Steve Clarke to Celtic given short shrift as SFA chief hails contract timing 'masterstroke'

In the wake of Tottenham Hotspur confirming their appointment of Greek-Australian, Clarke’s name has been among those touted as a possible successor. It has been reported that Celtic are preparing to approach the English champions over Spaniard Maresca, despite the 43-year-old’s only frontline management experience being a failed six-month spell with Parma in Serie B last year.

Celtic’s list of possibles is also thought to include Bodo/Glimt title winner Kjetil Knutsen - reportedly a target for Ajax - and American Jesse Marsch. Brendan Rodgers and David Moyes also feature highly, with Clarke longer odds in the betting. Maxwell is relaxed over any movement that would see the 59-year-old’s impressive body of work with the national team cause him to enter Celtic’s thinking.

Clarke’s squad are currently preparing for a double-header that will see them in Norway and then host Georgia inside the next fortnight for games that could see them take a huge step towards Euro 2024 quaification. A position earned through their victories over Spain and Cyprus in March, days after Clarke had signed a contract extension to take him through to the 2026 World Cup.

SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell has no fears over Celtic making an approach for Scotland manager Steve Clarke. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

"He's desperate to get us to the Euros and a World Cup,” said Maxwell. “They had the success of 2020 at the Euros [played in 2021 during the pandemic] and to do that under more normal circumstances would be fantastic.

"The timing was good in extending Steve’s contract just before the March games. I think it was a bit of a masterstroke by the board. We're absolutely delighted [with him] he's done great. They are over in Spain just now preparing for the June games and we're giving them as much support as we can to make sure they're ready.

"We've a tough game over in Norway, which is a sell-out, and we've got a sell-out against Georgia back at Hampden. We have five games over the course of the campaign that are sold out and we've given ourselves a great chance. We've a good platform off the back of the last two results. Having a result like we had against Spain at the start of a campaign is something we haven't done for a while.”