Getting Scotland out of the group stages of the World Cup and through to the knockout rounds of a major tournament for the first time in their history is all that is occupying Steve Clarke’s thoughts at the present moment in time.
The national team’s preparations for the finals will intensify at Hampden this afternoon when they take on Curacao in the first of two warm-up friendlies and manager Clarke is determined to give supporters a performance and a result to cheer.
Yet, the 62-year-old, who signed a four year contract extension with the SFA on Thursday, has given some consideration to what happens beyond this summer in recent weeks as he has weighed up his long-term future.
Scotland’s mainstays – Ryan Christie, Lyndon Dykes, Grant Hanley, John McGinn, Kenny McLean, Scott McTominay, Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney – are entering the twilight of their international careers and some of them may not still be representing their country when the 2030 World Cup rolls around.
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But Clarke, who has secured qualification for three finals during his record-breaking seven year reign, has admitted that he is keen to bring through the next generation of talent in the coming seasons and oversee prolonged success.
“There’s always players that you see, recognise and hope develop into future internationals,” he said after being inducted into the SFA Hall of Fame. “I’ve got my eye on a few. There are some there.
“Luke Graham, Tyler Fletcher and James Wilson joined us for the full week this week. All three acquitted themselves really well. We were a body light for the training session on Thursday so we phoned young Andrew Tod and invited him in. He came in and trained fantastic. Liam MacFarlane will come with us to America as a training goalkeeper.
“So straight away, there’s five without thinking too much or digging too deep. There’s always a number of players you identify and think, with normal improvement, this one can be part of the squad and hopefully the team going forward.
“Then there’s always one or two who just turn up and you think: ‘Oh, where did that one come from’? So there’s enough there across the next four years.
“Don’t forget, the senior core of the squad are all 30 or 31. So for sure, in 2028 they can all be involved. With modern sports science, with how they work with their clubs now which makes it possible, some of them might even go all the to 2030 for the World Cup.
“So I think we’ve got a really good squad just now which will evolve slowly. It’s not revolution, it’s evolution over the next four years. But probably by 2030 World Cup, it will look completely different to what we have now.”
Clarke has called up Findlay Curtis, the teenage Rangers winger who impressed during his loan spell at Kilmarnock during the second half of the 2025/26 season and made his Scotland debut in the March friendly against Japan, for the World Cup.
The Ayrshireman is hopeful the talented youngster’s promotion to the national squad inspires his contemporaries to seek out competitive first team football and leads to more prospects forcing their way into the senior set-up.
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“It’s great to see a young player who grasps an opportunity and recognises that dropping down from Rangers to Kilmarnock to try and progress his career is a good thing,” he said. “As a coach looking at that, it’s good for me to reward that.
“Because you’ll maybe then get a few others who think, ‘If I do the same thing I’ll catch the manager’s eye’. It certainly worked out well for Finn. He’s absolutely buzzing to be in the camp and he deserves to be there. Because he’s shown towards the end of the season that he can have an impact in games.
“Everybody who goes has to be ready to play a part in the squad because you don’t know how many injuries you’ll have. The conditions in American will mean it’s a squad World Cup. It’s not a case of picking the same team. I’d imagine every nation will use 16 players across the games.”
Scotland’s leading clubs have struggled to bring through youngsters in recent years – but Clarke has been impressed with the SFA Cooperation System which the SPFL clubs approved this season and is optimistic it will lead to more kids making the successful transition from age-group football to the professional game.
“I quite like the idea of that cooperation agreement,” he said. “I think that’s worked quite well. So that’s one thing I would say that’s improved it. I would like to see more of the younger players, and maybe more of the clubs, use it. It’s something that they should certainly use.
“We’ve got the change behind the scenes with Craig Mulholland coming in [the former Rangers youth supremo was appointed SFA chief football officer this week]. I’ve already had a good couple of good chats with Craig about certain things.
“Craig’s going to have a look at changing one or two things behind the scenes that hopefully can make us more competitive at under-17, under-19, under-21 levels, so we’re giving these boys an earlier taste of tournament football. It’s something that we certainly know we have to get better and it’s certainly something we need to work on.”
Clarke will be 66 when the 2030 World Cup gets underway, but the success that his Curacao counterpart Dick Advocaat, who is poised to become the oldest manager in World Cup history, and other septuagenarian coaches like Martin O’Neill have enjoyed have given him food for thought.
“Martin O’Neill certainly raised the bar,” he said. “But I think Roy Hodgson saw Martin and raised it even further at 78. Look at Dick Advocaat, he’s 78 and still going in yet another international job.
“You never know what’s ahead of you. It would be great to think that in four years time everyone still wants me to stay and aren’t saying: ‘Oh no, not him again’. I know you’re probably saying that after seven years! But after 11 it would be even worse. Let’s see what the future brings but you never know.”
