Clarke sticks to plan over future and McBurnie omission

Steve Clarke said his future as Scotland head coach would be settled before he flew to the World Cup, while he preferred to focus on the 26 players named for the tournament. Oli McBurnie’s omission became a major talking point after he reportedly learned of the decision indirectly from a squad player. Clarke recalled Ross Stewart after Tommy Conway’s injury, despite McBurnie scoring more Championship goals than Stewart. Clarke said he had conversations with some non-selected players but not McBurnie, and he objected to McBurnie’s public comments about a prior call. Clarke stated he tends to select players he has worked with before. McBurnie later said a squad member messaged him to avoid learning the news from media.

"Clarke revealed he had conversations with some of the players who had not made the squad, but McBurnie was most certainly not among those. The Scotland head coach bristled when reminded that McBurnie had revealed publicly that he had called him previously to ask about his own five-year exile from the national set-up. "I thought that was a private conversation, to be honest," Clarke said. "It shouldn't have gone to the media.""

""I thought that was a private conversation, to be honest," Clarke said. "It shouldn't have gone to the media." When pushed on whether there was a personality clash with McBurnie, Clarke added: "You know the way I work - I tend to stick with players that I've had before. "I trust them, they know what I expect from them and that's it. It's just a natural selection process, natural in my head anyway, maybe not natural in everybody else's.""

"On the day the 62-year-old named his 26-man squad for the Americas, Clarke said he preferred to focus on the players chosen, but it was the omission of Oli McBurnie that was to become one of the major talking points. The 29-year-old Hull City striker was later quoted as saying he only heard the news from one of the players who will be heading to the tournament."

"With Middlesbrough's Tommy Conway injured, Clarke did recall Southampton's Ross Stewart after a four-year absence. But there was no place for McBurnie despite scoring twice as many goals as Stewart in the Championship this season. McBurnie will get the chance to add more and help his side to the Premier League in Saturday's play-off final, which will now be against Middlesbrough after Stewart's Southampton were expelled for spying on opponents."

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