Steve Clarke has Scotland luck AND elite skills with fortune playing a blinder to land him on golden floor - Keith Jackson

They say it’s better to be lucky than good.

But, the truth of the matter is, the best of them all have is a bit of both. And that’s precisely why the stars are now aligning so perfectly for Scotland’s national team under the guidance of the unflappable Steve Clarke. Around four years ago this column - albeit with tongue lightly planted in cheek - suggested Clarke might not have any excuse should he fail to lead a blossoming squad to the last European Championships, given the quality of the raft of players who were emerging onto the scene.

And that’s where Clarke’s good fortune has played a blinder. Where Gordon Strachan was largely restricted to picking players from England’s Championship and attempting to make an international team out of them, Clarke arrived at a time when the bar was beginning to shift. With Andy Robertson, Kieran Tierney, John McGinn and Scott McTominay already operating at the highest level in England’s Premier League, Clarke was the right man in the right place - he got himself in on the ground floor of Scotland’s golden generation.

Clarke didn’t only seize the opportunity to mould these players together - over time he was also clever enough to integrate the likes of Lyndon Dykes, Che Adams, Billy Gilmour, Aaron Hickey, Ryan Porteous, Nathan Patterson and Angus Gunn to the fold. And that’s where his ability as a coach and man manager has worked so wonderfully in the nation’s benefit.

A golden generation? We might instinctively prefer to shy away from that sort of hyperbole and leave it to the noisy neighbours who will turn up at Hampden tomorrow night fully expecting to put this team of ours back in its place.

But, no matter what might prevail when this pair comes together, there can no longer be