Steve Clarke’s message to the Tartan Army

Scotland fans had hoped to wake up this morning looking forward to a Nations League Play-Off  final qualifier against either Norway or Serbia and subsequently the country’s first major tournament in 22-years.

Last night Hampden Park should have been rocking with the
Tartan Army cheering the team to victory over Israel however the match has been
postponed and the tournament put back a year.

Yesterday Scotland manager Steve Clarke told the
long-suffering supporters: “Thursday, March 26th had been circled in my wall
planner from the moment I had the honour of becoming Scotland Head Coach. Truth
be told, I had hoped we wouldn’t have needed the Nations League Play-Off route:
I believed we could have finished higher than our eventual third place in the
UEFA EURO 2020 qualification group.

“All those qualifying games seem far less important now,
insignificant even, but this is the reality of the situation we find ourselves
in.

“The world has changed in recent weeks and months and
football, rightly, has had to take a step back as our government and our
wonderful, brave and selfless NHS staff step-up their efforts to tackle a far
greater opponent.

“As a father and grandfather there are far greater
considerations in life right now and far greater responsibilities on all of us
but, at the same time, I feel it important to recognise and show appreciation
for the effort you all had gone to in ensuring our match against Israel would
have been a sell-out.

“It would have been an incredibly proud night for me and the
whole team and we would have given every ounce to be on that plane to Norway or
Serbia.

“I know thousands of you had also booked onward travel, ever
the optimists. By all accounts Budapest or Berlin would have been the unwitting
hosts of Scotland fans awaiting connections to either Oslo or Belgrade.

“That sense of togetherness, loyalty and commitment is
needed in our lives now, more than ever before. The First Minister and the
Chief Medical Officer have been clear in outlining exactly what the nation must
do to combat the virus that has become a global pandemic. I urge all of you to
heed that advice: stay indoors, protect your family, and protect others. Stay
home, save lives. Simple.

“Football is our national sport and its absence has had the
same effect on me that it has had for every lover of the game in this country.
The sooner we all take the advice on board to stay at home, the sooner we can
get back to our own normality of midweek nights and weekend afternoons among
friends, at our spiritual homes across the country.

“That is for later, as is our match against Israel, whenever
the authorities consider it appropriate – and above all, safe – to resume
football across the world.

“In the meantime, I will be thinking of you tonight and
imagining what might have been and what could yet be. Stay healthy, stay safe,
most importantly stay home.”