Former Scotland assistant manager Mark McGhee has stated that Steve Clarke's position as national team boss became untenable following a series of 'abject' World Cup performances, culminating in a 'diabolical' showing against Haiti. McGhee, who served as Gordon Strachan's No.2, believes the Scottish Football Association (SFA) should now explore the foreign market as they seek a successor after seven years under Clarke.
World Cup disappointment
McGhee attended all three of Scotland's Group C matches and was critical of the team's displays. While acknowledging Clarke's role in taking Scotland to the World Cup for the first time in decades, he did not hold back in his assessment of the on-field performances. 'I've been to the three games. They've been abject at best,' McGhee told Talksport. 'We've been around with Scotland fans in Boston and Miami and the supporters have been absolutely incredible, they've had such a party and we've got Steve to thank for that. So let's not forget that.'
He added: 'We do have Steve and the team to thank for giving us all the opportunity to have an experience of a lifetime. Really, it's been unbelievable. But, unfortunately, the performances within all of that. The party was great, but the performances have been, as I say, at best abject.'
Haiti performance was the turning point
McGhee singled out the 1-0 win over Haiti as a major disappointment, arguing that a larger margin of victory was essential to compensate for expected losses against Brazil and Morocco. 'I think a lot would be forgiven if we had lost against Brazil and Morocco. First half, Morocco were a different class and throughout the game, Brazil were just at another level. There was so much class about them that Scotland couldn't live with that, but the disappointment was only beating Haiti 1-0, and more than that, the performance was not great,' he said.
He continued: 'You could calculate that before the tournament even started in the way that it's worked out. If you look at the table, we're going to end up not qualifying on goal average and it'll be one or two goals. If they'd went out and thrashed Haiti 4-0, they could afford to lose by a goal or two to Morocco and Brazil and still qualify. So that was a disappointment.'
McGhee criticised the approach against Haiti, describing it as overly cautious. 'The way it was set out, it felt to me as if, even against Haiti, there was a kind of safety element to it that we're not going to lose this game. First and foremost, we must win this game. And that was true, of course, but it wasn't enough. We had to caveat any of that that we had to win the game, but we had to win it by more than one goal because one goal wasn't going to be enough because the likelihood would be that we would lose to Morocco and to Brazil. So we had to give ourselves some sort of margin for error and we didn't do that because the performance against Haiti was diabolical.'
Clarke's resignation and contract situation
Clarke's departure was announced immediately after the Croatia vs Ghana match, which mathematically ended Scotland's hopes of progressing. McGhee said he was not surprised by the timing. 'I'm not because I think he would sense that he's lost the trust of the Tartan Army. I think there was a bit of a backlash and I think the backlash wasn't temporary. I think that people felt he's had a great run, he's had some great moments. Bringing us here was obviously the ultimate one.'
McGhee also questioned the timing of Clarke's new contract, signed just before the World Cup. 'He signed a new contract before the World Cup. I think we all found that a bit odd. We knew that there's always the danger that it doesn't go right and then there's debate, so having signed a new contract, I'm not sure where that leaves the SFA.'
Next manager: foreign option?
With the SFA now beginning the search for a new manager, McGhee has urged the governing body to consider candidates from abroad, pointing to the trend of foreign coaches at the World Cup. 'We've got to look around Scottish managers, obviously. We all talk about that, wanting a manager of our own nationality. We've had that. Steve. Derek McInnes has just went to Rangers. He would have been in the frame, I'm sure. But the other thing that the SFA might do is they might go back to looking further afield, whether they look at, you know, a foreign coach.'
He added: 'And I think that when you see the guys that are standing on most of the touchlines at this World Cup, there's not many of them are from the country that they're managing. You'd need to fact check that, there's several of them. So I think an option for a foreign coach who would bring something fresh to it would be a definite starter for ten for me.'
