Steve Clarke reveals just how close Scotland came to Georgia call-off as he admits to changing his tune

Steve Clarke will have turned 60 by the time Scotland are next in action. It’s fair to say he has not experienced a night like he did on Tuesday in a long career as both a player and manager.

Scotland manager Steve Clarke reacts to the waterlogged scenes at Hampden that resulted in the match against Georgia being delayed by 99 minutes. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

It's also unlikely he will live through anything similar again. Clarke hits his latest milestone on August 29, which is just a few days before history-making Scotland re-engage with qualifying for Euro 2024 against Cyprus.

They have the chance to extend their already unprecedented run of four successive wins at the start of a qualifying group to five. Such is Scotland's momentum that it seems a pity the anniversary heritage friendly against England four days later is not a qualifier instead.

“I won’t give too much thought to that for now,” said Clarke. “The next one in your head has got to be Cyprus because the main objective from this campaign is to qualify for Germany. All our focus will be on that and then we’ll deal with England.”

Referee Istvan Vad speaks to Scotland captain Andy Robertson and Georgia captain Guram Kashia. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

The celebrations for Clarke’s 60th will have died down by then – if they even start. “60’s 60,” he said yesterday in typical Clarke-style. “It’s a number. I feel good, I don’t feel 60. Long may that continue.”

He still has designs on leading Scotland to a World Cup. He will be 62 when the North American edition comes along in 2026. Craig Brown was just 58 when he led Scotland to their last one. However, first thing's first. Although the Scots are motoring along nicely for Euro 2024, it's not been without incident.

Clarke was already feeling 60 – possibly older – on Tuesday evening when some novel stresses were delivered to his door. They don't advise about near 100-minute rain delays in the coaching manuals, or a set of opponents that may or may not want to continue.

Clarke and his coaching assistants are meticulous in their preparations. However, no-one could have predicted the obstacles that needed to be surmounted against Georgia. A 99-minute suspension in play meant Scotland were popping in and out of their dressing room like figures in a German weather house.

Scotland's Callum McGregor celebrates opening the scoring against Georgia before the match was delayed due to a waterlogged pitch. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

It was the same for Georgia, too, of course except they stopped coming out at all at one point to prompt real fears the match might have to resume the following day, perhaps at a different stadium. One of several enduring images from the night was the sight of eleven Scotland players, led by skipper Andy Robertson with his right foot resting on a ball, circling the tunnel area as if to say to the Georgians: ‘Are ye no’ coming oot to play?’

It was possible to have every sympathy with urbane Georgia manager Willy Sagnol. Afterwards, after congratulating Scotland and stressing the scenario was the same for both sides, the former France full-back went on to outline some very valid complaints.

In actual fact, it wasn't the same for both sides in that Scotland left the pitch after nine minutes of play – around three of which were a VAR review – leading 1-0 after a goal scored in initial conditions that were bordering on farcical.

Both managers wanted the game stopped before Callum McGregor’s goal. Clarke admitted that he had change of tune change once Scotland went in front.

“Listen, when we started the game both myself and Willy Sagnol, we’d have quite happily brought the players off at nil-nil," he said. "You look at the start and you think the pitch isn’t right.

“That was the time to get both teams off the pitch and say ‘right we’re going to give it an hour or whatever’ and allow the players to cool down properly. But the stop-start nature of it was probably tricky.

“As the goal goes in then the whole dynamic changes because suddenly we don’t want to stop the game. We want to get the pitch as good as we can, Georgia obviously want to stop the game and start it again tomorrow. But it’s so difficult to think about starting again the next day. And you know the pitch will drain.”

It was a close thing. Clarke revealed there was a 9.45pm time limit that was inching ever nearer with each failed inspection. The match eventually recommenced at 9.33pm. “It was pretty close to not going ahead,” he said. “We’re glad it did.”

Clarke noted the Scotland players' light-hearted warm-ups in contrast to Georgia's more sullen bearing. "They understand, they know the process, they know they have to wait," he said. "They know that the Hampden pitch will eventually drain. It was just whether it would drain quick enough.”

After scoring a goal following 33 passes against Norway on Saturday, Scotland again showcased their ability to keep possession for long periods on a difficult night for ball retention. Much of this was down to Billy Gilmour's effortless re-introduction to the team.

He won the man of the match award in his first international start for a year. Clarke had stressed he had no fears on that front when he announced the squad for such an important double header last month with Gilmour having enjoyed some belated playing time at Brighton & Hove Albion.

“It’s nice to be right, eh?" Clarke smiled. “But when you have a talent like Billy you know he’s going to help you to be proved right.

“I had never had any doubts, it’s why I kept Billy in the squads. I knew he was down and wanted to play. He wants to play all the time. You saw what he can bring to us.”