What a week it has been off the pitch in Scottish Football. One thing you can never level against our game is that it’s boring. There is always something going down. Last-gasp transfer window drama, astronomical Chinese bids being knocked back by Rangers for Alfredo Morelos and the much maligned Stewart Regan finally jumping before he was pushed in quitting as chief executive at the Scottish Football Association.
On the pitch it has also seen a Scottish manager excel – and surely jump – to the very top of any SFA wishlist. That manager in question is of course Stevie Clarke.
I wrote in this very column when Stevie first arrived at Rugby Park what a massive coup it was. He certainly hasn’t disappointed me.
While the blazers at Hampden were staking everything they had on going all out to get Michael O’Neill in the door at Hampden, Clarke has been steadily building what looked like a pretty average squad on paper when he took over from Lee McCulloch, into a team that could and should have taken four goals off the champions Celtic on Saturday.
Furthermore, having watched the game back, it certainly wasn’t a fluke that Kilmarnock beat Celtic. It was thoroughly deserved. Yes, Celtic on the day were poor, but they weren’t allowed to play well due to the tactics and work rate of Kilmarnock.
Killie have looked absolutely transformed tactically, mentally and physically under Clarke. They look a yard sharper and fitter all over the park. Yes, he used his extensive contacts to bring in possibly the bargain of the season in Youssouf Mulumbo but apart from him it has been the same squad of players.
Similarly, when Brendan Rodgers first arrived at Celtic, Clarke has shown that as a manager you don’t need to completely gut the place when you arrive at a new club.
All it takes sometimes is an arm around the shoulder and a manager who believes in you to get the best out of players.
Guys like Rory McKenzie,Kirk Broadfoot and Kris Boyd look like completely different players. From taking just three points from
30 under McCulloch to beating Celtic and Rangers at home, drawing with both away from home and banishing an abysmal home record with five straight wins on the spin it is the stuff of dreams for the Killie punters and has left them pinching themselves.
As I said, it hasn’t been a massive turnaround of personnel in the window but simply great man management and coaching on the training pitch.
That, for me, makes the job he is doing even more impressive. You can see how incredibly well organised and hard to break down they are at the minute and that doesn’t just happen by accident. It’s constant coaching sessions on shape, with and without the ball, that make teams better. Players knowing where they should and shouldn’t be in specific areas of the pitch. But mainly I think Clarke has shown just how good a man-manager he is with the clear transformation of the players that were already in place at Kilmarnock. Which leads me nicely to my next point.
International football is completely different to club football. I know this as I was fortunate enough to gain 14 Under-21 caps and a few B caps for my country so I was away with squads preparing for games. You only get to spend short periods of time with players, so man management and getting players to buy into what you want is everything at international level.
There isn’t a lot of time to do loads of coaching or shape drills. You quickly need to find a system that suits the players you have and get them believing in it as soon as possible. And obviously you can’t go out and buy your way out of trouble.
This is exactly what Clarke has done and his credentials for the Scotland job in my opinion grow stronger everytime I see his Kilmarnock team flourish.
Clarke is certainly not an old man at 54,
but at this stage of his life, it may be that international football could appeal to him.
Certainly, whoever the new SFA chief executive turns out to be, and I hope an appointment is made soon, I would be stunned if their first call is not to Stevie Clarke.
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