Scotland players slowly getting used to my style of management – Steve Clarke

Steve Clarke believes the Scotland players are slowly getting to know him while he adapts to international management.

The former West Brom and Kilmarnock boss took over from Alex McLeish in May, after the Scots had started the Euro 2020 qualifying campaign with a shock 3-0 defeat in Kazakhstan and an expected win over lowly San Marino.

Scotland moved into third place behind Belgium and Russia with a 2-1 win over Cyprus in Nicosia on Saturday but have no chance of qualifying automatically for the finals, albeit they will get an opportunity through the Nations League play-offs in March.

Ahead of the final Group I fixture against Kazakhstan at Hampden Park on Tuesday night, Clarke revealed how the Scotland camp have gelled in the past few months.

He said: “I am still adapting. I am still learning, I am still working on it. I am learning more and more all the time.

“This second game of the two-game period becomes a time when you don’t have much time at all on the training pitch so you have to do more in the meeting rooms, more in the videos.

“A little more classroom work than practical work. So I am learning all the time.

“Slowly but surely you start to get familiarity.

“The players start to understand me, they maybe see that I am not quite as dour and difficult to get on with as maybe some people imagine.

“In a club situation, that kind of bond develops over four, six, eight weeks. You get it very quickly.

“But in this situation, you take a bit longer because you only have short periods of time together. But the team spirit is good.”