By Alasdair Shaw
Scotland secured its place at a major tournament for the first time since 1998 with a penalty shootout win against Serbia in November. Steve Clarke has named his squad, and with the opening game less than three weeks away, it’s time – in true Squad Numbers style – to predict the numbers on their backs.
Interestingly, since Clarke took over, there has been a slight but significant tweak to how Scotland’s squad numbers are allocated for each set of international fixtures. Outwith tournaments – so, yes, every Scotland match since 1998, except the Kirin Cup – Scotland have traditionally started with the numbers 1 to 11 on the pitch. But since June 2019, the side has in effect allocated tournament-style squad numbers for each international break based on the starting XI in the first of those matches.
So, in Clarke’s first match, against Cyprus, Scotland lined up in 1-11. But having made five changes for his second, against Belgium, Scotland had just six players wearing the traditional starting numbers. Eamonn Brophy, for example, started the first game but was dropped for the second, wearing 9 on the bench. This system may have broken with a centuries-old tradition, but it did also coincide with Scotland qualifying for a tournament for the first time since I was five, so it’s impossible to say if it’s bad or not.
Time to assign the numbers.
The dead-certs
John McGinn has become Scotland’s talisman. He plays in a more advanced role than at Aston Villa and has managed 10 goals across the 19 games since Clarke took charge. He has settled into the number 7 shirt that he has worn for St Mirren, Hibernian and Villa, and nobody will be taking it from him.
One of Clarke’s major successes has been identifying a system that suits two of his best players, who both happen to be left-backs: Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney. The 3-5-2 has Robertson, the captain, nominally in the most advanced role with Tierney in the back three, but the performance of the latter against the Faroe Islands illustrated that Tierney is not completely shackled from going forward either. Robertson will wear 3, Tierney 6.
Another of the manager’s successes has been ‘signing’ strikers to bolster his attack. Australian-born Lyndon Dykes made a good start to his Scotland career, although his recent struggles at QPR were somewhat evident in the March international break. Nevertheless, he will make the squad and is the embodiment of the number 9 jersey. Ché Adams, who only declared for Scotland earlier this year, will surely start at the Euros in the number 10 shirt. Neatly, both match their club numbers too.
Scott McTominay’s turnaround in form has guaranteed him a starting berth, although some doubt remains over where he will play. His height and ability to bring the ball out from the back – combined with a comparative dearth of quality defenders in comparison with midfielders – meant McTominay spent the autumn at right-sided centre-back for Scotland. However, his form in midfield for Manchester United this season has made it hard to pin him back, and in March he returned to midfield for the Austria and Israel games. He was named in the back three again for the Faroe Islands match, but in reality this was a back one consisting only of Grant Hanley, as Tierney and McTominay pushed up into the midfield. Depending on his position, McTominay has worn 4 or 8; both suit him, but on the off chance he ends up playing in defence at the Euros, I’d rather see him in the former.
The goalkeepers more or less pick themselves at this point. Despite looking shaky for Israel’s goal in March, there is no doubt that David Marshall will start as Scotland’s number one. The back-ups have been Craig Gordon, now 38, but having missed several seasons through injury, he is somewhat younger in ‘football years’; and Jon McLaughlin, also a back-up at Rangers to Alan McGregor, who retired from international football two years ago. Going by recent numbering, Gordon and McLaughlin will wear 12 and 21 respectively.
The numbers so far…
01 Marshall
02
03 Robertson
04 McTominay
05
06 Tierney
07 McGinn
08
09 Dykes
10 Adams
11
12 Gordon
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21 McLaughlin
22
23
24
25
26
The midfield battle
Ryan Jack and Kenny McLean would certainly have been in the squad were it not for injury, and Jack may well have started in the number 8. As it is, it’ll be between Callum McGregor and Stuart Armstrong vying for the starting spot. Clarke hasn’t always trusted Armstrong, so I predict McGregor will start and wear 8, and have allocated Armstrong his Southampton number of 17. Ryan Christie has played as a support striker for Scotland, usually wearing 10 or 11, so allowing for Adams I’ve given him the latter.
The injuries to Jack and McLean opened up a spot for John Fleck, who can take number 14. Clarke made it quite clear that he would use the expanded squad to give tournament experience to younger players. Two beneficiaries were David Turnbull and Billy Gilmour, although Gilmour may fancy his chances of staking a claim for a starting berth in the friendlies against the Netherlands and Luxembourg next week. Reflecting their outsider rankings in the squad, I have given both higher numbers: Gilmour his Chelsea number, 23, and Turnbull 25.
Faltering full-backs
Stephen O’Donnell has been a steady-Eddie performer at right-back, and will claim the number 2, while Greg Taylor has been regularly selected as the reserve left-back – even though in reality it’s more likely Tierney would push forward in the event of a Robertson injury. Taylor can have the number 13.
Liam Palmer, a consistent pick as reserve right-back, missed out after being relegated with Sheffield Wednesday as Nathan Patterson got the nod as the third of Clarke’s youthful uncapped call-ups. It may well be that Clarke sees James Forrest, who we’ll come to later, as his second-choice for the wing-back slot, with Patterson only being brought for experience. Nevertheless, he can have Palmer’s 22 shirt, which fits a back-up right-back quite neatly.
The numbers so far…
01 Marshall
02 O’Donnell
03 Robertson
04 McTominay
05
06 Tierney
07 McGinn
08 McGregor
09 Dykes
10 Adams
11 Christie
12 Gordon
13 Taylor
14 Fleck
15
16
17 Armstrong
18
19
20
21 McLaughlin
22 Patterson
23 Gilmour
24
25 Turnbull
26
Centre-back conundrums
The least consistent area of selection for Clarke has been centre-back. Scott McKenna, Liam Cooper and Declan Gallagher were rotated through the autumn, with Andrew Considine as back-up, while Grant Hanley and Jack Hendry were given opportunities in March. Given his immense contribution to Scottish football culture, it was a shame to see Considine miss out, but he’s behind Cooper and McKenna in the pecking order and it would have been surprising to see three left-footed centre backs in the squad alongside Tierney.
Allocating numbers here is a bit of a toss-up, but on the most recent squads I’ve given Hanley, who seems most likely to start the tournament, the number 5 shirt. Gallagher and Cooper take 15 and 16 respectively. One of McKenna and Hendry may have been left out had Clarke only had 23 spots to fill – and even now five central defenders feels excessive for two spots alongside Tierney – so I’ve allocated them both higher numbers. McKenna is the best fit for the 26 as he wears it for Nottingham Forest, while Hendry has worn 24 at club level. That said, he has also worn 22, so it wouldn’t be hugely surprising if he and Patterson swapped.
Formation misfits
Two players without an obvious fit in the 3-5-2 system are James Forrest and Ryan Fraser. Both would ideally play as a right-winger; Forrest could play at wing-back but, given Clarke’s caution, probably only when chasing a game. Fraser is more likely to play off the striker, but a lack of height between him and Adams may count against him. I’ve given Fraser his Bournemouth number, 20, and Forrest 19, his annoyingly high Celtic number with 30 shaved off.
Striking reserves
Oli McBurnie, one of the least popular Scotland players of the past decade, probably would have been in the squad were it not for injury and, err, other matters, leaving another space open. His clubmate and namesake Oliver Burke scored a late winner in Clarke’s first game in charge but has gone off the radar somewhat, while Leigh Griffiths has struggled for form and fitness and was truly dreadful off the bench against Serbia. So, Kevin Nisbet (14 league goals), who won his shootout with Lawrence Shankland (8) across the Scottish Premiership season, will take the 18 he wore on debut in March.
The final 26
01 Marshall
02 O’Donnell
03 Robertson
04 McTominay
05 Hanley
06 Tierney
07 McGinn
08 McGregor
09 Dykes
10 Adams
11 Christie
12 Gordon
13 Taylor
14 Fleck
15 Gallagher
16 Cooper
17 Armstrong
18 Nisbet
19 Forrest
20 Fraser
21 McLaughlin
22 Patterson
23 Gilmour
24 Hendry
25 Turnbull
26 McKenna
It would have been interesting to see Clarke’s squad had he only been able to select 23 players, with McLean and Jack fully fit. Including those two while trimming the squad down three spots would necessitate five of the current squad missing out: Turnbull, Patterson and Fleck would almost certainly not have made it, alongside one of the spare centre-backs – McKenna or Hendry. Selecting Gilmour would have likely led to Taylor – in effect the third-choice left-back – being left out too.
Normally after a major tournament you would expect a few players to announce their international retirements, but of the 26, only the goalkeepers and Gallagher are in their 30s, and half are younger than 27. As a result, although this is the first major tournament for this generation of Scotland players, there’s reason for optimism that it may not be their last.
Love this concept, hope to see one for England and other nations if they don’t drop the squad nos right away
Far, far too sensible for the SFA to do this. They’ll probably do something like number the squad alphabetically, or by number of caps, or how far way the player is from Hampden.
I like the concept of giving numbers based on alphabetical order. If you could reserve the 1s and 13s to the keepers and leave the rest to the others, it would be a unique concept. The number of caps idea seems slightly less sense than what the author did, but certainly better than the last bit.
Then again, I have zero knowledge of squad numbers and I think assigning them based on their role is archaic (though I suppose it makes it much easier to identify which player is which).