Clarke baffled at Scotland negativity as he urges fans to ‘relax’ before Euros

Steve Clarke has been left baffled at the “negativity” surrounding Scotland after their narrow win over Gibraltar.

The head coach saw his stars beat the minnows 2-0 but miss a host of opportunities as they aimed to ramp up their Euro 2024 preparation in Faro earlier this week. Pundits and supporters were somewhat uninspired by the performance on the night and that left Clarke fielding questions this afternoon in his pre-match Finland press conference about dealing with some tension from the stands and on social media.

For the boss it was a lesson in handling the critics as he urged the Tartan Army to take this time before the tournament in Germany to relax and get ready to enjoy the run no matter how long or short it lasts for our lads.

“Every time I read a comment from someone being a Negative Norman, I dismiss it,” he insisted. “Why be negative? Relax and enjoy it. That’s what we’ll do.

“I don’t understand why anyone would be negative about a second Euros in a row. Let’s get behind them and give them a real chance.”

Clarke has called in Lewis Morgan and Tommy Conway for Lyndon Dykes and Ben Doak who picked up injuries in training and he explained his decision-making process for the pair.

“We lost Ben Doak and had to look at our options,” he added. “It came down to Lewis. It shows that we do look far and wide at players. We don’t make up stories.

“It’s disappointing to lose who we’ve lost but in Conway and Morgan, we’ve got two good additions.”