The Scottish FA’s chief executive says “nothing’s off the table” in replacing Steve Clarke as national head coach, a process that “starts now”.
The surprise announcement of Clarke stepping down quickly followed confirmation that Scotland could not progress to the World Cup knockout rounds. The head coach had agreed a new four-year contract just prior to the tournament.
The Scots opened Group C with a 1-0 win over Haiti but defeat by the same score by Morocco and a 3-0 loss to Brazil dampened chances of reaching the round of 32 as one of the eight best third-placed teams. Results elsewhere ultimately placed Scotland 11th of the 12 teams to finish third at the group stage.
“Football’s a very, very small world,” SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell said in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the Scotland team have been based.
“I’ve woken up this morning to a few messages from people that are interested in the job.
“Nothing’s off the table. We need to cast the net as far and wide as we can. It’s about getting the right coach, it’s not about necessarily where they come from. There’s a lot of good managers out there and it’s up to us to make sure that we pick the right one.
“The succession planning starts now.”
The Scots’ next games will be against North Macedonia, Slovenia and Switzerland in the autumn’s Nations League fixtures.
“We’re a really attractive job, for the right head coach, for the right manager,” Maxwell said.
“We’ve got a Euros that we’re [co-hosting] in 2028 to look forward to. There’s been a lot of success over the last few years and we need to make sure that we appoint someone that can improve on that and continue to drive us forward.”
Maxwell wants to make an appointment “as soon as we can” but added it must be “the right person”.
“It’s really, really difficult to put dates on it,” he explained. “We’ve obviously got games coming up in September.”
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