Steve Clarke reveals reason for Scotland 'upstairs' vantage point in Gibraltar win as Euro 2024 picture clears up

Steve Clarke revealed he opted to sit high in the stand to see Scotland go on the up again to help him take the nation forward.

The national team boss took the unusual step of removing himself form the touchline in the Estadio Algarve as his side ended their winless streak with a first victory in eight. Second half goals from Ryan Christie and substitute Che Adams earned a win over minnows Gibraltar.

Clarke left John Carver to manage proceedings from the touchline against the stuffy opponents which the boss admitted should have been a healthier scoreline in their penultimate Euro 2024 warm up clash before the mouthwatering Munich opener against hosts Germany. And he explained to Premier Sports: “One of the reasons I sat upstairs was to see things from a different perspective. I’m a coach who is always on the touchline and sometimes you don’t see everything you want to see so I just went upstairs and had a different look at the game. I’ve got a better idea in my head now.

“You get a totally different perspective of the game and I just wanted to give myself a different look and I know John is quite capable of running the game from the touchline. The performance in terms of creating chances was enough to score more than two goals. So we could tighten up a bit more on the chances we created but we kept a clean sheet, scored two goals and won the game so we move forward nice and positive.

“It was more about the shape of the team because I obviously changed to a back four. I normally go with a back three or five so it was just to see how we shaped up on the pitch, where there might be spaces playing against a deep block.

"The look upstairs was not for the games in Germany but hopefully I’m still the coach going forward