Scotland given advice on Steve Clarke future as David Moyes situation queried

Scotland should avoid a "knee-jerk reaction" on the future of national team head coach Steve Clarke in the wake of the country's Euro 2024 exit, according to Ally McCoist.

Defeat by Hungary on Sunday night ended Scotland's aspirations of reaching the knockout stages of a major tournament for the very first time. Victory - and potentially a draw - would have sealed the Scots' place in the last 16, but they were beaten in cruel circumstances when Kevin Cosforth netted ten minutes into stoppage time to give the Hungarians a 1-0 win.

Clarke said pre-tournament that the aim was to get four points in Group A, but Scotland ended up bottom of the pool, having lost 5-1 to Germany and drawing 1-1 with Switzerland in addition to the Hungary defeat. The manner of Scotland's exit has left some supporters calling for Clarke to leave, accusing him of being too cautious and negative with his tactics. According to UEFA’s official stats, the Scots had 16 attempts on goal with three on target over the three games - which is the worst record in the tournament.

Steve Clarke has presided over the Scotland national team for five years now. | Getty Images

However, McCoist does not want the Scottish Football Association to act in the heat of the moment and said Clarke, who has been in charge of the national team since 2019, deserves time himself to make a call on his future.

“I think he’s done an exceptionally good job, I genuinely do," said McCoist, a 61-times former Scotland striker. "You know, not qualifying for major tournaments since ‘98, and he’s got us to two European Championships, he deserves an awful lot of credit for that.

“What I also think he deserves, is a period to go away and think about what he wants to do himself. The worst thing that could happen would be a knee-jerk reaction from anybody, Steve or the SFA.

“Yes, we’re disappointed at this moment in time. Yes, we’re kind of licking our wounds. But I think everyone needs a little bit of time to sit-down and digest what’s happened, what can happen, where we want to go.

“I mean, is there a natural successor, for example, to Steve? I’m not sure there is. People keep saying Davie Moyes to me and David Moyes would be an obvious candidate. But is David Moyes ready to give up club football? I’m not sure.”

In an interview with STV, McCoist added: “I just think Steve deserves the opportunity himself to go away, have a break, sit-down and think about what he wants to do, and then have a chat with his bosses at the SFA and decide what both parties want to do.”