Steve Clarke admits Scotland 'oversight' now coming home to roost amid concerns over key position

Where have all the Scottish goalkeepers gone? It is a question that has been causing Steve Clarke a few sleepless nights of late.

Craig Gordon’s renaissance over the past year has again served as a sticking plaster for a national team seemingly bereft of capable custodians. That Gordon, at 42 years old, has been required at all says a lot about the dearth of suitable alternatives.

Now the Hearts goalkeeper is injured and contemplating his future, while Liam Kelly, who featured only sporadically for Rangers this season, is also on the sidelines.

Scotland goalkeeper Angus Gunn is currently without a club after his release from Norwich. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group) | SNS Group

It has left Clarke with no option but to turn once more to Angus Gunn, currently of no fixed abode having been released by Norwich City, and capless pair Robby McCrorie and Cieran Slicker for the forthcoming friendly double-header against Iceland and Liechtenstein.

Clarke concedes that Scotland got complacent. Having been blessed for a spell with Gordon, Allan McGregor and David Marshall as options, it seems nobody inside Hampden felt the need to put any long-term succession planning in place. Now that lack of foresight is coming home to roost.

“Maybe we should have picked up on it a few years ago,” admits Clarke. “It’s probably an oversight. We had three goalkeepers of such quality at the same time all playing that we probably thought that would never end. But we should have had a little look.

“What we can do to make it better, I don’t know. I don’t know the answer to that. We have to look for these young ones to step up and play. But they need to play. A lot of the younger goalkeepers tend to be kept in squads to sit on the bench to be ready to play. But they don’t get the chance to play as the number one doesn’t get injured.

“So in those development years, from 18 to 22, when you’re looking to pick up maybe 100 matches and get that match experience they’re actually sitting on the bench. Working with good people and learning good habits. But only in training, not in matches.

“Maybe there’s a way we can get these younger keepers out to League 2 clubs or League 1 or the Championship at an earlier age where they play and do well.

“But if you’re a manager and you take a young goalkeeper, play him in a few games and he chucks a couple in the back of the net, then you’re going to think, ‘well, I’ll put a more experienced goalkeeper back in’. So, it’s a little bit of a Catch 22. The boys need a chance but when they get it, they have to take it. Because if they don’t the manager won’t play them.

“We just have to keep looking to see what’s out there. I’ve not found too many others with a Scottish granny yet to be honest. So hopefully some of these younger ones can step up and show what they’re made of.”

Scotland goalkeepers Cieran Slicker and Robby McCrorie remain uncapped. (Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group) | SNS Group

Lennon Miller situation addressed

Clarke was more positive about the number of Scots flourishing abroad, especially in Italy where Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour are closing in on the Serie A title, Lewis Ferguson is a Coppa Italia winner and Josh Doig has helped Sassuolo win promotion.

Lennon Miller could yet be the next to try his luck on the continent, with Motherwell seemingly resigned to losing their teenage talisman this summer. Udinese and Bologna were two of those keen on landing Miller in January and Clarke believes the Young Player of the Year has the mental fortitude to cope with a move overseas should that come to pass.

“I’m not sure what Lennon’s plans are,” he added. “He spoke at the Scottish Football Writers’ dinner on Sunday night - picking up his award which was well deserved - and he wasn’t giving too much away. Listen, I’m sure they’ve got offers on the table.

“I hope that he, his family and his agent make the right choice. And that he goes somewhere he’s going to play, where he’s going to get minutes and develop in a similar manner to someone like Lewis Ferguson, for example, who went abroad at the right time and has developed into a really good player.

“Lennon will know if he’s ready to go abroad. And his family will know if they’re prepared to let him move abroad. Maybe they’ll think he’s not ready and that will be a factor in the decision. But I think he’s a pretty level-headed boy. He’s pretty sensible so I’m sure he’ll make the right decision.”