Small-minded SFA must ditch parochial mentality if Scotland are to thrive | Ewan Murray

There was one element of the Scottish Football Association’s otherwise baffling decision to give Steve Clarke a four‑year deal weeks before a World Cup ball had been kicked that made sense. When assessing alternatives to Clarke as the Scotland manager, it is apparent that paucity of talent among the country’s footballers is replicated in the coaching ranks. Clarke’s sudden resignation places the SFA in a position it was not only desperate to avoid but requires something it typically lacks; out‑of‑the-box thinking. Clarke has spared himself and his paymasters an acrimonious, lengthy goodbye while placing them in precisely the quandary they thought they had seen off. History should treat Clarke fondly. He ended his nation’s painful wait to appear at major tournaments. This was done three times, despite massive limitations on playing resources, to which Clarke’s critics appear blind. It was such a pity his tenure ended amid polemic relating to another finals disappointment. Scotland froze at the World Cup, which is at least partly the responsibility of coaching. Had Clarke determined, as was originally his position, that this World Cup and a seven-year stint was sufficient to stop familiarity breeding contempt, people would have been more sanguine about his departure. This always felt a salient end point. Instead there is bewilderment about why his paymasters seemed unwilling to factor in events in the US when tying up Clarke for a potential tenure of more than a decade . …