Boyd backs no-nonsense Clarke to lead Scotland to major tournament

Kilmarnock striker Kris Boyd has backed departing manager Steve Clarke to put uncommitted Scotland players in their place and lead the nation to a major tournament.Boyd expects Clarke to approach the Scotland job with the same single-minded attitude that saw him achieve significant success at Rugby Park.The 55-year-old was appointed head coach of the national team 24 hours after leading Killie to their highest league finish for 53 years and clinching European football for the first time in 18 years.Boyd told Sky Sports News: When you look at what hes done since he came through the door at Kilmarnock, its unbelievable.If you look at Sundays team, only Youssouf Mulumbu wasnt at the club (when Clarke arrived). So he took a team from the bottom of the table to third inside 20 months.It shows you the improvement hes made, in every single player at the club. Not only the players, everyone round about as well. Hes a professional, he does everything correct.Its obviously a big blow for us at Kilmarnock, but if you put your Scotland hat on, for me its a fantastic appointment.Its been too long since we made a major tournament, 1998 in France, but if Steve Clarke is given time, he will be the man to take us back, definitely.The 35-year-old added: Ive seen the way he works, there will be no players calling off, because you wont be back.A lot of times players have had it too easy at international level. Now we have a manager in place who is strong, who wont take any rubbish. If you dont turn up, you wont be at the next gathering.He knows what he wants and he will achieve that, Im sure.Theres a lot of times I feel as if there have been managerswith Scotland who have tried to appease certain people, and fans and clubs.Steve Clarke will do it his way. Its been successful at Kilmarnock and he will do the exact same with Scotland.He doesnt care who he upsets, thats what you need to be to reach the top.Boyd expects Scotland players to look forward to playing for Clarke.The former Scotland striker said: He will already have everyone on side because you cant help but stand up and take notice of the job he has done at Kilmarnock. So I think a lot of the players will be intrigued to see exactly what he does.Sometimes its actually better to keep things simple. Every single person in our dressing roomknew their job, they knew their responsibility within the team and will be the exact same at international level.The training might be basic, as some people say, but for me thats the best. Everyone knows their jobs and you can see that on the pitch.I listen to a lot of these modern, young coaches come in and try to over-complicate things, formations this and tactics this.Every single thing the manager does is geared towards the game. As soon as the players meet up on the Sunday and Monday before an international, everything will be geared towards the game.(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
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