Steve Clarke will not reflect on Scotland management record until retirement

Steve Clarke insists he will retire before reflecting on his career as he gets set to break Craig Brown’s Scotland record in the 2026 World Cup qualifying double-header against Greece and Belarus.

Brown, who died in June 2023 aged 82, managed the national side 71 times from 1993 to 2001 and qualified the country for Euro 1996 and the 1998 World Cup finals.

Clarke, 62, has been in the dugout 70 times since taking over in 2019 and has led the Scots to the last two European Championships but is looking to take them to a first World Cup finals since Brown’s side went to France.

However, ahead of the visit of Greece on Thursday and Belarus on Sunday, Clarke played down the record.

“I haven’t thought about it, I’ve got to be honest,” said the former West Brom, Reading and Kilmarnock boss, who has drafted in Derby full-back Max Johnston to bolster his squad.

“Milestones and career marks, I’ve had a half-decent career as a player, a half-decent career up until now as a manager or head coach.

“I don’t think I’m finished yet, so let me finish it and look back at it and I’ll tell you exactly how I feel about it.

“But I’ve enjoyed it. Obviously when you take the job you don’t think it’s going to be six-and-a-bit years with as many games under your belt.

“But I’ve been lucky enough to work with a really good consistent group of players who have done so well for me, all my coaches have helped me to get to this stage.

“It’s really nice, but at the moment my focus is only on qualifying for the World Cup next year.”

Clarke, who won six caps for Scotland, revealed he had the backing of Brown when he took over as national team boss.

He said: “Craig was great, unfortunately we lost him relatively recently.

“Craig was always very supportive with lots of advice and it was much appreciated by me.

“He would probably point that out (the he was last to qualify for World Cup finals).

“He would probably point out that he should have dug his heels in and stayed a little bit longer and he might have got to three tournaments and set a different benchmark.

“He was a good man and he was part of the Scotland set-up when I was with the Under-19s down to Mexico, so we knew each other a long time and I did forgive him for not picking me when he was national team manager.”

After taking four points from six in opening Group C qualifiers away to Denmark and Belarus, Clarke insists his squad is focused rather than excited about trying to take the next step towards next summer’s World Cup in north America.

“Not so sure excitement,” said Clarke, who admitted his side have to “play better” than they did when they lost 3-0 to Greece at Hampden Park in their Nations League play-off in March.

“More focus, determination,” he added.

“Obviously we managed to pick up four points from two away games last month and we’d like to pick up as many as we can this month and that would put us in a good place going into November, so the players understand what they have to do.”