HIDING IS QUITE ENOUGH

Boss fronts up after Friday night horror show: We let ourselves and the country down - but now it's my job to remedy that...

- SCOTT MCDERMOTT

WALKING from Scotland's hotel to the media centre in GarmischPartenkirchen there were two different roads Steve Clarke could have gone down yesterday.

The first one might even have come more naturally to him. The shutters up approach. With his back against the wall and that trademark scowl.

Or the second, which probably would have gone against his instincts. The relaxed approach, almost verging on jovial at times.

A laugh, a joke and a smile. At one point, he even started talking about giving people cuddles. Thankfully for us, he went for the latter.

And after his team's mauling in Munich on Friday night, you can't help but think he chose wisely.

When he eventually sat down deep in the bowels of the town's Olympia Stadium, he was maybe as honest and engaging as he's ever been since taking this job on.

He had to be. Because the Allianz annihilation at the hands of Germany on Euro 2024's opening night was a chastening experience for the manager and his players.

But somehow Clarke has to lift the gloom currently engulfing a nation before Wednesday night's showdown with Switzerland.

When asked if anyone had given him a hug in the last 48 hours, he said: "No one has given me a cuddle. But my family my wife, daughter and two boys were at the game on Friday in the first row behind our dugout.

"So they know now that dad's language isn't always very good."

That certainly lightened the mood before Clarke's grilling, which he was more than ready for. He could easily have ducked out of his media duties and sent right-hand man, John Carver.

But no, Clarke was determined to face whatever was coming at him.