Steve Clarke returns to public eye in Scotland and reveals contract 'shove' and 'complex person'

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo last month, the exclusive Spartans charity dinner on Thursday night.

Judging from his guest of honour appearances, Steve Clarke is enjoying life in the ceremonial position of greatest-ever former Scotland manager. Just over 70 days after his last press conference in the bowels of the Miami Stadium following the 3-0 defeat to Brazil, Clarke was sitting in altogether more comfortable circumstances in Edinburgh’s Prestonfield Hotel.

Even better, he was being asked questions by a friend and former Chelsea and Scotland teammate in Pat Nevin rather than pesky journalists.

Ex-Scotland boss Steve Clarke speaks to Pat Nevin during a Spartans fundraiser. | Alan Pattullo

Host Eilidh Barbour kept her distance, joking that it might not be a very long question-and-answers session if she conducted the on-stage interview. After all, Clarke abruptly walked away from her during the post-match “flash” interview in Miami. “We’re friends now, it’s fine,” she said before happily handing over duties to Nevin.

Welcome to the 13th Spartans Community Foundation dinner, held in the circular stables pavilion adjacent to the hotel. Spotlights on the lawn, peacocks on the long gravel drive, tartan trews and black bow-ties, not all of them clip-ons. You get the idea.

Spartans have become expert at tapping into the great and the good of the Edinburgh business community. The admirable north Edinburgh club’s foundation now has more than 80 people on the payroll helping roll out programmes, including a Sunday morning breakfast club, for youngsters who might otherwise be hanging around the streets. It’s a major Scotland success story. One that needs to be applauded. One that needs to be supported. In a real coup for Spartans, Clarke has answered the call.

Nearly 500 people have gathered at Prestonfield, with many eyes on the iPads relaying news of the silent auction. The main auction includes a “rugby dinner for ten at Prestonfield with Gregor Townsend” (sold for £12,000). Former Scotland (football) skipper Gary McAlliser is on the speaking bill. But Clarke has been recruited as the top attraction.

It’s the first time he’s spoken in a public forum since the World Cup. For those who might have missed his Tattoo appearance, it’s the first time he’s been spotted since he was pictured in a white tee-shirt waving goodbye outside the Grand Bohemian Hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina, the morning after his resignation was announced.

The buzz before he took the stage was partly attributed to the announcement of the amazing sum raised: £222,000. Clarke and Nevin signed 11 Scotland away shirts, which were then auctioned for around £1,000 each.

Clarke is in good form though some historic intolerances remain, chiefly the media. Reminded that he was voted manager of the year by Scottish football writers while at Kilmarnock, he replied: “They liked me once.” He reminisced about breaking through at St Mirren, his first senior club. “It was the time St Mirren went bust, they got rid of all the good players!” he explained. “They threw young kids in and I got the chance to play. When you throw young Scottish players into the first team, and they get a chance to play, they can show they are good enough. Hopefully that can happen in the future.” Very on point.

He revealed he spoke to new Scotland manager Sebastien Pocognoli last week and wished him well.

A little earlier around two miles away in the same city his successor had enjoyed a bravura performance from a team featuring a majority of Scottish players. Thursday night’s Edinburgh derby at Easter Road, won by Hearts 3-1 and including goals from exciting young Scots James Wilson and Josh McPake, was a schedule clash Spartans could have done without. At least Clarke was no longer expected to attend to assess Grant Hanley’s fitness ahead of Nations League commitments later this month.

Steve Clarke is enjoying being away from management and spending time with his family. | Getty Images

Those days are gone now. They might not be if things had gone a little differently in the summer. If Scotland hadn’t, for example, lost a quick goal in the critical game against Morocco. “Big Grant was still singing the national anthem two minutes into the game!” joked Clarke.

Remarkably, he is on stage for over an hour. Nevin can’t shut him up! He struggles to get a question in edgeways. One suspects Clarke was filibustering to an extent: he knew trickier questions about Scotland and the World Cup were incoming, so he luxuriated in telling stories about the likes of Jose Mourinho and Ruud Gullit, Spartans’ star guest last year.

Even though he had signed a four-year contract on the eve of the tournament, Scotland’s failure to reach the second round signaled Clarke's departure.

He turned 63 on Sunday. “It was very nice to sit with the family and be in the family,” he told Nevin. “Normally you are sitting with your family and your head is away somewhere else. It was nice to be in the company and actually enjoy their company.”

Was this desire to spend more time with loved ones behind his Scotland change of heart? “It was never really a change of mind,” he explained. “I am quite a complex person. I wanted to control my narrative. Obviously we got to March and I hadn’t been offered a new contract, which I thought was pretty strange. You start to think are they hedging their bets a little bit, waiting on the tournament in the summer. So I did a little bit in the media in March to give the SFA a little shove.

“We negotiated non-stop from the beginning of April really to the middle of May, just before the Curacao game. And I said to them if we don’t agree a new contract before we go to the World Cup then I will say I am leaving the job. They panicked a little bit and gave me the new contract. It was like drawing teeth trying to get it over the line. But we got it over the line anyway.

“But I always knew in my head that if we did not get out of the group stage then I would probably leave. The only way I would have stayed on is if they had been three fantastic games and they went against you.”

He spoke to several senior players following the Brazil game. Clarke sensed that they needed to hear a different voice if they are to make history by reaching the knockout stage at Euro 2028, qualification for which seems almost guaranteed. “Even Scotland can’t make an arse of that one!” he smiled, with reference to the special priorities conferred on them due to their host nation status. Two spots in the final tournament will be reserved for the best-ranked host who have not qualified as a group winner or runner-up. No pressure, Seb.

For the present time at least, Clarke sounds glad to be out of it. “We had to stay for four or five days (in Charlotte), the longest four or five days ever just sitting and waiting, knowing you are going home because the goal difference was not good enough,” he recalled. He already knew the endgame had arrived.

“I knew we needed four points,” he stressed. “I got hammered in the media for saying that. Somebody hammered me for saying, ‘nah, that’s us, we are going home’. But I was right.” He was right more often than he was wrong. A lot more.