Steve Clarke delighted to recall ‘durable’ Craig Gordon for Scotland

Steve Clarke has praised “durable” Craig Gordon for bouncing back from his Euro 2024 snub to earn a Scotland recall for the upcoming Nations League double-header against Croatia and Portugal.

The 41-year-old’s international career appeared to be over when he discovered just a week before this summer’s tournament in Germany that he had not made the final cut, with Angus Gunn, Liam Kelly and his Hearts team-mate Zander Clark the three goalkeepers chosen instead.

On the same day of that hammer blow in early June, Clarke allowed Gordon the consolation of becoming Scotland’s oldest-ever player when he handed him his 75th cap in a pre-Euros friendly at home to Finland.

After reclaiming the number one slot at Hearts from Clark this season, however, and with Kilmarnock’s Robby McCrorie and Rangers’ Kelly struggling for game time at club level this term, the veteran is now back in the mix.

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“Craig told me that it (the Finland game) was not a farewell, and he would see me in the future so he lived up to his promise,” Clarke said at a press conference at Hampden after naming his squad on Tuesday.

“Craig’s always shown that he’s up for the fight, he wants to play every week, he wants to play as many times as he can for his country.

“He’s shown durability. He’s a good professional, somebody who just wants to prolong his playing career as long as he can. Hats off to Craig. I’m looking forward to seeing him again.”

Clarke has included three new faces in the shape of West Ham midfielder Andy Irving, Preston centre-back Liam Lindsay and Aberdeen right-back Nicky Devlin.

Irving has been called up after making three substitute appearances for the Hammers this term. The 24-year-old raised eyebrows when he left boyhood club Hearts to join German third-tier side Turkgucu Munich in 2021.

Irving then moved to Austrian top-flight side Klagenfurt a year later, signed for West Ham in 2023 and immediately rejoined Klagenfurt on a season-long loan last term.

“The first time I came across Andy, I was manager of Kilmarnock,” said Clarke. “He played in the Hearts team as a very young man and was still growing into his frame a little bit.

“I think he surprised everybody with the choices he made to move abroad and in a roundabout way, he’s ended up in the English Premier League. It will be nice to see him again up close and personal.”

Lindsay, 28, and Devlin, 30, have both been given belated opportunities to make their Scotland debuts after injuries to fellow defenders Aaron Hickey, Nathan Patterson, Ross McCrorie, Jack Hendry, Scott McKenna and Kieran Tierney.

“We seem to be in the middle of a horrendous run of injuries to defenders especially,” said Clarke, who is also missing talismanic midfielder John McGinn through injury.

“It’s a chance for Nicky and Liam, both experienced, dependable defenders who have had good club careers without getting the international recognition that hopefully they can get in the upcoming games.

“It’s a testing time for me and for the squad. The injuries are there for everyone to see, you can talk about them all day, but for me it’s better to talk about the ones who are going to have a chance to play and for some of them to kick-start their international career. Let’s focus on them and hopefully the injured boys will be back and available as soon as possible.”

Tommy Conway is also unavailable through injury, while Max Johnston, Josh Doig and Connor Barron – all in the last squad – have been left out to allow them to be selected by Scot Gemmill for Scotland Under-21s’ crucial Euro 2025 double-header against Belgium and Kazakhstan.

“I had a chat with Scot about it,” said Clarke. “Obviously they’ve got some key matches coming up as well, and the idea was that I’d leave as many of the Under-21s to go and play with Scot’s team as we could.

“That’s the case as we sit here now but we’ve still got matches to go before we get the squad together so hopefully I don’t have to dip down too deep into Scot’s team this time.”