Ian Maxwell fears Scotland fight to keep Steve Clarke and hits out 'we got SLAUGHTERED for giving him new deal last time'

Hampden chief Ian Maxwell is looking to nail down Steve Clarke on a new long-term deal – but he fears the SFA could have a job on their hands keeping hold of the gaffer. The Scotland manager’s current deal is up at the end of the Euro 2024 campaign – where the national side will scrap it out with Spain, Norway, Georgia and Cyprus for a place in Germany.

Clarke has already banked a play-off place on the back of his men’s Nations League success and Maxwell is already looking at kicking off discussions over an extension. The SFA chief executive reckons Clarke and Scotland are a match made in heaven and he’s hoping club bosses don’t try to tempt their man away from Hampden.

Maxwell said: “We’re delighted he is manager. He’s doing all the right things. If you look back at what he achieved in club management, we felt when we appointed him he could get us to pot two and he’s done that. The issue might be more, can we keep hold of him? Instead of, do we want to keep him, there is a bit of me that thinks it might be more of a case of us hoping to keep him and what does he want to do.

“I know he’s committed to taking us to the Euros and we’ll go from there. We’ll have the contract discussions when the time is right. We have a good enough relationship to know how all that goes.”

There were some Tartan Army foot soldiers who were ready to hound Clarke out of Hampden in the summer after the nation suffered a couple of sore ones. The same ones are now calling for a big Steve statue on the south side. Maxwell knew the punters were getting antsy a few months ago but his belief in the boss wasn’t dented for a second.

The Hamdpen supremo said: “This industry is amazing. The last time we gave him a contract we got slaughtered for