From a half-empty Hampden to a National Stadium bursting at the seams.
That’s the measure by which Andy Robertson sums up Steve Clarke’s impact on this Scotland team. The skipper remembers a time when he would emerge from the Hampden tunnel to find the depressing sight of thousands of empty seats. It was such a dark period, the Liverpool ace admits he feared the bonds tying the national team to the Tartan Army might have reached breaking point.
But all that changed with Clarke’s appointment. Now four years on the proof that the nation has been united behind the gaffer and his squad can be counted with every click of the turnstiles for this week’s opening Euro qualifying double header with Cyprus and Spain. Both games are heading for sellouts and Robertson insists that is testament to the work done by the man yesterday rewarded with a new two-year extension.
“It’s great news for the whole of the country,” beamed the captain. “I think Scotland fans have taken to the gaffer from day one.
“Yeah, we’ve had some tough moments but he’s made massive improvements to the squad and behind the scenes as well. We knew we had one more campaign with him but it’s great to extend that to the next two.
“He believes he can take us even further and make more improvements still - and we believe that too. I think he’s brought stability first and foremost. And he’s engaged again with the Scotland fans. He’s set us up in a way that the players and the fans can have a relationship again.
“Before he came in again, the relationship was broken. I don’t think there were many people excited to come to Hampden. That’s proved with the attendances we’ve had. I’ve played here with only 10,000 or 12,000 fans for qualifying games.
“But the next two games and hopefully the whole campaign will show you that (relationship has been fixed). Saturday we’re expecting a full house. Tuesday the same.
“As a player that makes a huge difference. Playing in front of a full Scotland crowd, knowing the pubs up and down the country will be full with people wanting to watch us, excited to watch us again it just shows that the feel-good factor is back.
“Was there a point where I worried the fans interest was on the wane? Yeah of course. I think the fans would be first to admit that.
“Certainly, 2017/2018 time when we were lucky to be getting 20,000 at Hampden. When Hampden was built, that wasn’t the aim because we know how faithful the Tartan Army are. It was down to us. The performances weren’t good enough and we know we were to blame.
“It certainly wasn’t the fans’ fault that we weren’t getting results or competing to even qualify for tournaments. We weren’t giving them anything to be excited about. I think we’ve changed that.”
Clarke inherited a Scotland squad on a downward trajectory. But Robertson reckons it took just 90 minutes to reach the turning point as the 32,000 fans who took the effort of turning out for his first game, ironically also against Cyprus in June 2019, ended up cheering the new gaffer’s name.
“I think to be honest the gaffer’s first game was one of them,” he said. “We obviously scored in the last minute, the fans were already singing his name and things like that, and that gives you belief. I don’t know what the attendance was that day, but that gives you the belief that whoever was in there believes in the manager.
“From then, we have kicked on. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had a couple of tough games here under the manager, Belgium at home and games like that against top opposition.
“But I think the last campaign was big. Being a pot three team and being able to finish second. I know ultimately the playoffs didn’t go the way we wanted them to, but if we have that same campaign this time and we finish second then we qualify automatically, and that has to be our aim.
“The points tally we got, picking up points away from home, picking up big points at home here, that has to be the aim. If we replicate that, then I believe we will go to the Euros.”
It’s not just the fans who are showing their approval by voting with their feet. Robbo can also recall a time when the number of call-ups calling in sick would almost rival the stay-away supporters in their volume.
He said: “I think if you go back to maybe five or six years ago and you look at a squad that was named, you could potentially have had eight or nine call-offs. That doesn’t help anyone. Lads were prioritising club football and being able to make sure they were 100 per cent for their club.
“That can be understandable at times. But I think there’s now a real hunger to play for Scotland. Everyone’s showing that.
“People are coming into camp with slight knocks and wanting to play through pain and take the risk, like you would do with your club. You need that. You need the best players, all the players possible, and you need a competitive squad.
“We’ve now got guys sitting at home disappointed who aren’t in, whereas before it felt like we were searching for players. We had to find them because we had so many call-offs.
“We’ve got a much bigger pool of players now. We’d now have roughly a 40-man pool to try to bring in players, whereas previously we’d maybe only have 30. That makes a big difference.”
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