KRIS Boyd has expressed hope that Steve Clarke and his Scotland side will receive their fans’ full backing when their World Cup qualifying campaign kicks off later this year after being stunned by the level of criticism they received in the wake of back-to-back defeats.
Furious members of the Tartan Army savaged Clarke and his players after they lost 3-0 to Greece in the second leg of the Nations League relegation/promotion play-off at Hampden back in March.
And the national team manager was once again targeted for vicious abuse from the crowd when his charges were defeated 3-1 by Iceland in their first June friendly match in Glasgow on Friday night.
Boyd, who played under the former Newcastle United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Aston Villa assistant at Kilmarnock, felt for his fellow Ayrshireman as he knows from personal experience how difficult the end-of-season fixtures are to negotiate.
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The Sky Sports pundit was pleased to see Scotland beat minnows Liechtenstein 4-0 in Vaduz on Monday evening and is optimistic there will be no lingering ill-feeling when the opening Group C matches against Denmark and Belarus away take place in September.
“In football today, the highs are high, but the lows are becoming lower now than they've ever been,” he said after taking part in a McDonald’s Fun Football session with Scottish youngsters at Hampden.
“There's so many people with opinions and the fans have got access to so many social media platforms. So the scrutiny on managers has intensified from my day. There's no getting away from it.
“We have come so far under Steve. Look at where Scotland were when he took over. Yes, we missed out on the last World Cup, but he has taken us to back-to-back Euros. Now we are looking qualifying for the upcoming World Cup, you would expect a little bit of more positivity.
“I've played in the June friendlies. I know they are part of the international fixture list now and I know you have to deal with them. But I think they present problems because of the time they come at.
“Look at the highs that so many players have had this season, look at [Scott] McTominay and [Billy] Gilmour with Napoli and [Lewis] Ferguson with Bologna in Italy, look at [Tony] Ralston at Celtic and [Andy] Robertson at Liverpool A lot of boys in there have lifted trophies. They have to come in off the back of that and perform at a half-empty Hampden.
“Because of where Scotland have been the last few years, people just expect Scotland to rock up and win these games of football. But they're not easy. Could the performance against Iceland have been better? Of course it could. But it’s end of a long, hard season.”
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Boyd continued, “Luciano Spalletti was sacked by Italy after a 3-0 defeat to Norway. I think these June fixtures are going to cause managers in international football a lot of problems going forward.
“No disrespect to Iceland and Liechtenstein, but these are two teams we should be beating. If they were in our World Cup qualifying group we would be delighted. But because we performed poorly against Greece and Iceland and lost both games a lot of people were saying, ‘We’ve got the World Cup coming up, we’ve got to be better than that’.
“Come the qualifiers, everybody will be ready to go. I'm sure Steve will just be delighted to get through these friendlies. I think Steve and this group deserve everybody to be together when they have a crack at the World Cup qualifiers because they have produced for the country before. They have brought the feelgood factor back.
“Will it end sour? Of course it will. That's part and parcel of football. It always happens. But let’s see where these qualifiers take us. I do believe we have got an opportunity of getting to the World Cup.”
That campaign will come a little too quickly for the boys and girls who took part in the McDonald’s Fun Football sessions at Hampden on Monday – but Boyd is hopeful the long-standing initiative will produce a few more players like Che Adams, George Hirst and Lawrence Shankland for Scotland in the years to come.
“Programmes like McDonald’s Fun Football are important for communities across Scotland,” he said. “They give children a safe, positive place to just play the game and have fun.
“McDonald’s are offering more free sessions this summer across Scotland and it’s brilliant to see. I wish I had this when I was a youngster, I would've loved it. I’d encourage every parent to not miss out and to get their child signed up to their nearest free session.”
Kris Boyd was celebrating the latest free wave of McDonald’s Fun Football sessions this Summer, available to all children aged 5-11 across the UK. You can sign up now for your nearest free session at mcdonalds.co.uk/football
