Steven Naismith has been mentioned as a possible successor to Steve Clarke as Scotland manager, but the bigger point is that this is happening in a search short on obvious domestic contenders. Stephen McGowan’s view is simple enough: there is no clear front-runner, and that is why names such as Naismith and John McGlynn keep coming up.
That is not quite the same as saying Naismith is the favourite. It is more a reflection of the current landscape, where the Scottish manager production line, as McGowan puts it, has ground to a halt. When pundits, journalists and fans reach for familiar names, it is often because they cannot see too many alternatives.
Why Steven Naismith is in the conversation
The discussion is not built on hype so much as shortage. McGowan said there was “no obvious candidate for Scotland job after demise of 'Largs mafia'”, and added that people who push McGlynn or Steven Naismith as a potential successor to Clarke are doing so because they cannot see too many alternatives.
He also noted that “no one speaks, anymore, of a ‘Largs mafia’.” That matters because it underlines how much the old idea of a reliable domestic coaching pipeline has faded from view.
As recently as August 2011, seven of the 20 managers at English Premier League clubs were born and raised somewhere between Gretna and John O’Groats. But that was then. The article’s central argument is that the supply of obvious Scottish candidates has thinned, leaving the SFA to consider a list with many overseas names on it.
The wider Scotland question
The timing of the debate also tells its own story. After the World Cup, the Sportsound discussion on the Scotland manager issue returned to the question of succession, and on the day Zinedine Zidane was named as the new coach of Les Bleus, one of the leading candidates to succeed Clarke was questioned by Sky Sports.
That framing suggests the Scotland job is now being viewed as a high-level appointment rather than simply a domestic handover. The search is taking place in an era when the obvious local pool has narrowed, and when the SFA may need to look well beyond the usual names if it wants a clean succession plan.
For Naismith, the mention alone places him in significant company, but not necessarily in pole position. He is part of a conversation about who can step into a major national role if Clarke moves on, and that conversation is being shaped by scarcity as much as by conviction.
So the answer for now is straightforward: Steven Naismith is being discussed seriously enough to be in the frame, but the bigger story is that Scotland appear to have more questions than answers when it comes to Clarke’s eventual successor.
