It takes quite a lot to get Steve Clarke excited.
Even when Scotland are flying and beating Spain at Hampden, it’s very unlike the man from Saltcoats to get carried away. And certainly when it comes to nurturing young players, Clarke is always keen to keep their feet firmly on the ground. So when he talks up a couple of Scottish teenagers he hopes can one day gatecrash his national team squad, it’s worth listening to.
Ordinarily, a 17-year-old striker playing in Aston Villa’s Under-23 side wouldn’t even be on Clarke’s radar. But that shows how prodigious a talent Rory Wilson must be. The same goes for Liverpool live wire Ben Doak. Clarke is a big admirer of the kid who has already clocked up five appearances for the Anfield club. He’s not the type to hype up youngsters. And don’t expect Wilson and Doak to be in Scotland’s first team for the Euros next summer.
But in terms of the future? He believes they’ve got the potential to be big players for their country. Clarke has shown with the likes of Nathan Patterson and Billy Gilmour that if you’re good enough you’re old enough. So if Wilson and Doak continue to progress at their Premier League clubs, it might not be too long before we see them in a dark blue shirt.
Clarke said: “They tell me the young boy Wilson is doing very well at Aston Villa. He has grown a little bit and is in good shape. I watched him for the Scotland Under-17’s in the Euros tournament recently where he got another goal. He’s only a youngster and is probably a couple of years away.
“But if he continues to develop, without putting too much pressure on his shoulders, he’s one who is maybe going to come through. The more the merrier. Doak is similar. He’s an attacker and probably a really difficult player to play against. Because he just runs. He’s so quick and he can go either way.
“You could probably play him as a striker. Just ask him to run in behind teams and stretch them. Again, at 17 he’s just a youngster. But he’s been in and around the Liverpool first team, without making the breakthrough. That’s not a criticism because it’s difficult to do at a club like that. Hopefully going forward those two boys can be a big part of our future.
“Let’s not put too much pressure on them. But if someone is playing regularly somewhere and scoring goals, they can be in Scotland’s first-team squad. I don’t think Ben is quite at that level yet but he’s working towards it. If he shows he’s good enough to be involved, he can be, for sure.”
For Scotland’s crucial Euro qualifier against Norway in a fortnight, Clarke will travel to Oslo without his main striker, Che Adams. The Southampton man was born in England, while his likely replacement in Oslo will be Aussie hit-man Lyndon Dykes.
There seems to be a dearth of homegrown Scottish forwards making an impact. That’s why Clarke has high hopes for Wilson and Doak. In the meantime, he does believe that Adams and Dykes’ deputies - Kevin Nisbet and Lawrence Shankland - are capable of performing at international level. When asked about why the nation has found it difficult to produce an elite centre-forward, the manager said: “I’m not sure, that’s probably above my pay grade.
“It would be nice to get one or two more. We just have to keep looking to find these guys who can eventually come through. But both Nisbet and Shankland can score goals. Kevin had a tough spell with an injury and he’s taken a little bit of time to get back up to speed. But he looks closer now to the Kevin Nisbet pre-injury. He certainly has an eye for a goal.
“And Lawrence has shown he will score goals in the Scottish Premiership. Hopefully they will come away with us and, if required, contribute up front to take a load off Lyndon. There’s no reason for them to be fazed by it because they have both been involved with Scotland before. Kevin scored against Holland. It was friendly but he scored against the Dutch, which is not a bad thing to do.
“Lawrence nearly scored off the bench against Spain recently and if I’m being critical, I thought he should have! He gets into goal scoring positions and so does Kevin. They have shown they can handle it.Hopefully if we need to use them we can create chances for them. It’s disappointing to lose Che, who has been a vital part of the team. But don’t forget the contribution Lyndon made in the last game. Dykesy played up front against Spain and was excellent. He did a marvellous job for the team, so we have good options up front.”
For Scotland to get the result they need against the Norwegians and put one foot in the Euros next summer - Clarke will need goals from elsewhere. John McGinn has become a talisman at this level, while Scott McTominay’s brace against the Spanish at Hampden will live long in the memory.
The Scots gaffer said: “We’ve got Ryan Christie who does a really good job for the team, while Stuart Armstrong normally delivers the goods for his country. McGinn can score from midfield and in the last camp I discovered I’ve got another guy who can do it in McTominay. So that’s a good place to be.
“In any team, it’s important not just to look at the striker. There’s a train of thought that if you’ve got a 30-goals a season striker but nobody else scores, you don’t win anything. I agree with that. We need goals from all over the pitch. You want them from everywhere because if you’re relying on just one person, you can become a little bit predictable.”
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