Hampden chief Ian Maxwell is looking to nail down Steve Clarke on a new long-term deal – but he fears the SFA could have a job on their hands keeping hold of the gaffer. The Scotland manager’s current deal is up at the end of the Euro 2024 campaign – where the national side will scrap it out with Spain, Norway, Georgia and Cyprus for a place in Germany.
Clarke has already banked a play-off place on the back of his men’s Nations League success and Maxwell is already looking at kicking off discussions over an extension. The SFA chief executive reckons Clarke and Scotland are a match made in heaven and he’s hoping club bosses don’t try to tempt their man away from Hampden.
Maxwell said: “We’re delighted he is manager. He’s doing all the right things. If you look back at what he achieved in club management, we felt when we appointed him he could get us to pot two and he’s done that. The issue might be more, can we keep hold of him? Instead of, do we want to keep him, there is a bit of me that thinks it might be more of a case of us hoping to keep him and what does he want to do.
“I know he’s committed to taking us to the Euros and we’ll go from there. We’ll have the contract discussions when the time is right. We have a good enough relationship to know how all that goes.”
There were some Tartan Army foot soldiers who were ready to hound Clarke out of Hampden in the summer after the nation suffered a couple of sore ones. The same ones are now calling for a big Steve statue on the south side. Maxwell knew the punters were getting antsy a few months ago but his belief in the boss wasn’t dented for a second.
The Hamdpen supremo said: “This industry is amazing. The last time we gave him a contract we got slaughtered for it. Some people were saying ‘how can you give him a contract now?’ I remember being asked after the AGM in June if I was having to think about the manager. A few months later everyone is saying we need to give him a new deal. Listen, Steve is happy being Scotland manager and we are really happy he is Scotland manager.”
Maxwell knows missing out on the World Cup in Qatar was a bitter blow – and it’ll be even more painful when the competition kicks off in November. But it’s his job to see the bigger picture. Even getting to the play-offs was an achievement considering the previous decades of toiling on the fringes.
Clarke also took us to Euro 2020 and already has a head start in the scrap for the next one. Chuck in getting to Group A in the Nations League – where Hampden will be packed out for clashes with the cream of the continent – and the cool heads of summer paid off.
Maxwell said: “Yeah, we had a bad window in June. It happens. But you look at his work over the course. There’s only three or four managers who have managed more games than him now. He’s been here a long time. We have got a group of players who are playing for their manager – there’s absolutely no doubt about that. It’s a really happy camp.”
It’s also a happy balance sheet. Clarke is filling Hampden on a regular basis when not so long ago kids were taken along to the National Stadium to fill the empty seats as punishment for being naughty.
Remember the 17,000 against Albania in the Nations League opener four years ago? The 20,000 in for Belgium and Israel? More chance of bums on seats for Bruce Springsteen than our boys. It’s the hottest ticket in town these days though and Maxwell loves the sound of a rocking Hampden as much as the ringing of the cash registers.
He said: “The fact we’ve filled the National Stadium in the last half a dozen games or so is fantastic. When you see the scenes at the end of games, with the fans in there celebrating and the music blaring, you see it’s as good a place as any.
“The promotion to the top group of the Nations League was important but it’s the knock on effect that are so vital. We’ve got a lot of players who are playing at a high level now. We’ve got guys in England, over in Italy, players in Germany. Their development will be helped by taking on the likes of France, Spain, Portugal and so on.”
Player development is a big one for the SFA with the performance schools now producing the goods and the national team starting to see the benefits. It all feeds into the feel good factor around the game right now.
Maxwell said: “There is a depth of talent now, but that doesn’t happen overnight. There’s a lot of work in the background that we do, the clubs need to take a lot of the credit for the way they are developing talent.”
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