'I've always known I was right' - bullish SFA president not interested in Steve Clarke vindication

There was no one who argued more strongly for Clarke to be given the job in 2019 than Mulraney.

Last week’s news he had signed a deal taking him up to the World Cup 2030 means Clarke will be far and away Scotland’s longest-serving manager if he stays for the duration. The 62-year-old is already the most successful after qualifying for three major finals and winning promotion to League A of the Nations League.

Mulraney expressed surprise that the extended deal has even generated discussion. Many people found it surprising that such a deal was signed days before a World Cup, where Scotland tend to suffer calamities.

However, Clarke has shown an ability to keep manoeuvring himself out of tight positions such as after Euro 2024, where Scotland had the worst record of any team at the tournament. He followed this up with a creditable Nations League performance before leading the team to this month's World Cup as group winners.

Mulraney stressed that he always had faith in someone he was influential in recruiting when he was vice-president seven years ago.

“I genuinely don’t need vindication,” he said. “I know I was right. I don’t need other people to vindicate my decision. I knew I was right the day I appointed him, I knew he was right the day he qualified us for a major tournament.

“I know I am right on the days it goes wrong and I believe I am still right as I sit here today. It might sound arrogant, but I don’t need vindication. I never need applause or anyone to tell me I am doing it right.

“The only person I have to convince that I am doing it right is me. Everybody discusses at the end of every tournament what we could have done differently. I want to win every game and Steve wants to win every game. But there are some clubs who dumped their manager in the last few years who, quite frankly today, would probably wish they hadn’t.

“What often happens in football is that you do not appreciate how good you have it until you don’t have it anymore.

“Right now we have got the right man in the right job for our nation who has qualified for three of the last tournaments and it was nearly four out of four.

“It’s a wee while since we have done that, so for me he is the right man at the right time. Whether that time was six years ago or May 2026, we have the right man at the right time. Honestly, I do not need vindication and I do not feel vindicated because I have always known that I was right.

“I don’t feel surprised by it, because if you believe in your project and believe what you are doing is right then show the commitment, show commitment.

“We all know that football is a different world and that anything can happen in the meantime. But I believed it two years ago. I believed it four years ago and I believed it six years ago. So I believe it now.”