You may have noticed, but Steve Clarke isn’t in the Scotland manager’s gig to win any popularity contests. In the here and now, all he cares about is getting to the World Cup.
If he manages that, his hero status among the Tartan Army will be secure in any case, regardless of the fact he sometimes gets their heckles up with his squad and team selections.
Clarke may have enjoyed a wry smile of vindication after the draw in Denmark last month, when his call to include Grant Hanley at the heart of his defence for the umpteenth time drew exasperation from critics of both player and manager, before the big defender put on a vintage display to help secure a clean sheet and what could turn out to be a priceless point in Scotland’s quest to reach North America next summer.
So, as the list of names called up for national service dropped yesterday for the critical double header against Greece and Belarus next week, there was little surprise around the content of the squad or some of the wearied reaction to it. Just as Clarke seems to like it, on both counts.
Feeling the pulse of the national team’s fanbase, or trying to raise it with some left-field selections, is an alien concept.
"Do I understand the fans?” Clarke mused. “Not always! Certainly not in that.
“I've got a certain bit of experience in the game over a number of years, and I think you recognise what players bring to you, and sometimes it's not obvious to people outside your group or your camp or your club or whatever you are.
“Sometimes you get the steady players that play week in, week out for your club or for your international squad that don't grab the headlines, but as a manager or a coach, you always appreciate what they bring to the group. And Grant would certainly be in that category.
"I’ve always liked Grant. I know what he brings, I know how good of a defender he is, I know how good he is within the squad.
“I'm sure the people at Hibs are finding out what a good guy he is to have in the dressing room and what a good guy he is to have on the pitch.
“In terms of his performances for Hibs - no surprise to me."
What was also unsurprising for the Scotland head coach yesterday was that he would face questions over his decision to overlook Oliver Burke, with the former great white hope of the national team enjoying something of a renaissance of late in the Bundesliga and bagging a hat-trick for Union Berlin at Eintracht Frankfurt last week.
"I didn't watch the whole game, but obviously I watched his goals, I watched his hat-trick,” he said.
“Some great finishes.
"I think with all these players, people seem to think that because I tend to pick the same players more often than not, people think that I don't look outside, I don't look at other options.
“I'm always looking at other options because you never know when you're going to get injuries, suspensions and when you're going to have to call people into your squad.
“So yeah, I got a lot of text messages when Oli got that hat-trick and it was good to see because obviously he's a big talent.
“He was in some of my earlier squads. He's sort of drifted a little bit over the last five years, but if he can find a home and settle down and play well week in week out, then that will be good for us."
As has also become customary, Clarke was forced to field questions over the lack of game time for some of his men, not least in the goalkeeping position, where Craig Gordon’s experience won him a recall despite not having played a match this season. With neither Angus Gunn nor Liam Kelly – the other two keepers included – currently first pick for their respective teams either, it remains a problem position.
Even captain Andy Robertson at Liverpool and Ben Gannon-Doak at Bournemouth are recently finding regular minutes hard to come by, but again Clarke was unperturbed.
"Yeah, you would [like Gannon-Doak to be playing more], but you've also got to understand that he's a young player who's made a big move,” he said.
“He's going to a club that have started the season well without Ben in the team. So, he's going to have to be patient.
“He's going to have to, when he gets his minutes on the pitch, he's going to have to show what he can do.
“He got just over 15 minutes at the weekend there. He was involved, almost gave a penalty away at one end, had a chance when the ball fell to him late in the game, he snatched his chance a little bit.
“He had a couple of Ben Doak dribbles that he managed to get a corner off one of them. And that's what he has to do. He has to go on the pitch in those 15 minutes and make sure that he catches his manager's attention. And if he does that, he'll get more minutes.
“I had a good chat with Andy last week and I had a good chat with him before the season. And pretty much how it's panned out is, is how we discussed it at the time, that (Milos) Kerkez would start in the team, but Andy would find his way into the team. That's what's happened.
“So, we always knew that Andy would get lots of minutes. On the plus side for us, if he's getting good minutes for Liverpool, but not getting all the minutes, it means that he comes into the Scotland camps probably a little bit fresher than he was in in recent years, which can only be good for us."
One thing that did surprise Clarke was how poor his team were the last time they faced the Greeks at Hampden, with the manner of the 3-0 defeat in the Nations League play-off tie back in March likely to have many among the Tartan Army looking forward to next Thursday night’s rematch with a degree of trepidation.
"I was surprised at the goals we gave away,” he said.
“I thought that was very unlike us and I'm sure we can address the deficiencies from that game defensively.
“Did they surprise me? No, because I know they're a good side. What did surprise me was the fact that they lost so heavily to Denmark [in the recent qualifier]. That probably surprised a few people. They've got a point to prove as well coming into this game.
“We know each other well from the two games in March. We obviously went to Greece and won, they came here and won. It ended up a comfortable night for them, but there were moments in the first half where we showed what we can do against them.
“And if we get the in-possession side of our game correct, but marry that up with what is one of our strengths normally, our defensive shape and how we defend, if we can marry the two together then I'm sure we'll be in a much better team this time."
