Steve Clarke is a wanted man as Scotland boss talks handshakes, Village People and questions for SFA

The dramatic manner of the Scots’ qualification against Denmark just over two weeks was earlier was still the talk of the auditorium where the draw for the tournament was taking place.“The number of foreign coaches who came up and spoke to me about the way that game finished was quite incredible,” recalled Clarke. “It was certainly a game which caught everybody’s imagination.”

Everything seems to be coming up roses for the Scotland manager just now. On the night in question, against Denmark, he chose to send on a left-footed left-back at right-back to the evident dismay of many in the crowd. He then watched as a Danish player miskicked the ball so that it landed perfectly for Kieran Tierney to use his left foot to curl beyond Kasper Schmeichel and put Scotland back in the qualification driving seat.

At the draw itself, Clarke had hoped for a group containing no European teams. He got his wish, as Scotland were pitched against Haiti, Morocco and Brazil. Even club football is going his way. Back at Hampden on Sunday for the first time since that memorable night against Denmark, Clarke saw St Mirren, his first professional club, lift the League Cup by beating Celtic in another game deserving the tag ‘epic’.

Three of the five major honours that St Mirren have now won have been secured since Clarke left Love Street bound for England, which highlights just long ago it was. He moved to Chelsea in January 1987. Five months later the team he had joined from Beith Juniors lifted the Scottish Cup by beating Dundee United.

Good timing, not. And the question of when might be the right time to leave remains a persistent and pertinent one with regards to Clarke, who met reporters at a hotel in Ayrshire on Monday for a review of what has turned out to be a very good year.

Clarke is now a man in demand

“One of the biggest things is that since I’ve been back in Scotland I can’t walk past somebody without them shaking my hand and saying well done, it’s brilliant,” he enthused. “Text messages from people saying, ‘Have you got tickets?’ - the answer is always no! It’s gradually just sinking in. Obviously you then go to the draw, which was an experience in itself.”

He denied getting up to dance to Village People at the end, as it was suggested he had done. “I was just getting up to leave!” he protested when asked about that bulletin of fake news.

“That was the time to go," he continued. "It was pretty surreal to think you started with (Andrea) Bocelli and finished with the Village People. It was a pretty strange night. It took too long to get to the draw, if I’m being honest, that’s what everyone wanted to see. They could maybe have found a way to incorporate the show after the draw.”

All the backslapping, all those fellow coaches, many of whom are legendary names, coming up to Clarke to offer their congratulations, it must be infectious, no? Clarke admits it’s been a step up in intensity compared to the aftermath of two European Championship qualifications.

“There seems to be a World Cup fever in the country at the minute,” he said. “I think the way we qualified. To win that section was a helluva achievement. Greece, Denmark and Belarus were good sides. I was critical of my team after the Belarus game, everyone else was critical and the team got booed off at Hampden. But one of the reasons we qualified is that we were the only team that took six points off Belarus. That is very un-Scottish. Normally it’s up that make the mistakes and drop the points.

“One of the things about going to the World Cup draw, when we were at the previous World Cup draw there was an asterisk next to the Scotland name but this time we were there. When the flag comes up it’s quite visual. It was nice to see.”

Long-term faith in current group

Might he not want to see it again? Most people assume that having become the first manager to lead Scotland to three major finals, he will step away after the summer. He himself rated it “75 per cent” likely a few short months ago. He did, however, row back a bit on this following the Denmark game and it still sounds like he could be persuaded to stay on. World Cup fever seems to be getting to him, too.

After all, contrary to what some others might feel, he believes the current group is not nearing its sell-by date. The core, he stressed, can still be around for the next two tournaments. Clarke remembers feeling he had a chance to be involved at France ’98 at the age of 34 and was miffed when he wasn’t picked by Craig Brown despite his good form for Chelsea.

He is planning to sit down with SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell before the pre-World Cup friendlies in March. “I’ve got a few questions for them in terms of how we move forward and how we make sure it’s not over 20 years before we qualify for another tournament,” he said.

“Like I say, this group of players can definitely do 2028. Not all of them, but most of them. Maybe after they have been at a World Cup there might be one or two who say, ‘that’s the pinnacle, I’ve done it, so….’ There is a lot to discuss moving forward beyond whether I try to make another tournament and carry on for another two years.”