Sir Kenny Dalglish: The Steve Clarke I know will not accept that things cannot get better, but maybe moving away from Hampden would help

The reaction to Scotland’s defeats against Russia and Belgium is something the whole nation is now familiar with.

After more than 20 years of failing to qualify for the Finals of a major tournament, sadly it has become the norm.

Various managers – from Berti Vogts to Walter Smith to Craig Levein to Gordon Strachan – have all tried to end the drought, but never quite got there.

National team skippers, such as Davie Weir, Darren Fletcher and Scott Brown have been asked to explain – time and time again – why we aren’t delivering the success the country craves.

They try their best to give an honest answer, while trying to keep up some positivity.

The SFA also get in the neck, and are asked to clarify their strategy and methods, from grassroots football to the Performance Schools.

Our politicians at Holyrood are also put under the microscope. Many feel they should be doing more to help our national game.

I totally understand why we need to ask these questions, and have a serious debate.

For the greater good of our game – in the short, medium and long term – we need to find ways to improve at all levels.

Small margins can make all the difference when it comes to the bigger picture.

But I’m sure that Steve Clarke will not be distracted at this moment from all the talk going on in the background.

He will be totally focused on the remaining four games in our qualifying group – Russia and Cyprus away, and San Marino and Kazakhstan back at Hampden.

That has to be the way as now it’s all about getting through to the play-offs in March.

I would be very surprised if Steve uses the rest of the Euro 2020 qualification campaign in October and November to experiment, and make wholesale changes to the teams that lined up against Russia and Belgium.

I might be wrong, but I can’t think of two or three outstanding players that he has chosen not to select in his squad.

There are one or two that have decided they don’t want to be a part of the national set-up, but that’s different from being frozen out by Steve.

And it’s not as if he can go to the SFA hierarchy and ask them for £10 million to bring in two quality players to help us reach Euro 2020 next summer.

There is no transfer market for him to operate in.

He has to go with what he has, and he will have to believe they are good enough to make the Euros next summer.

Before the play-offs, whether we face Israel or Bulgaria, Steve will have had around another four weeks in total to work with the players.

It’s not nearly as long as he’d like, but it will give him time to implement more of his ideas and for the players to get right into his structure and methods.

Steve will have been disappointed with the last two results.

The Russia game will have hit him the hardest, and he will be conscious that the team should have played better and defended better.

But the Steve Clarke I know will not accept that things cannot get better. That is not in his nature.

He WILL improve things because he is an out-and-out winner.

Do not underestimate him.

So we must all trust in him. He was the right man for the job when the SFA appointed him, and he is still the right man for the job.

There is a need for everyone to show patience and for calm to be restored.

But we do need to be mindful of the Tartan Army and keeping them onside. 32,000 turned out for the Russia game, but just over 20,000 were at Hampden to see our meeting with the No. 1 ranked country in world football.

Had we beaten the Russians, then I’m sure we would have had at least 15,000 more supporters for the visit of Roberto Martinez’s side, but it wasn’t to be.

That also means that the SFA were hit with lost revenue of around £500,000 in ticket sales.

I’m not being critical of the fans for turning up. Football is now very expensive and they also have to spend plenty to follow their club sides.

The answer to this one isn’t easy and there is no quick fix.

However, can we consider looking at taking one or two games away from Hampden to see if a change of venue works for the supporters and works for the team?

I think that might be worth a discussion.

I’m not advocating leaving our National Stadium on a permanent basis. Far from it.

I campaigned to save Hampden and I’m glad to still have it.

I’m not sure how it would work contractually, and with the ticket packages bought by supporters at the start of this qualification process.

It might not be do-able.

However, if any small print allows us to get over one or two hurdles, then we shouldn’t be afraid to look at alternative stadiums on a game-by-game basis.

If everyone feels that it might benefit the team get to the desired end game of qualifying for major tournaments, then it has to got to be worth a discussion.