Kieran Tierney to return to Scotland camp in Lyndon Dykes role

Scotland’s players have been told not to pack their bags for home even though they could be eliminated from Euro 2024 in Stuttgart.

Steve Clarke and his squad will make the 165 mile road trip north this morning ahead of the final Group A showdown with Hungary which will determine whether or not they become history makers by reaching the knock-out stages. Anything less than three points will mean they could be heading back to Glasgow first thing on Monday morning.

But Clarke’s right hand man, John Carver, has revealed that they are already preparing to return to their tournament HQ here in Garmisch-Partenkirchen instead – in order to begin preparing for the last 16. Carver said: “We’ve not even spoken about packing our bags, don’t worry about that. Nobody has spoken about packing our bags. We’re not interested in that.

“That is mentally important. You don’t want the devil on your shoulder saying, ‘Get upstairs and pack your bags’. Nobody has even dropped it into the conversation. Nobody has spoken about going home. My wife hasn’t even spoken about going home, which is a good thing. I am being genuine. We’re just planning for the going and getting the right result. Why wouldn’t you want to stay here?”

Arsenal defender Kieran Tierney did return home after medics advised him he will not be fit to play any further part in the competition, following the hamstring injury he suffered during Wednesday night’s 1-1 draw with Switzerland. But Carver says Tierney is the only player who will be checking out of the team hotel for the time being – and that the former Celtic man is already making plans to be back at the Bavarian base to support his team mates next week.

Asked if the players will have to check out of their rooms before boarding the team bus later today Carver said: “They are staying. Everything is staying. We haven’t even spoken about it. The guy who is in charge of our training ground is an English lad. He works for Leipzig. He’s a great guy and has been so helpful – he has given us everything we wanted.

“But he left after training this morning and he said, ‘I’m coming back on Monday, I’ll see you on Monday’. And I said, ‘Absolutely, I can’t wait to see you!’.”

A win against the Hungarians will almost certainly ensure that Clarke and his players have at least one more match to come and they may have a nine day wait back at their base camp before becoming the first Scotland side in history to take part in the knock-out stages of a major finals.