Scotsman Football special Euro Squad Announcement
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00:00Hello, the waiting is over. Welcome to the Scotsman football show, where today, myself,
00:13Matthew Elder and Alan Patillos, the football writer, will be discussing the Scotland squad
00:19for Euro 2024 that has been announced this morning. Steve Clarke naming 28 players and
00:25the provisional squad, which will be whittled down to 26 by the time the tournament kicks
00:30off in Germany in a couple of weeks' time. Alan is at Hampden, where he's already been
00:35sitting through Steve Clarke's press conferences this morning. Alan, what was your initial
00:41reaction when you saw the squad announced this morning and how has Steve Clarke been
00:44in his media duties this morning?
00:46No, yeah, well, I think he's been, sounds very relaxed. I think he's fairly comfortable
00:53with the names that he's got in the sheet of paper. I'm not sure he would have agreed
00:58with the chosen way of the SFA conveying it in the first instance via a very zeitgeisty
01:06video on Twitter and social media. I think Steve would just prefer just to hand out a
01:12sheet of paper with 28 names on it, which is what I've got in front of me. My first
01:17reactions when I heard was it didn't contain too much eyebrow-raising material, too many
01:24eyebrow-raising names, did it? It just seemed quite a fairly solid squad of names that we
01:30kind of knew would be in or around Steve's thinking. One obviously jumps out as the one
01:36that did sort of... Actually, I heard it when I was driving, literally just pulling into
01:40Hampden and the chap on the radio was reading through the list of names. Obviously, Ben
01:47Doak was the one he got to quite near the end. That was the one that did make the eyebrows
01:54raise and think, yeah, I like that. I think Steve's quite conscious that he probably has
01:59to just have somebody a bit sort of left field in there, a bit young, a bit more exciting
02:03just to give that bit of added something else. He did it in the Euro 2020 squad, didn't he,
02:10when he brought in Billy Gilmore and Nathan Paterson, two of these younger names who did
02:14end up playing a part in the actual tournament. And I think there's no reason why Ben Doak
02:18can't, providing he manages to improve his fitness, which of course is the big unknown
02:25with several names in this squad. Hence Steve having named 28 players in the first instance.
02:32Obviously, two of those will be cut adrift in the days prior to Euro 2024 kicking off.
02:40Yeah, Ben Doak, certainly probably a much needed name in the squad, just like you say,
02:47give that extra excitement level. I mean, the squad, looking through it, you have to
02:51say it's a strong enough squad, even though we've got our injury problems, a few of those
02:55players still to prove their fitness and obviously three missing out, Lewis Ferguson, Nathan
03:00Paterson and Aaron Hickey, which is a big blow. But looking down that squad, still a
03:04strong squad with a lot of players who are playing at a good level. Another uncapped
03:10player in the squad, alongside Ben Doak, is Ross McCrory. We're all wondering who Clark
03:19might go for in the absence of Hickey and Paterson at right back. I think Anthony Ralston
03:24was always a shoo-in there. It was just about who would be backing him up and vying for
03:29that position. And it's going to be Ross McCrory. Any surprise in that?
03:34No, really. I think, Matthew, you remember, we wrote at peace, didn't we, in the Scotsman
03:38a couple of weeks ago, just going through the possible options at right back, at stroke,
03:43right wing back. Ross McCrory was one of the ones that we picked out fairly high up, I
03:48think, as not an obvious choice. But one of the few options there were, other than Hickey
03:57and Paterson and obviously Anthony Ralston, who, thank goodness, has got some minutes
04:02laterally in the season for Celtic. Otherwise, he'd be coming into this tournament very cold
04:06indeed. But Ross McCrory, I think, has been obviously doing well at Bristol City and has
04:13been playing games, importantly. And I think playing a lot of them at right back, right
04:19wing back. So, I think he was fairly, although obviously he's uncapped and untested at this
04:29level, I think his name, given the absence, is a fairly straightforward option to bring
04:36him in. The others, I guess, was Max Johnston, obviously a bit younger. That would be perhaps
04:40a bit more of a gamble on Steve Clarke's part. So, no, I'm glad to see Ross McCrory. I think
04:46it's, you know, he's been in and about the squad, hasn't he, over the last few years.
04:51Even when he was at Aberdeen, I remember him being asked about his Scotland prospects.
04:56I remember a press conference, a Zoom press conference when we were still doing those.
05:02And I remember somebody asked him, well, Ross, what do you think about the possibility of
05:06making that step up into the Scotland squad? And I was actually surprised at the question
05:10at the time. I remember thinking, has Ross McCrory even been associated with the squad?
05:17Is he in the reckoning? And he suggested very forcefully that he was. And he liked to think
05:22he is, in Steve Clarke's thinking, back then. And here we are, very much in Steve
05:28Clarke's thinking. The likelihood will be that he is going to Germany. Obviously, the next
05:35big discussion or the next big story, I suppose, will be the two names that are cut adrift
05:39in the days ahead. And that's going to be hard, hard conversations with Steve Clarke.
05:44The interesting one with this squad is that I think Steve Clarke, speaking back in January,
05:48was talking about having to have so many difficult conversations. And although he
05:53wasn't looking forward to having those conversations with those players that
05:56wouldn't make the final squad, it was something that he had to do. It's the lot of a Scotland
06:04manager to have to make these big managers, at least the job of an international manager.
06:10But looking, because of injuries, because he's not really had too many difficult phone calls
06:17to make, has he, in the last 24 hours? Because nearly everybody, I think, who we thought would
06:23be in the squad is featuring on the sheet of paper. So, yeah, I mean, Steve Clarke himself
06:28knows what it's like to be excluded from an international squad for major finals, having
06:34been excluded by Andy Roxburgh for Italian 90 then in 98, towards the end of his career,
06:39being excluded by Craig Brown for the World Cup in France in 1998. So, yeah, he knows what
06:48players will feel like who are omitted. And I'm guessing, you know, there's four or five players
06:55going with genuine injury concerns. So, I'm guessing the players that will drop out, possibly
07:02a goalkeeper, the other player might even be one who just hasn't managed to prove his fitness.
07:08Ryan Jack being an obvious player that you would have severe doubts about because he's not actually
07:15played for Rangers for a long, long time. And you do wonder how fully prepared he is for the
07:22rigours of an international tournament. But that would be particularly cruel on Ryan,
07:27having missed out at Euro 2020 as well. Yeah, indeed. He's not given himself as much
07:34difficult conversations as what Gareth Southgate has. Of course, he named 33 players yesterday.
07:39So, when you see that there is probably four or five players there who are injury doubts,
07:44you wonder if Clarke could maybe have went up to 30 or 31, 32, just to give himself that
07:49breathing space in case all of them don't make it. But you would like to hope that at least a few of
07:54those doubts will be fit to play some part in the tournament. You mentioned England and it does
08:00strike me as, you know, Gareth Southgate not picking someone like Marcus Rashford. And here
08:08we are in Scotland, you know, debating obviously our forwards options, striking options, which I
08:15think it's fair to say aren't abundant, are they, in terms of options. So, yeah, you do kind of
08:25slightly wish to have the choices Gareth Southgate has and probably do for someone like Marcus
08:33Rashford in our forward choices. But Steve Clarke does seem pretty content with his options
08:41up front, bringing James Forrest in following that late season rally that James Forrest had. I think
08:47that's good because he's obviously, you know, good for a goal and also could provide cover at right
08:51wing-back. That was going to be my next point to you, Al. And James Forrest, very much deserved
08:58call-up based on his contribution to Celtic in the final month of the season. Very impactful
09:04towards that title win. Yeah, no, I think so, absolutely. And as somebody who knows,
09:09Steve Clarke made the point, he's made the point numerous times how important it is to have people
09:13that know the score, have been over the course. And that's another good point to make. I think
09:18there's over 800 caps in this current Scotland squad, 38 of them belonging to James Forrest.
09:26When he went to Euro 2020, to that finals in 2021, I think it was just below 500 caps in the
09:35squad. So it just shows you the evolution of Steve Clarke's Scotland team and slowly but surely
09:41becoming more experienced. James Forrest knows what it's like to be at major finals. So, you know,
09:48he'll be good for that alone. But obviously, I can see him making a contribution on the pitch,
09:53actually. Yeah, definite. And four goalkeepers, Craig Gordon, one of them. Good to see Craig in
10:00there. Obviously, he had a year-long injury battle to come back from that double leg break,
10:07which he's done superbly well to do so in his 40s now, obviously. But he'll be hoping that
10:13he can sneak into what will probably be, you would imagine, a three of goalkeepers who go to
10:20the Euros. Maybe, based on Xander Clarke's season, you would think that he would certainly
10:27be on the play. And Angus Gunn is obviously number one at the moment. So maybe between
10:32Gordon and Liam Kelly to sort of nail down that third spot. Yeah, I think so. It'd be too cruel,
10:38wouldn't it? It'd be too cruel on Craig Gordon, having got himself back into the frame and worked
10:43so hard to come back from that horrific double leg break. And then, you know, to be cast adrift at
10:49this point, that would be heartbreaking, I think, for him. And I think Craig will make the final
10:57selection. People have been talking, perhaps Liam Kelly is the one to drop out, which, again,
11:01would be harsh on him as well, because he's been there and thereabouts in the Scotland squad for
11:06a while now, and the first choice at Motherwell. So, yeah, that is a big choice for Steve Clarke
11:14to make. Who knows? He might still go with four goalkeepers. That's not impossible. He might take
11:18all four to Germany. So we will see on that front. And, you know, there's a lot to be...
11:25You know, there's two memories, two games, two friendlies to come before the big kick-off against
11:31Germany. Angus Gunn didn't have the best of games in the play-off, did he?
11:42Last week, he was at fault, I think, for a couple of goals against Leeds. So, you know,
11:48it might even be a slight question mark in terms of who starts between the posts for Scotland. And,
11:55I don't know, even Craig Gordon could sneak in as the number one. Who knows? It's interesting,
11:59isn't it? So much to be debated and to be confirmed even in the next two to three weeks.
12:07I'm sure Steve will give somebody other than Angus Gunn a run out in goals against either
12:13Gibraltar or Finland. Yeah, looking at the defence, it's just great to see Kieran Tierney,
12:18Andy Robertson, the sort of two key figures in there. Obviously, they both had
12:24injuries fairly recently, which gave us a bit of a concern. But they've both returned to full
12:31fitness and they've both played in the concluding matches of the season, Liverpool and Real Sociedad,
12:36respectively. The rest of the defence, obviously, Grant Hanley has struggled, I think, since coming
12:43back from his Achilles injury. Had a run in the Norwich team and then dropped out again. Just
12:48wasn't feeling quite right. So, doubts maybe over his involvement in the tournament. But
12:54the rest of the defence, pretty much as expected, I think.
12:59Yeah, I think Steve Clarke will give Grant Hanley every chance. I think he really
13:03does. I think he thinks of Grant Hanley as his number one centre-half, his number one choice. So,
13:09I think he'll be given every chance to prove his fitness in the next couple of friendly matches.
13:15But, yeah, it's not ideal, is it, that he's played so few games, even since going back
13:20to Spain game, his last appearance for Scotland with the famous 2-0 win out there, out on the
13:25pitch here at Hamilton. He's not played again for Scotland and obviously played not often for
13:32Norwich City. So, yeah, as I say, there's still plenty of things to be revealed in the next couple
13:40of weeks on the training part when the players all do finally meet up at the start of the training
13:47camp. And we must also take into account the fact that so many of these players are still playing
13:53football this weekend. There'll be these cup finals, play-off finals to be played and Steve
13:58Clarke will be sitting there on the edge of his seat, fingers crossed, everything crossed,
14:01hoping for no more injury problems.
14:06Definitely. In the midfield, our strongest department, I would think. You might agree
14:11with that. I'm just looking through it there. John McGuinness obviously will be coming in on
14:16a high, having led Aston Villa to the Champions League. Billy Gilmore probably had his best
14:23season in the English Premier League to date with Brighton, played almost every match for them.
14:28Scott McTominay, obviously great performances through the qualifying campaign, top scorer.
14:34I think he's also up near the top of the scoring charts for Manchester United as well this season.
14:38So, fantastic season there. And Ryan Christie, by all accounts, doing very, very well at Bournemouth.
14:44So, we've got great options in that midfield, even allowing for the absence of Lewis Ferguson.
14:51Yeah, absolutely. It does look pretty strong, doesn't it? It looks like Steve
14:54Clarke will be pretty satisfied with that list of names. I'm just looking at Billy Gilmore,
14:58as you say, and I'm looking at 25 caps next to his name. Three years ago, prior to Euro 2020,
15:08he was coming in with zero caps. So, it just proves Steve Clarke's point that this squad
15:15will have the benefit of experience. Having gone through that major finals experience
15:22three years ago, it was a very different climate, wasn't it? Covid era, and it just felt a little
15:29bit different to what it feels now. But yeah, I'm sure these players all benefited from
15:35that experience. So, it wasn't a happy one, particularly on the field. But yeah, the
15:40midfield, I think it really does pick itself in terms of the names there on the sheet. I'm not
15:46saying it picks itself in terms of the starters, but I'm sure Steve Clarke's got a pretty good
15:50idea of who he wants in those starting slots. Yeah, and up front, Clarke's system would suggest
15:59that there will only be one starting striker in these matches unless he changes later in the
16:03tournament if things aren't working out or whatnot. But Che Adams obviously had a very
16:10good second half of the season with Southampton. His goals return at the midway point wasn't
16:15looking particularly healthy, but by the end of the season, I think he'd almost hit the 20-goal
16:20mark and was a pivotal figure for them in getting into the playoffs. Although he did miss the
16:26semi-final with an injury, which hopefully isn't too serious and he may be back for the final
16:31against Leeds this weekend. And obviously we've got Lyndon Dykes, who's not had a prolific season
16:37at QPR, but who's obviously been very important for Scotland over the last few years,
16:41certainly under Clarke's tenure, and Lauren Shankland, who has had the season of his dreams
16:46really, 31 goals for Hearts. A real chance that he could be the one to lead the line. Obviously,
16:54he played that friendly against the Netherlands and if only he'd put that one in instead of putting
16:58it against the crossbar, I don't even think we'd be having a discussion. I think if he'd
17:01equalised in that match, I think he'd be nailed on for the starting slot.
17:06It's interesting that six months ago, Lauren Shankland was not nailed on to be in this squad.
17:15Never mind, we're discussing here whether he should start or not. It just proves what a great
17:21run he's had and since coming on as a substitute against Georgia and scoring that late equaliser.
17:27It did him the world of good, I think, in terms of Scotland. He's coming into this tournament as
17:33a double play of the year, PFA Scotland and Scottish Football Writers' Association play
17:38of the year. That has to give someone a lot of confidence. Although I can't see him starting
17:43against Germany, I think he could start one of the games. I think Shea Adams would be the one,
17:48I think, to, as you say, in injury. Fitness permitting, he starts against Germany in Munich
17:54on the 14th of June.
18:24you