'Clarke will have to answer for feeble Scotland exit'

Was a miserable Euros campaign always in the script for Scotland?

Injury and fitness issues to some key players undoubtedly played a part, but Tom English says a nine-month demise meant he could see failure coming.

After qualifying in spectacular fashion, Steve Clarke's side travelled to Germany in poor form - one victory, against a woeful Gibraltar, in nine.

A winless Euro 2024 means that run now stands at one in 12, having gained just a single point from three group games.

Despite a "really excellent" qualification campaign, full of "verve, intensity and aggression", BBC Scotland's chief sportswriter says Clarke will now "have to answer" for the team having "no creativity".

"I didn't think this team would achieve anything in these Euros," English said on the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast.

"This demise didn't start against Germany in Munich. It started many months ago. The things that made them a good side... they just faded away over the last eight, nine, 10 months.

"And the chickens coming home to roost was this championship. Eventually Clarke will do a press conference and he's going to have to answer why he was unable to bring some creativity into this team.

"I don't want to say he sleepwalked his way to this championship, but it kind of felt like it because nothing changed.

"It was the same old, same players, same formations, doing the same things, and it amounted to one point and a really feeble exit."