Steve Clarke on Scotland's growing ambition and facing England

Steve Clarke will soon become the first Scotland manager to lead his team out at a major finals since 1998, after penalty shoot-out wins against Israel and Serbia took them through the play-offs in dramatic fashion.

Clarke took the reins in 2019 after his predecessor Alex McLeish had secured UEFA Nations League promotion the previous year, but the former Chelsea and St Mirren defender has made Scotland a much tougher proposition. As they now gear up for their first tournament in a generation, an expectant nation awaits.

Scotland play both Czech Republic and Croatia in Glasgow, but it's the game in the middle that most will relish. That brings them up against England at Wembley on 18 June – 25 years and three days on from their first EURO meeting, when Gary McAllister's penalty miss preceded Paul Gascoigne's wonder goal in a 2-0 defeat at EURO '96.

On how he has changed as a coach

I've changed the way that I get the message across, because I can't do it on the grass; I can't do it every day like you do at a club. It just becomes the complete opposite when you go to the international scene as you do more work, more video work, more work with individual players off the pitch – when you speak to them and explain what you want from them, how you want them to play within your system. So, really, it turns on its head a little bit: more time speaking. I've had to learn to do that. I'm quite a quiet person anyway, even as a coach: I like to show things to the players rather than speak loads on the pitch.

On changing Scotland's shape

I think for us the advantage was that it made us a little bit more defensive and secure, and it obviously gave us good energy either side: from the wing-backs, no matter who played left or right, there is always good energy up and down the pitch. As well as giving us more security at the back, I just felt that with the midfield players we had, we had players that could arrive in the box, and players arriving in the box are going to give you extra bodies there and suddenly you're going to get goals.

On beating tougher opponents

If we're a pot three team, we're expected to beat the pot four or the pot five [teams]. We started doing that. And I just felt that the next piece of the jigsaw was to start beating teams that were one level above us, so there was the Czech Republic game and the Slovakia game. That gave us that confidence going into the play-off games. The next step is to do what Scotland used to do and every now and again upset one of the top teams. And that's got to be the next stage, and that probably leads into this tournament coming up.

On facing off against England

It's very historic. It goes back a long way; it means a lot. And people say it doesn't mean a lot to the English, but having worked in England I know it means a lot to the English; they don't want to lose to Scotland. And it's the same the other way around. You know how passionate we are, and how much we enjoy beating the English. It hasn't happened too much recently.

But I've been part of squads that beat England. I remember Richard Gough's header at Hampden for a 1-0 win [in 1985]. It's always nice to do it. And I think the English try to play it down a bit, like "It's just little Scotland," but it means a lot to the English as well, so it should be a good game. Roll on 18 June!