiet, keeps to himself. But if he has something to say, he will say it and people will listen. No, he has a good character, a nice man to have in the group. It’s nice to have him back.”
The 60-year-old himself underwent a pre-Euro 2024 health check earlier this week as the SFA continued their preparations for the finals in Germany. “It was just in case they found out something before I left,” he said. “I’m still waiting for the results, but it went well. I didn’t fall off the treadmill!”
