“Obviously we got to March and I hadn’t been offered a new contract, which I thought was pretty strange. You start to think are they hedging their bets a little bit, waiting on the tournament in the summer.
“So I did a little bit in the media in March to give the SFA a little shove. We negotiated non-stop from the beginning of April really to the middle of May, just before the Curacao game.
“And I said to them if we don’t agree a new contract before we go to the World Cup then I will say I am leaving the job. They panicked a little bit and gave me the new contract.
“It was like drawing teeth trying to get it over the line. But we got it over the line anyway.
“But I always knew in my head that if we did not get out of the group stage then I would probably leave. The only way I would have stayed on is if they had been three fantastic games and they went against you.”
Scotland beat Haiti 1-0 but lost by the same score to Morocco before a 3-0 loss to Brazil left them waiting for an unlikely series of results to allow them to progress as one of the better third-place sides.
“We had to stay for four or five days [in Charlotte], the longest four or five days ever just sitting and waiting, knowing you are going home because the goal difference was not good enough,” he recalled.
“I knew we needed four points. I got hammered in the media for saying that. Somebody hammered me for saying, ‘nah, that’s us, we are going home’. But I was right.”
Clarke revealed he spoke to several senior players following the Brazil game and sensed that they needed to hear a different voice if they are to make history by reaching the knockout stage at Euro 2028.
Meantime, he spoke to new head coach Sebastien Pocognoli last week to wish him well and believes “even Scotland” cannot fail to qualify given two spots in the finals will be reserved for the best-ranked host who have not qualified as a group winner or runner-up.
