Steve Clarke shuts down Scotland relegation 'benefit' suggestion as irked boss says Nations League fight is on

Suffering an inferiority complex isn’t an accusation you could accurately direct at Steve Clarke. And the bullish Ayrshireman sure as hell doesn’t want it to be labelled at his Scotland squad either as they scrap and fight to save their place at the Nations League top table.

Clarke named his squad for the closing League A double header against Croatia and Poland yesterday. A single point plundered from the opening four group games puts that status in great danger with an absolute minimum three points required from those two matches to even give them a chance of survival.

It’s a run of games that has locked onto the back of a miserable Euro 2024 campaign and means Scotland have now gone 13 months without tasting a competitive victory. But having worked so hard to win two promotions to the top tier, Clarke isn’t for giving it up freely. It’s been suggested by some punters that dropping down a level might not be a bad thing, given the lesser opposition that sits in League B providing more chances of swapping the Ls for Ws.

But there’s no interest in being second best for Clarke. When that notion was put to him at Hampden yesterday it drew a look as if someone had slipped a salt tablet in his glass of water. After a long pause as if to process the suggestion, the 61-year-old said: “So drop down because you think you're inferior? Or try and push yourself against the top sides? For me it's pushing yourself against the top sides - every time.

“Why would you want to drop down? We've worked ever so hard to get to this level, so we want to stay there as long as we can. That's always got to be your aim, to play at the highest level possible.

“I think we've shown that we can compete at this level. What we have to do is learn how to