John Carver calls Scotland’s early Euros exit ‘biggest disappointment’ of career

John Carver revealed Scotland’s dismal 2024 European Championship campaign left him devastated and indifferent to England’s run to the final.

The 59-year-old Newcastle-born assistant to Steve Clarke suffered the biggest disappointment in his long football career when the Scots exited the tournament in Germany with just one point from three group-stage games.

And although Gareth Southgate’s men went all the way to the final in Berlin where they lost to Spain, Carver was still coming to terms with his disappointment.

Speaking ahead of the Nations League opener against Poland at Hampden Park on Thursday night, he recalled the Scots’ summer and said: “I’ve got to be honest, in my career, it’s probably the biggest disappointment I’ve had.

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“Bear in mind, I’ve lost my job at Newcastle twice, Leeds, Sheffield United, wherever I’ve been, this was the biggest disappointment, because I had so much excitement going into the tournament on what we had with the players and the staff and how we prepared, and it was devastating and I found it really difficult to recover.

“And even going on holiday, it was still in my thoughts.

“I know it’s different for players, because they have a short holiday, they go back to clubs and preparing for their seasons.

“But for me, it’s been very, very difficult.

“I found it extremely difficult watching the games and bearing in mind how far England went in it, I wasn’t interested.

“I’ve got to be honest, I wasn’t. I watched the final on holiday. I wasn’t interested. Really wasn’t, because I wanted to be in that next part of the tournament. And we weren’t.

“And getting out there on the training pitch on Monday, although there was only eight players, was like a breath of fresh air and I got my spark back, if you can say that, because I was down, I was as low as anybody. Disappointed.”

One of the criticisms Scotland faced was that they did not play front-foot football enough, Carver acknowledged.

He said: “Well, it’s something we have to address for sure, and we know that.

“And you can talk about assisting you by playing with more attacking players, to come away from the five (at the back).

“We’ll have to wait and see, but it is something we’ve discussed.

“As you know, we brought in Alan Irvine to assist, and he’s going to look at, in particular, the attacking side of how we play, which is good.

“So fresh ideas, hopefully some fresh players. So it’s finding a way with the players you have available as well as having your best players available to find a system that suits you to be more attack-minded or offensive.”