Scotland: Steve Clarke 'not bothered' about sorting his own future out before World Cup
Steve Clarke has led Scotland to three major finals out of four; his contract is up after this summer's World Cup; the 62-year-old had previously said he wanted his future sorted before the summer but now "isn't bothered" and wants to focus on preparing the team
Tuesday 31 March 2026 22:59, UK
Steve Clarke says he's "not bothered" about sorting out his future as Scotland boss before the World Cup despite being out of contract after the tournament.
Clarke, who took over in May 2019 and has led Scotland to three major tournaments out of four, has previously floated the idea of a return to club management and had said publicly that he'd like his future sorted before the tournament.
However, after Scotland's 1-0 defeat to Ivory Coast, when asked if he wanted still wanted that clarity, he said: "No. I want to concentrate on the World Cup. I'm sure if something happens you guys will know, if it doesn't, I'm not bothered. I want to be in right frame of mind for the World Cup and my players. What happens will happen."
Scotland slipped a second friendly defeat of this international break, losing 1-0 to Ivory Coast in Liverpool on Tuesday.
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It was another flat display at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium, watched by Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Kenny Dalglish and Toffees boss David Moyes. Like at Hampden Park on Saturday when they lost 1-0 to Japan, there were a smattering of boos at half-time and full-time for Clarke's men.
Scotland have two more warm-up games against Curacao and Bolivia, who were revealed as the second opponent by Clarke in his post match press conference, before they take to the biggest stage of all for the first time in 28 years in the USA, where they face Haiti, Morocco and Brazil in their group.
When asked about the boos and whether it's affecting his team, Clarke said: "The more you speak about it the more you encourage people to be negative. I thought my team were very positive.
"I don't think we deserved to lose. We started well, looking bright and trying to get forward. Our system caused them a problem to start with but we allowed a really poor goal from a counter attack. Really good teams punish that. They're a good team.
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"Our reaction wasn't good. We lost control of the game. That is something we have to be better at.
"In the second half we dominated the game. We didn't create anything clean but that is credit to Ivory Coast.
"We need quality and calmness in the final third. If you do that, chances will come."
