The Scottish FA faces a difficult search for a successor to Steve Clarke, with the options of David Moyes and Ange Postecoglou, but financial constraints could complicate the situation.
The Scottish FA have announced they will "look everywhere" to find Steve Clarke's successor, but the realities of elite club football could reduce the number of high-profile candidates. Following the surprising news of Clarke's resignation, many names were put forward by fans in social media groups, but two stand out: former Celtic and Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou and current Everton manager David Moyes.
However, given the prestige of the Premier League and the substantial finances associated with it, how realistic is it that Scotland could attract a manager of that calibre? From a financial perspective, it seems unlikely that the Scottish FA will be able to offer a sufficiently attractive package to pry a Premier League manager away from their club. Clarke was earning around £500,000 a year at the time of Euro 2024, a figure which presumably increased after he signed a new four-year contract last month, but which still remains well below Premier League levels.
Moyes is entering the final year of a multi-million pound contract at Everton, where he returned in 2025 to stabilize the club, guiding them to two successive 13th places. The 63-year-old Scot said in 2021 that he was interested in leading his national team in the future. “I think at the right time, when everything is right for me and if it's right for Scotland, it could be a consideration,” he told BBC Sportsound. He was manager of West Ham at the time, where he led the club to a sixth-place finish in the Premier League and victory in the Conference League. Although Moyes is still a Premier League-level manager, the timing he cited five years ago still seems inopportune, even before considering the finances at stake in a potential deal.
"We're not naive enough to think the Premier League doesn't pay high wages," former Scotland striker Kris Boyd said on Sky Sports. "In the future, I think Moyes will become a Scotland manager. At the moment, however, he is the manager of Everton and earns a very high salary. The Scottish FA will not be able to compete with that."
For Postecoglou, currently out of work and who has offered occasional tactical insights into the Scots during his World Cup commentator appearances this summer, the timing may be right. However, the elephant in the room remains, once again, the numbers involved if he were even interested in returning to Scotland. The former Celtic manager was sacked by Nottingham Forest in October after just 39 days in charge, just four months after being lured away from Tottenham, where he had just won the Europa League, their first trophy in 17 years. The Australian's winning and decisive mentality could galvanize the Scottish public, many of whom have become frustrated with Clarke's approach in tournaments. Many of those Scottish fans also got to appreciate the exciting football he implemented during a trophy-rich spell at Celtic.
Postecoglou also has four years of international management experience, having coached Australia from 2013 to 2017, during which time he won the 2015 Asian Cup after taking the country to the 2014 World Cup, where they were eliminated in the group stage in a brutal group featuring holders Spain, 2010 runners-up Netherlands and Chile. Postecoglou ticks almost all the boxes, but with a reported salary of £5 million a year at Tottenham, followed by a rumored contract of £3 million a year at Forest, it would be illusory to think the Scottish FA could come close to those figures.
Although Clarke seemed the best candidate at the time and proved to be the right choice, his signing from Kilmarnock highlights the dearth of options Scotland found themselves in at the time. With standards raised after three grand final appearances during the Clarke era, the next few weeks will tell how ambitious the Scottish FA are willing to be in their quest to replace what is, arguably, the nation's most successful men's coach.
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