'Different' Clarke bids to smash Scotland's glass ceiling

"This time, it's a different Steve Clarke."

The Scotland boss feels like a new man - and he is sensing a fresh wave of optimism as he leads his team into a third major tournament.

The 62-year-old ended a finals absence of more than two decades when he guided the men's national side to the Covid-impacted Euro 2020.

Play-off heartache in their quest to qualify for the 2022 World Cup was followed by the Scots roaring their way to Euro 2024.

"I've not really enjoyed the previous two tournaments if I'm being honest," Clarke tells BBC Scotland in a candid interview.

So why? Reduced crowds, two group games at Hampden and another at Wembley "didn't give the feel of a tournament" at Euro 2020, he says.

On their showing in Germany two years ago, he adds: "We let ourselves down. We didn't play as well as we should have done and I probably didn't make the decisions that I should have."

Clarke is convinced he and his players have learned from those experiences and are now in a position to "break that glass ceiling" by progressing to a historic knockout tie.

"What we've achieved up to now is great," he says. "Let's see if we can achieve a little bit more."

Two summers ago, Scotland's Euros opener proved to be one of their biggest letdowns under Clarke - a 5-1 loss to hosts Germany.

"We have to remember how bad that felt," the head coach says.

Clarke believes that crushing defeat put Scotland "on the back foot" for the remainder of their tournament, which again ended at the group stage.

"This time, we have to make sure we start on the front foot," he insists.

On the evidence of the Scots' warm-up displays, there are signs they can achieve that against a similarly-ranked nation this weekend.

The recent adoption of an aggressive 4-4-2 shape with two strikers playing centrally and direct winger Ben Doak operating off the right feeds into the idea of a "different Steve Clarke", although he suggested he has been unfairly "tagged with a label".

"I think I've shown consistently throughout my time that I'm prepared to try something different," says Clarke, who feels he has his best depth across a Scotland squad.

"Going into this tournament, the something different was to think about maybe playing 4-4-2 to see how it worked.

"What people don't understand is when you're at a club you can work on a system for a long period of time and have a lot of training sessions on it. When you're in an international camp you don't have that."