WEDNESDAY marked 100 days until the start of the European Championships which is another milestone that Steve Clarke can tick off as the build-up continues.
The fact that it’s now this close to the start of the tournament definitely helps focus the mind and you start to think about all the things you need to take care of in the weeks and months ahead.
I felt at the time ahead of our appearance at the World Cup in 2019 it was starting to become a bit of a circus. There was a bit of a media frenzy, there are commercial aspects you need to consider and so many other things. There was a lot going on.
But as a manager I had to try to focus on the things that I could control. My role at the time was maybe a bit different than Steve’s as it was two-fold: to make sure my players were as best prepared as they could be heading into a major tournament but also to try to help grow the women’s game as well.
Steve won’t have to worry about that second part and that means he can focus more on the matches ahead, squad selection, looking at Scotland’s opponents and just making sure all the preparation is spot-on.
I spoke to a lot of managers who had taken a team to a tournament to get a bit of insight on how it was going to be for us.
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I got an amazing letter from Craig Brown after we qualified. That was a really nice touch, especially given how few people take the time to write personalised letters these days.
He gave me a lot of tips, especially given we were going to France to compete in a World Cup just as he had done in 1998.
He mentioned trying to get the locals onside wherever we were based. So we arranged for the players (if they wanted) to learn basic French prior to the tournament. This was done through online learning and based on a piece of Craig’s advice on interacting with the locals.
There were a few other nuggets of information from his own personal experiences. And I was blown away that he had taken the time to do that. It was a real class act.
I also talked to some people from the women’s game to gain their perspective, and also had a chat with Michael O’Neill to learn about his experiences in taking Northern Ireland to the Euros in 2016 – again in France.
His daughter was on one of our programmes so he got in touch to offer to meet for a coffee and that was a really nice gesture as well. All these things helped build a picture in my mind the closer we got to the tournament starting.
The toughest part for any manager at this stage of the build-up is trying to finalise your squad selection. You want to be loyal to those players who have helped you qualify while also keeping an open mind to the possibility of a form player forcing their way into contention.
I’d imagine Steve will have had to have picked a provisional list but nearer the time will need to whittle that down to 23 names. And I found that the hardest job ever.
As managers you always talk about wanting that competitive environment and having that selection headache but, I tell you what, it’s some headache!
Given it’s a first appearance at a major finals for 23 years for the guys, everyone is going to be desperate to be involved. And that will mean a lot of disappointment for some of the players who miss out.
You have an idea of who you want to go with but you’re mostly hoping that all of your key players just stay fit and healthy.
So with three months to go, you’re constantly studying all the matches, looking to see if the younger ones are thriving and maybe making a case for inclusion.
We had scouts out looking at all the games to make sure we were tracking every potential player who could have made a late run to make the squad. And eventually we went with an experienced group with a few younger ones as well. But it was one of the hardest jobs in my entire time as Scotland manager.
I actually got to watch most of the players in action 100 days out as we were playing in the Algarve Cup in Portugal. We had matches against Canada, Iceland and then Denmark and that was a successful 10 days or so for us as a squad in the build-up.
We had a visit from FIFA on one of the days and half the squad were taken for anti-doping testing which interrupted our training plans. But these are the off-the-pitch protocols you need to go through ahead of a major tournament that maybe people don’t see.
I had a countdown to the first game on my phone and my other electronic devices that helped keep me organised and reminded me of what I had to do and by when.
I was across everything and was quite hands-on dealing with logistics in the build-up, and went to check out transportation, hotels, training facilities and the rest to make sure it was all up to scratch.
There’s a lot to take in ahead of a major tournament. And with the 100-day milestone now passed, it will no doubt be starting to feel very real for Steve and his players.
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