Steve Clarke deserves better than to have his role as Scotland boss questioned.
Football is the ficklest of games but being in charge of the Scotland national team is arguably one of the most challenging gigs around.
Take charge of a group of players with deeply contrasting strengths and weaknesses, build a team out of them, and not only win some games but qualify for major tournaments.
The list of managers who tried and fail to do it since Craig Brown is ridiculous.
Berti Vogts, Walter Smith, Alex McLeish (twice), George Burley, Craig Levein and Gordon Strachan were not rookies by any stretch of the imagination.
But what they shared was a lack of real quality in depth and it told when it came to trying to qualify for a major tournament.
For Clarke to come along and do it not once, but twice, all while leading Scotland up through the ranks to the top level of the Nations League is quite the feat.
But that’s the issue with a modicum of success – it raises expectations.
There’s nothing wrong with that of course, but when it comes to Scotland progress will always be a marathon not a sprint.
Clarke’s track record speaks for itself
Leading Scotland to back-to-back Euros is a huge step in the right direction but collective disappointment in failing to get out of the group at the finals led to many questioning whether Clarke’s time was up.
The struggle against some of the leading nations in the Nations League A added fuel to the fire.
But, game by game it seems Scotland are finding their feet in elite company.
Friday’s 1-0 win against Croatia was his first in 10 competitive matches but there’s an irony to be found in the fact the questioning of Clarke has come when Scotland are arguably competing at the highest level in the last 20 years.
Friday’s win at Hampden was achieved not by Scotland being at their best, but by grinding out a result when it mattered.
Yet the mood was buoyant because of the win rather than the performance, which by the manager and players’ admission, fell short of the levels shown in losing efforts earlier in the campaign.
But in football, whether it be at international level or the club game, remains a results business and with their win at the National Stadium Scotland now have serious stakes at play for their last game in Poland tonight.
So much at stake in final Nations League game tonight
Tonight’s game is for all the marbles if you are a Scotland fan. The prizes on offer range from a place in the quarter-final, a favourable seeding for the World Cup draw and securing League A status but with relegation to League B also at stake.
Scotland – and Clarke in particular – will be judged on whatever the outcome is after tonight’s game at the National Stadium in Warsaw.
It’s probably a little unfair on all involved to be honest, as Scotland are the underdogs trying to punch above their weight at this level.
But given how in the doldrums Scotland have been until Clarke came along, some recognition of what he has achieved, and how his players have performed for him, is needed.
Tonight’s result should not be used to reflect that whatever the outcome.
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