Steve Clarke has said he will not take a hardline approach towards players who have made themselves unavailable for Scotland. A week after becoming the national manager, Clarke’s squad for next month’s Euro 2020 qualifiers against Cyprus and Belgium was notable for the number of absentees. Such situations were commonplace during the tenure of his predecessor, Alex McLeish.
John Fleck has been given dispensation to miss the matches because he is getting married. Steven Fletcher is being rested as he manages ankle issues. Robert Snodgrass and Matt Ritchie remain absent from the Scotland scene but Clarke has been boosted by the availability of Tom Cairney, who it was thought planned to switch allegiance to England.
“I think there are conversations to be had on every single one of them,” Clarke said. “I’m not going to close the door on anybody. If it takes two or three conversations and I feel that they are the right people to help the squad, to make the squad better, then I am prepared to keep trying.
“Hopefully you will see over the time I’m in the job we can get these players to come and play for us. What’s happened before has happened before. There’s nothing I can do about that. It’s my job to speak to these players and try to convince them –not even convince them, make them know they are wanted in Scotland. I think if you make people feel wanted, then they are more likely to come and play for you.
“There’s enough talent in that squad to get results in both games, I’m convinced of that.”
It has been suggested Clarke should cut off those who have previous for not accepting Scotland calls or routinely invoke Fifa’s five-day rule, under which a national association can prevent a player who rejects a call-up from playing for his club for five days after the fixture.
“Every individual case has to be taken on its own merits,” said the former Kilmarnock manager. “There is no way you can throw down a blanket ‘this is what we are going to do and this is the way we will deal with people who don’t come to the squad’. I don’t think that would be right. I think it is always better to have a conversation, speak to the club involved and try to find a reasonable solution.”
Clarke said he had only a rough idea as to why the mood regressed under McLeish. “Some of the more senior ones felt after the qualifying campaign under Gordon [Strachan] that they’d been pushed aside a wee bit,” said Clarke. “That’s something we can work on.”
The same applies to goalscoring. Clarke’s 27-man squad has a combined tally of 14 international goals, five from defenders.
Goalkeepers: Scott Bain (Celtic), Liam Kelly (Livingston), David Marshall (Hull City), Jon McLaughlin (Sunderland)
Defenders: Michael Devlin (Aberdeen), Stuart Findlay (Kilmarnock), Scott McKenna (Aberdeen), Charlie Mulgrew (Blackburn Rovers), Stephen O’Donnell (Kilmarnock), Liam Palmer (Sheffield Wednesday), Andrew Robertson (Liverpool), John Souttar (Heart of Midlothian), Greg Taylor (Kilmarnock)
Midfielders: Stuart Armstrong (Southampton), Tom Cairney (Fulham), John McGinn (Aston Villa), Callum McGregor (Celtic), Kenny McLean (Norwich City), Scott McTominay (Manchester United), Graeme Shinnie (Aberdeen)
Forwards: Eamonn Brophy (Kilmarnock), Oliver Burke (Celtic, on loan from West Brom), James Forrest (Celtic), Ryan Fraser (Bournemouth), Marc McNulty (Hibernian, on loan from Reading), Lewis Morgan (Sunderland, on loan from Celtic), Johnny Russell (Sporting Kansas City)
