STEVE Clarke has bemoaned the “oversight” which has resulted in Scotland facing a concerning goalkeeper shortage just four months before they launch their World Cup qualifying campaign and revealed he is now looking for players who have “grannies” who hail from this country in an attempt to solve it.
Clarke named Angus Gunn, the 15-times capped Norwich City keeper who missed the Nations League promotion/relegation play-off double header against Greece back in March due to injury, in his 25 man squad for the friendlies against Iceland and Liechtenstein next month at Hampden yesterday.
However, the national team manager is, with Craig Gordon of Hearts and Liam Kelly of Rangers both sidelined at the moment, unhappy at the back of options available to him in the important position and admitted it was an issue which should have been identified and addressed years ago.
Read more:
-
Alistair Johnston on his wedding day nerves and a Celtic marriage made in heaven
-
Alistair Johnston issues 'sluggish' Celtic with stark Scottish Cup final warning
-
St Mirren captain Mark O'Hara makes European pledge after final day heartache
“Angus coming back is a great boost because obviously we have lost Craig and Liam,” he said. “Angus just got back into the Norwich team after injury at the end of the season there. That is a bonus.
“Then after that we are, to be honest with you, looking a little bit light in the goalkeeping department. Robby (McCrorie) has had an in and out season at Kilmarnock. I saw him at the weekend and he did okay. But he has been in and out and there are quite a lot of boys like that.
“Cieran [Ipswich Town keeper Slicker] isn’t playing regular football. So it is an area of the pitch that does concern us to be honest with you when you look at the future of the Scottish national team. We do need to fine one or two goalkeepers. It is something we need to look at.
“Hopefully in the future we’ve got a number of good young goalkeepers coming through. Because since we’ve had Craig Gordon, David Marshall and Allan McGregor, we’ve not quite had the same quality of goalkeeper coming through. So hopefully some of these younger ones can step up and show what they’re made of.
“Maybe we should have picked up on it a few years ago. It’s probably an oversight. We had three goalkeepers of such quality at the same time all playing that we probably thought that will never end. But we should have had a little look.”
“We just have to keep looking,” he said. “Scottish grannies are in demand! We’ve got a couple of younger ones as well, but we obviously don’t know how they’re going to progress.
“You could be sitting here saying we haven’t got anything and then suddenly some 18, 19 or 20-year-old might get some minutes on the pitch and catch the eye and then get the chance to play more regularly. That’s what you’ve got to hope for and work for.
“The last time in March when we were picking the squads, I went to the coaches of the 17s, 19s and 21s and said, ‘If you need to pick four goalkeepers, pick four so you’ve got more coming into your camp’.
“That way we’re looking at more people. You’re putting them in with their peers in their own age group. Then you’re looking for the ones who can step up to become the best goalkeeper of that age group. Then you’re hopeful that through circumstances, if someone picks up an injury, they are then thrown into the first team and can grab their chance.”
Read more:
-
Scotland's ultras aren't working class heroes - too many are 'still f****** peasants'
-
Why Lewis Ferguson's historic Coppa Italia success could extend his stay at Bologna
-
'Depressed' coach hoping Lewis Ferguson convinces managers to give Scots kids games
Clarke added, “What we can do to make it better? I don’t know. I don’t know the answer to that. We have to look for these young ones to step up and play. But they need to play. A lot of the younger goalkeepers tend to be kept in squads to sit on the bench to be ready to play. But they don’t get the chance to play as the number one doesn’t get injured.
“So in those development years, from 18 to 22, when you’re looking to pick up maybe 100 matches and get that match experience, you’re actually sitting on the bench. They are working with good people and learning good habits, but only in training, not in matches.
“Maybe there’s a way we can get these younger keepers out to League 2, League 1 or Championship clubs at an earlier age where they play and do well.
“But if you’re a manager and you play a young goalkeeper in a few games and he chucks a couple in the back of the net, then you’re going to think, ‘Well, I’ll put a more experienced goalkeeper back in’. So, it’s a little bit Catch 22. The boys need a chance but when they get it they have to take it. Because if they don’t the manager won’t play them.
“But when they get that chance they have to take it. There’s no point giving them a chance if they’re shipping goals left, right and centre. That’s doesn’t help his cause or give him the confidence to become a top goalkeeper going forward. The clubs need to have the confidence to play the young player and he needs to have the ability to show he’s ready to play.”
Clarke has named Josh Doig of Sassuolo, Max Johnston of Sturm Graz, Lennon Miller of Motherwell, Kieron Bowie of Hibernian and James Wilson of Hearts in his Scotland squad and is hopeful the they will grasp their opportunity and apply pressure to their more established team mates.
“You are always hoping for players to give you food for thought,” he said. “You want competition in training. That is sometimes why you bring in younger boys. Then the older boys are suddenly looking over their shoulder thinking, ‘Aye, aye, he’s thinking of doing something different’. That is what we want.”
