What Scotland manager Steve Clarke had to say on Georgia 'collywobbles' and making history

Scotland manager Steve Clarke is retaining a narrow focus as the Euro 2004 qualifier at home to Georgia comes with all manner of baggage old and new. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

Scotland manager Steve Clarke refuses to allow the national team’s fateful history with Georgia to give him the fear - or place any store in a qualification first that would be accomplished against these opponents were his men to extend their faultless record to four wins in the tilt for Euro 2024.

Clarke is entirely nonplussed over the shivers induced in Scotland followers by ghastly memories of a past pivotal game with the Georgians. An October 2007 2-0 loss in Tbilisi dished out by a home team featuring three untried teenagers. An outcome that ended a six-game winning run for Alex McLeish’s side and proved instrumental in derailing their bid to reach Euro 2008. Clarke concern is only with the here and now and Tuesday’s Hampden encounter that could allow his Group A leaders to plant one foot in next summer’s German finals if it can move them on to full points at their halfway point in the section.

That extends to the Ayrshire man giving no thought to the fact the miraculous 2-1 win over Norway in Oslo on Saturday night - following on from the scintillating Spain success and the Cyprus win with which they opened up their campaign - presents the opportunity for him to become the only Scotland manager to lead the country to four straight victories from the beginning of any qualifying group.

“Georgia doesn’t give me the collywobbles,” said the 59-year-old. “At that particular time I was a little bit distant from the national team, because I was down south working with clubs. We have to concentrate on ourselves. That’s the only way I can put it. What happened in the past happened in the past. We have to make sure that the future is better than the past. [And] you know what I am going to say [about four-in-a-row], you already know the answer. I just want to win the next game. It doesn’t compute in my head. Maybe I am different. After you have done it you can say: ‘That was great, we did that’. But it is not at the forefront of my mind something like that. I just want to qualify from the group. . . I don’t care when the points come.”