Six games for Clarke to reach World Cup and define legacy

An extra layer of poignancy was associated with the death of Jimmy Bone this week.

- Ewan Murray

An individual who made a huge contribution to Scottish club football, the forward's only goal for his country came in Copenhagen's original Parken. Denmark 1 Scotland 4 in October 1972. The Scots, then under the management of Tommy Docherty, had set themselves on course to qualify for the 1974 World Cup, ending an absence of 16 years.

Today Copenhagen is again the venue. The painful wait this time stretches back to 1998. Togo, North Korea, Panama, Saudi Arabia and Wales have featured in the World Cup since Scotland last did. Steve Clarke will shortly become the longest-serving Scotland manager by games overseen. Scotland have a Ballon d'Or nominee - in Scott McTominay - and six games to determine their 2026 fate. Is this to be Clarke's slowest of final steps or a lusty skip into the pantheon of Scotland greats? The answer will be apparent by November. Clarke has 540 minutes to deliver automatically what would be the finest achievement of his career. Nobody should underestimate the task.