Steve Clarke Reveals Contract 'Shove' at Charity Dinner

Former national team boss helps raise amazing sum for charity and Spartans and holds court with tales. The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo last month, the exclusive Spartans charity dinner on Thursday night. Judging from his guest of honour appearances, Steve Clarke is enjoying life in the ceremonial position of greatest-ever former Scotland manager.

Just over 70 days after his last press conference in the bowels of the Miami Stadium following the 3-0 defeat to Brazil, Clarke was sitting in altogether more comfortable circumstances in Edinburgh’s Prestonfield Hotel. Even better, he was being asked questions by a friend and former Chelsea and Scotland teammate in Pat Nevin rather than pesky journalists. Host Eilidh Barbour kept her distance, joking that it might not be a very long question-and-answers session if she conducted the on-stage interview.

After all, Clarke abruptly walked away from her during the post-match “flash” interview in Miami. “We’re friends now, it’s fine, she said before happily handing over duties to Nevin. Welcome to the 13th Spartans Community Foundation dinner, held in the circular stables pavilion adjacent to the hotel.

Spotlights on the lawn, peacocks on the long gravel drive, tartan trews and black bow-ties, not all of them clip-ons. You get the idea. Spartans have become expert at tapping into the great and the good of the Edinburgh business community.

The admirable north Edinburgh club’s foundation now has more than 80 people on the payroll helping roll out programmes, including a Sunday morning breakfast club, for youngsters who might otherwise be hanging around the streets. It’s a major Scotland success story. One that needs to be applauded.

One that needs to be supported. In a real coup for Spartans, Clarke has answered the call. Nearly 500 people have gathered at Prestonfield, with many eyes on the iPads relaying news of the silent auction.

The main auction includes a rugby dinner for ten at Prestonfield with Gregor Townsend” (sold for £12,000). Former Scotland (football) skipper Gary McAlliser is on the speaking bill. But Clarke has been recruited as the top attraction.

It’s the first time he’s spoken in a public forum since the World Cup. For those who might have missed his Tattoo appearance, it’s the first time he’s been spotted since he was pictured in a white tee-shirt waving goodbye outside the Grand Bohemian Hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina, the morning after his resignation was announced. The buzz before he took the stage was partly attributed to the announcement of the amazing sum raised: £222,000. Clarke and Nevin signed 11 Scotland away shirts, which were then auctioned for around £1,000 each.

Clarke is in good form though some historic intolerances remain, chiefly the media. Reminded that he was voted manager of the year by Scottish football writers while at Kilmarnock, he replied: They liked me once. He reminisced about breaking through at St Mirren, his first senior club.

It was the time St Mirren went bust, they got rid of all the good players! he explained. They threw young kids in and I got the chance to play.

When you throw young Scottish players into the first team, and they get a chance to play, they can show they are good enough. Hopefully that can happen in the future. Very on point.

He revealed he spoke to new Scotland manager Sebastien Pocognoli last week and wished him well. A little earlier around two miles away in the same city his successor had enjoyed a bravura performance from a team featuring a majority of Scottish players. Thursday night’s Edinburgh derby at Easter Road, won by Hearts 3-1 and including goals from exciting young Scots James Wilson and Josh McPake, was a schedule clash Spartans could have done without.

At least Clarke was no longer expected to attend to assess Grant Hanley’s fitness ahead of Nations League commitments later this month. Those days are gone now. They might not be if things had gone a little differently in the summer.

If Scotland hadn’t, for example, lost a quick goal in the critical game against Morocco. Big Grant was still singing the national anthem two minutes into the game! joked Clarke.

Remarkably, he is on stage for over an hour. Nevin can’t shut him up! He struggles to get a question in edgeways. One suspects Clarke was filibustering to an extent: he knew trickier questions about Scotland and the World Cup were incoming, so he luxuriated in telling stories about the likes of Jose Mourinho and Ruud Gullit, Spartans’ star guest last year.