2026-06-29 10:47:56

Steve Clarke felt the time was right for him to step down as Scotland manager.

The coach announced his resignation after the Tartan Army’s group-stage exit from the World Cup was confirmed over the weekend, and revealed that he had always intended to walk away if the tournament didn’t go to plan – even though he had only signed a new four-year contract last month.

In an interview with the Scottish Football Association (SFA), Clarke said: “Listen, what I wanted to make sure was that when I felt it was time to step away, it was time to step away.

“Signing the contract before (the World Cup) was a case of trying to give a little bit of comfort to the players knowing that we could continue the journey.

“I always had in my head that if we didn’t come out of the group, which is something that we’ve tried to do across three tournaments now, I always had in my head that if that didn’t happen then it was probably the right time to step away.

“Obviously if we’d managed to get that extra point and got out of the group then I’d probably have stayed on and tried to do another tournament.”

Scotland faced criticism for their performances in North America – particularly in defeats to Morocco and Brazil that condemned them to an early exit – but Clarke insists he had a “brilliant” World Cup experience.

The coach, who led the nation to three major tournaments during his seven-year spell in charge, said: “I said I was going to enjoy it. Coming out for the Haiti game with the Scotland fans there in their thousands and my family in the stands was just the best moment.

“The next two games were tough. We played difficult opponents. Morocco and Brazil, both of them can go really deep in the tournament and we competed with them, no matter what other people might say. We competed, both games were competitive.

“We showed a lot of character and we played some good stuff. We didn’t find the quality in the final third of the pitch but I could maybe say that across the whole seven years we’ve always been chasing and trying to find that quality in the final third of the pitch, and I hope my successor manages to do that.”

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