When Euro 2024 kicked off in June, the streets of Germany witnessed a window takeover of truly epic proportions.
Over the next few weeks, hundreds of thousands of Scottish supporters were determined to enjoy the celebrations after finally reaching the grand final on foreign soil.
While the Tartan Army made many friends and admirers during their travels, the same could not be said of the national football team.
Steve Clarke’s men wanted to make history by becoming the first Scottish side to reach the knockout stages of a tournament, but they fizzled out.
Ultimately, they finished in 24th place out of all 24 teams participating in the European Championship, based on several key criteria.
Steve Clarke praises the travelling support in Germany, but still has a lot to make up for
Scotland were so bad at the European Championship that they had the worst scores of all the participating teams.
Clarke admits his team didn’t create enough chances and he has added creativity to his squad
Scotland are officially the worst team in the tournament, achieving a cumulative xG of just 0.9 in their three matches.
It was the glaring lack of ambition and creativity that led to so much disappointment among the supporters, especially in the final against Hungary.
In a match Scotland knew they had to win, they failed to fire a shot. Literally. It was slightly embarrassing that Clarke’s team failed to get a single shot on target on such a seismic occasion.
After taking time to reflect on the tournament as a whole, the Scotland manager would admit that his team were nowhere near positive enough against the Hungarians. It is that lack of creativity and style of play that remains a major concern among supporters. For Clarke (pictured below with Andy Robertson), it is an area he needs to address.
With Nations League games against Poland and Portugal next week and the upcoming World Cup qualifying campaign, he must let go of the handbrake.
Asked what the team could have done better at the European Championships, he said: ‘We weren’t creative enough. That’s one thing we didn’t do.
‘We didn’t create enough chances in the [Hungary] game.
‘In that game, when Hungary came on the field and tried to counter, we probably kept too many men behind the ball, too many players in deep positions and made too many passes that were not meant to hurt the opponent.
‘So that’s something we need to look at. We need to be more creative, we need to try to create more chances.
Scott McTominay sees an effort against Hungary end narrowly, but Scotland are rarely a threat
“But we also need to maintain a defensive solidity because as a team we don’t score many goals, we understand that. In the qualifiers we were very clinical with the chances we had. In the tournament, when we had the chances to score, we were maybe not so clinical.
‘We didn’t shoot in time and we didn’t show the composure to finish the ball and shoot on goal.
‘You can talk all day about systems and players and whatever, but you just have to improve. You have to get better. You have to learn a different way of playing.’
Asked about Scotland’s failure to live up to expectations after such a positive qualifying campaign, Clarke continued: “I take it as a compliment because it means that myself, my staff and the players have done a really good job of raising expectations. When I took the job it was over 20 years since we had been in a tournament. We’ve now played two of the last three tournaments so we must have done something right.
“So you create that expectation. If the expectation now is that you have to qualify for the tournament and you have to get out of the group stage, then that is what we will try to do in the next tournament in 2026.”
Ben Doak is back in the squad after an injury and there is a lot of hope on his shoulders
Now, a few months later, Clarke must try to get things back on track and restore confidence that he can still take the team forward.
Determined to see out his contract, which runs until 2026, Clarke held a debriefing with SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell after the Euros failure.
The topic of his possible sacking as manager was never on the agenda, however. Clarke admits there were things he and the team could have done better. But he is determined to use the Nations League as a fresh start after naming a 24-man squad for the games against Poland and Portugal yesterday.
Asked if he had sleepless nights after returning home from Germany, he continued: ‘Nothing kept me awake. I slept very well, I was tired.
‘You go through the whole process, from the moment you start, the moment you appoint your team, the build-up, the preparation and the question: “Did we do it right?”
Emre Can scores the fifth goal for Germany on THAT humiliating opening night in Munich
‘We thought so at the time. You think you’ve prepared well, but you can also look back on other things.
“There are a lot of little things that you think we could have changed and done better. It’s easy to sit here and think, we did this wrong, we did that wrong.
“There are a lot of little things that we probably wouldn’t do or that I wouldn’t do again. But nothing dramatic. There’s nothing dramatic to say that we’ve done it wrong so far.
‘The most disappointing thing (for me) was the fact that we didn’t come up against Germany in the first half. That put us on the wrong foot.
‘It was a fight to get back into the competition, a tough game against a very good Swiss team and I think they proved that later in the tournament.
‘We played well, we got the point, we could have won there. They could have won too.
Grant Hanley heads the ball against the post against Switzerland in what was a rare wave of attacking action
‘Then you come to the last match.
‘We still had a real chance to qualify. But I thought Hungary played well.
‘They played their game plan well. They are a great counter-attacking team.
“We had to commit because we had to win the game and in the end we got intercepted. That’s what happened. We couldn’t find the moment to score the goal we needed.
“You’ve got to get over it. You’ve got to move on. I think that’s why I’m still in the game after 43 years. You’ve got to learn how to move on.”
The key player in Clarke’s squad for the games against Poland and Portugal is Ryan Gauld, the Vancouver Whitecaps captain who has excelled in MLS in recent years.
Vancouver Whitecaps star Ryan Gauld has been called up to Scotland at the age of 28
Ten years after his last call-up to the national team, Gauld was finally able to make his debut for Scotland.
On his decision to include the 28-year-old playmaker and where he would fit into the system, Clarke said: ‘He can play both ways; high up the pitch, but also a bit deeper.
‘Let’s see how he’s doing when he gets back from Texas.
“I think he’s in Texas this weekend, so let’s see how he does.
‘Of course with a match on Thursday [against Poland]Given the time difference, we need to make sure he has enough time to recover and his body adjusts to his current position in the world.
‘I’ve heard a lot about Ryan and I’ve watched a lot of Ryan on video,
“It will be nice to see him in real life.”