It has only been a month since Sebastien Pocognoli was appointed as Scotland’s new head coach. In the grand scheme of things, he’s only been in the door five minutes.
He hasn’t even taken charge of a training session yet, let alone a match. He has spoken in a couple of media conferences and named one squad of players.
Yet, already, it’s crystal clear that the winds of change have blown through Hampden. The whole thing feels like a much-needed breath of fresh air.
Simply in the act of picking his first squad for the upcoming Nations League fixtures, Pocognoli has shown a more progressive and positive attitude than we ever saw from Steve Clarke.
Especially over the last couple of years of his tenure, Clarke’s squad announcements and media conferences became low-key, humdrum affairs. By and large, we all knew who was going to be picked.
Pocognoli has effectively taken a stick of dynamite to all of that and lit the fuse. This is bold, brave, adventurous – and exactly the kind of fresh start the Tartan Army have been crying out for.
In total, there are seven uncapped players, and 14 who never went to the World Cup in the summer. The average age has fallen from 29 to 26.
Pocognoli has picked seven uncapped players in his first Scotland squad
It all feels new and exciting. It’s a 28-man squad that rewards form rather than loyalty cards. Exactly how it should be in international football.
Pocognoli has looked at the available talent and asked a simple question that too often went unanswered under the previous regime: who is playing well right now, and who might actually improve us?
Oli McBurnie recalled after five years in the wilderness. Robbie Ure, Colby Donovan, Luis Binks, Luke Graham, Stephen Welsh, Josh McPake – all in. Status quo, this most certainly is not. This is a clear-out.
Listen, there’s no sense in going over old ground with regards to the previous regime. Clarke got Scotland to three major tournaments, one of which was a World Cup. Fair play to him.
He made Scotland relevant again and gave supporters some memories they will cherish for the rest of their lives. But his time was up.
The whole thing had gone stale. He was picking the same group of players, deploying the same tactics, and making the same mistakes time and time again in those major tournaments once we got there.
For any new players trying to force their way in, it became a closed shop. A setup defined by the manager’s innate sense of caution and dogmatism.
Pocognoli has no interest in any of that. One look at this squad tells you everything you need to know. He has opened the door and told players to walk through it.
Steve Clarke’s Scotland squads seemed to be picked on loyalty rather than form
McBurnie is playing – and doing well – for Hull City in the Premier League. The fact he scored 19 goals last season to help Hull win promotion, and then didn’t go to the World Cup, looks silly now.
The fact he became frozen out under Clarke, with his last cap coming in 2021, became a bizarre business. We can only presume it was a personal grudge held by the former manager.
Of the other new faces, Ure has just rocked up at Sevilla for serious money.. Donovan is starting for Celtic and, still only 20 years old, has plenty of improvement left in him.
Graham and Welsh are performing in the English Championship for Stoke and Swansea. Indeed, Welsh was arguably the best Scottish centre-back in the SPFL last season for Motherwell, yet didn’t go to the World Cup.
McPake is catching the eye with some excellent performances at Hearts. These are not sentimental picks, nor are they a continuation of the old guard. They are form picks. That alone marks a major shift in attitude.
Under Clarke, the hierarchy felt fixed. You earned your place through years of service and then held it until injury or absolute crisis intervened. In the end, loyalty became inertia.
Under Pocognoli, everyone has a clean slate. There is no hierarchy beyond the blatantly obvious in the likes of Andy Robertson, John McGinn and a few others.
The Belgian has not reinvented the wheel with any of this. He has simply refused to keep spinning the same wheel as Clarke had done for years.
Lennon Miller, Kieron Bowie, James Wilson, Findlay Curtis, Ben Gannon-Doak. This is not a group built purely to frustrate and contain. It is a group that feels youthful, positive and exciting.
Winger Josh McPake has caught the eye playing for Hearts this season
Bowie was another odd case under Clarke. After leaving Hibs and moving to Verona in Italy back in January, Daily Mail Sport understands that neither Clarke nor his staff made any effort to contact Bowie over the second half of last season.
No attempt to check in and see how he was doing, no effort to maintain a relationship, no encouragement in his efforts to make the World Cup squad.
Now? He just scored for Sassuolo at the weekend in a 3-2 win over Juventus in Serie A – and his reward is a place in the Scotland squad.
Pocognoli’s squad moves the dial and changes the conversation around all of this. Suddenly, punters are talking about who might seize a chance rather than who is guaranteed their place.
Of course, none of this guarantees results. International football is a short-term, high-stakes business. Some of these new faces may well struggle. Established players may well fight their way back in.
Four matches against Slovenia (twice), Switzerland and North Macedonia offer Pocognoli the chance to really put his stamp on this team and change the style of play.
If he gets off to a flying start, the Tartan Army will worship his every move. Yet, even if results don’t go his way and it becomes a difficult start, it would be foolish to write him off too quickly.
Kieron Bowie earned a place in the squad after scoring for Sassuolo against Juventus
Given the change in personnel and the change in playing style, this could take time to bed-in properly. But the starting point in all of this is everything.
Pocognoli has arrived with a lot of goodwill from supporters. There’s a lot to like here. He wants to deliver a more exciting brand of football whilst bringing through younger, fresher players.
Clarke’s Scotland eventually felt like a closed system under lock and key.. Pocognoli has taken a sledgehammer to it and smashed it open on day one.
Ultimately, it’s a squad that looks radically different because the man picking it believes it needs to look different. After years of closed ranks, that directness is refreshing.
It may only be a squad announcement. But it is the first real sign that Scotland might finally be ready to look forward with a sense of genuine excitement.
That in itself is a breath of fresh air. In Scottish football, those are rare enough to savour.
