At the time of Clarke’s appointment in May 2019, Scotland were looking for someone who could do one principal thing – get the country back to a major men’s tournament for the first time since 1998.
That has been achieved, multiple times. So the remit for his successor will be to build on that success in qualifying for three finals by reaching the knockout phase.
Clearly that is easier said than done. Clarke has done a magnificent job in galvanising the squad and the country, developing a much-lauded club-like spirit, which has certainly played a role in qualification success.
That is something that must be fostered while evolving the make-up of a squad that was one of the oldest at the World Cup.
But something else is required. Clarke was a pragmatist at heart and, although he set the team up in a more attacking formation in the win over Haiti, in particular, it never truly felt like the shackles were off.
Should the next manager be someone with a more attacking ethos? You feel that would be welcomed by fans, many of whom have despaired at exiting consecutive Euros and now a World Cup without really laying a glove on the opposition.
“This has been a special, special group. And he’s got the best out of them,” said former Scotland winger Pat Nevin, a close friend of Clarke.
“But a lot of them are not going to last. I know these days 40 seems young for a World Cup player. In reality, that’s not the way it is, though.
“It’s not obvious who the next group of players are. So whoever comes in, it’s actually a bit of a monster job to do.”
