Clarke urges Scottish game to rethink strategy over development of young players… and take a leaf out the book of Nations League opponents Croatia

Steve Clarke has warned that Scotland will struggle to match Croatia’s achievements unless there is a radical rethink of player development.

The Croatians, who visit Hampden tonight for the penultimate match of the Nations League campaign, remain the gold standard for countries of similar population size, having produced world-class talents like Luka Modric and excelling on the world stage.

While Clarke managed to end the 23-year wait to return Scotland to the big stage by qualifying for Euro 2020, questions remain over the country’s ability to bring through the next generation of talent to take.

A recent report authored by Chris Docherty and Andy Gould, the SFA’s head of men’s elite strategy and SFA’s chief football officer respectively, claimed that Scottish football was ‘significantly underperforming its potential’ in youth development compared to countries of the same size .

Ahead of tonight’s meeting with Zlatko Dalic’s side, Clarke believes the inability to find solutions will see Scotland always lag behind the likes of Croatia, who are taking a more strategic approach to the future.

“They have a system in place from a young age because they seem to have a conveyor belt of talent,” the Scotland boss said.

Modric has been a regular pest for Scotland over the years, at Euro 2020 and beyond

Andy Robertson leads the Scotland squad through their paces during training ahead of the match against Croatia

‘They keep bringing players through. They also have many long-lived players at the top level, with over 100 caps or between 75 and 100.

‘They just found the right balance. They are producing a lot of good young players and allowing them to play a lot of games in their home country before moving – which is a really good foundation and something we can perhaps get better at here.

“And they show a path for the young players. There is a lot we need to try and change if we want to get better.

“We can reach that level, but we still have a lot of work to do.” Clarke believes it is imperative that the various stakeholders in the game now take control of this important area.

“At some point people have to sit down – a think tank or whatever – and try something different that we haven’t tried before, to see if we can improve it.

‘If we keep doing what we’re doing, things won’t get better.

“I am the head coach of Scotland and in these camps I focus on getting the results and performances that the Tartan Army want because they come to watch us.

‘If I want to go to the youth level, I need someone with different skills – or I need to leave this job and really think about it more deeply.

Billy Gilmour fled Scotland at a young age to develop his career at Chelsea and then Brighton

“But if we keep doing what we’re doing, we’ll always get what we get.

“We have to try to find a way, but the change has to be driven from the top.

‘They have to understand that we have to change.

“I’m sure previous head coaches have said it before.”

When asked whether there is an understanding among governing bodies that things need to change, Clarke replied: ‘Yes, I think so, but it takes a collective.

‘It’s not just the people at the Scottish FA, it’s the people in charge at the clubs.

“Everyone needs to sit down and try to figure out a way we can improve in the future.”

Clarke believes the Scots can learn from Croatia, where the success of the national team is the top priority of everyone in the country. “For my group of players, the national team is very important,” said the former Kilmarnock boss.

Croatian boss Zlatko Dalic has been fortunate to call on the talisman Modric

‘If they get away, they have shown that they want to be successful for their country.

‘I can’t really speak for the clubs whether they consider the national team more important than their club.

‘As a club manager you know that you have your own interests that you have to look after.

‘If you are a national coach, you cannot forget that you were a club manager. I understand both sides of the argument.

‘As a club manager you are under pressure every week to get results and if that means finding more experienced players then sometimes that is what you do.

“But what we need to do, like Croatia, is find a conveyor belt of talent and more young players.

‘If you do that, there is a greater chance that some of them will end up in the first team.’ More immediately, Clarke’s players will look to build on the first point they gained in this group – against Portugal – when they face the Croatians for the second time in five weeks.

Clarke was hampered by numerous call-offs in the last double-header but is now grateful to be suffering from selection problems of the right kind.

Grant Hanley and Andy Robertson were in good spirits in training at Lesser Hampden

“I’ve got the players I had against Portugal, as well as (John) McGinn, (Stuart) Armstrong, (Scott) McKenna, (Tommy) Conway, (Jack) Hendry – it’s great,” he said.

‘I haven’t slept this week because there are so many permutations going through my head. It’s brilliant. I have good choices to make.’

Currently, the Scots are bottom of League A Group 1 and have an outside chance of finishing second if they win their last two games and other results go their way.

Clarke believes his side’s position can improve in the final two matches, the second of which will be played against Poland in Warsaw on Monday.

“A win would certainly be good,” he said. “From the performances we have had, we deserve more points than we have.

“But we still have two games to go and a chance to be really competitive in the group and stay at this level, and that’s what we all want.

‘We want points in both games, but we recognize the quality of our opponent.

‘Hopefully they know that they also have tough matches ahead of them.’