Steve Clarke's Scotland Tenure By The Numbers

As the dust began to settle on Scotland’s World Cup exploits in North America, the announcement of Steve Clarke’s departure as manager kicked it back up again. Just a month after signing a new four-year deal, the former Kilmarnock boss decided to walk away from his international post.

A surprise due to the timing of the news and what was believed to be Clarke’s secure employment status with the SFA. Perhaps less of a surprise when you consider that Scotland once again failed to get out of a major international tournament group phase.

Another failure in the eyes of the travelling Tartan Army, bitter disappointment for those who had spent thousands of dollars in watching their national team on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Another failure to reach the knockout rounds meant that Clarke decided to fall on his sword.

A Numbers Game

Decisions such as these are not necessarily easy to make but sometimes the numbers have a habit of making the decisions for you and although Scotland have made it to three of the last four major international tournaments, you do not win anything for simply joining the party.

Which means it is now time to take a proper look at those numbers during Steve Clarke’s managerial tenure as Scotland boss and see if history will end up being kind or instead critical of his seven years in charge.

First up, a look at his overall tenure in terms of results:

Clarke undertook 81 games as manager of Scotland, winning 36 of them. Such performance meant he ended up with a % win rate of 44.44. Four wins out of every nine games played, not something to be overlooked for a non-elite European nation.

Critics would argue that qualification groups allow you to pad out statistics such as this, especially if you are going on to qualify for either the World Cup or European Championship finals. However, that does not mean Scotland have had it easy in any of their last four qualification processes.

Who can forget their magical 4-2 win over Denmark at Hampden Park last November or their 2-0 home win against Spain back in March 2023 – a pivotal result in their successful bid to reach Euro 2024 in Germany.

Two highlights of Clarke’s reign when it comes to attempting to reach the finals of a tournament. Unfortunately, the high points of the autumn and spring international breaks are never repeated in the summer.

A case in point when you look at how Scotland have performed in each of their last three finals appearances:

Nine games played across Euro 2020, Euro 2024 and this year’s World Cup, just a single win to show for Scotland’s toiling efforts. Victory that came in their opening North American clash against Haiti, victory that was not enough to eventually progress to the Round of 32.

However, Scotland have also failed to reach the Round of 16 under former manager Steve Clarke, their records in both Germany two years ago and in United Kingdom-based fixtures five years ago also falling short of the required standard.

You only have to cast your mind back to Euro 2020 (played in 2021 due to Covid) to remember Scotland’s inefficiencies. They may have celebrated a 0-0 “win” at Wembley after holding England to a stalemate; there was no celebrating against either the Czech Republic or Croatia.

Goal Shy Scotland

A single goal across three group stage matches, five conceded. Scotland bowed out of Euro 2020 with a point to their name and a goal difference of -4. Their subsequent record in Germany at Euro 2024 was also just as underwhelming.

Hammered by the hosts by five goals to one in the tournament opener, they laboured to a draw with Switzerland in their second group stage game. That point kept their hopes of qualification alive. Those hopes were extinguished after defeat to Hungary.

Another tournament where Scotland have picked up just a single point from the nine on offer. On each occasion, four would have been enough to secure safe passage to the Round of 16. Instead, they exited Germany with a goal difference of -5 to their name.

Add these European exploits to their North American nadir and Scotland have lost six of their last nine major tournament matches. Six defeats from the 29 in total under Steve Clarke – this equates to 20.6% of all defeats during his time in charge.

Then again, results themselves do not tell the full story when it comes to performance; sometimes you need to scratch a little deeper and this is where we look at how Scotland’s attack and defence have performed in each of those nine matches.

Regardless of the tournament, it does not make for good reading from an attacking perspective. In each of the Euro 2020, Euro 2024 and World Cup 2026 bids Scotland were outperformed in terms of shots across the tournament.

In none of the nine games did Steve Clarke’s men manage to have more shots on target than their opponents. Even in their recent 1-0 win over Haiti, they had to make do with registering the same value of two as their Caribbean opponents.

There was the same stalemate in terms of shots on target when compared to goals during their Euro 2020 clash with England. There may have been heavy celebrations in London that night, a rare glimpse of happiness along with their win over Haiti.

However, there was far from happiness in three of their last nine tournament matches under manager Clarke. Failures to register a shot on target against both Germany and Hungary at Euro 2024, the same against Morocco just a couple of weeks ago.

Defence Under Attack

While the defence must also have its cards marked after conceding 10 shots on target when facing hosts Germany at Euro 2024. Were it not for Antonio Rudiger scoring a consolation own goal, that night would have been even worse for the Tartan Army.

Just 20 shots on target were registered across nine major international tournament matches, an average of 2.22 per game. Compare that to the 5.22 shots on target that they give up to the opposition and you can begin to see the root cause of the problem.

A problem that confirms that Scotland simply have not been good enough at international tournaments and although there have been plenty of highs on the road to qualification, they have been wiped out by plenty of lows when it mattered most.

What matters now for Scotland is who will replace Steve Clarke and although the prospect of playing in front of their own support at Euro 2028 will be enticing, the new man in charge first needs to make sure this ageing squad can secure qualification.