Belarus visit Hampden Park for qualifier on Sunday
Clarke to become nation’s longest-serving manager
Steve Clarke will take at least a moment to celebrate the achievement of taking charge of more Scotland games than any other manager as Belarus visit Hampden Park on Sunday. For Clarke, this is game No 72 in office. Craig Brown was previously Scotland’s longest-serving manager by matches.
Clarke’s big picture involves World Cup qualification, with Scotland in a strong position, but he can appreciate his longevity. “I’d be a bit daft if I wasn’t proud because I’m the first guy to reach that amount of games,” he said. “It’s nice, but that’s a little personal thing at the moment. It shouldn’t be about me. It’s about the team and it’s about trying to get to the World Cup so that’s what we’re going to focus on.
“The brief was to qualify for tournaments. We’ve managed to do that twice, but we want to do it again because we’re all greedy. The expectation was to do as well as I could. I’ve always looked at the players and you’re thinking: ‘What can we do to improve?’ Did I think it’d last this long? Probably not, but here I am.”
