STEVE CLARKE said it was a straightforward decision to step down from his role as Scotland head coach because he always planned to depart if the World Cup did not go to plan.

The 62-year-old told his players on Saturday night, at their hotel in Charlotte, that he was bringing the curtain down on his seven-year reign after it was confirmed that the Scots had failed to get out of a group containing Brazil, Morocco and Haiti.

The shock announcement came exactly a month after he signed a new four-year contract that would have incorporated Euro 2028 and the 2030 World Cup.

In a Scottish Football Association interview reflecting on his time in charge, Clarke – heavily criticised in some quarters following back-to-back defeats by Morocco and Brazil – said he was leaving “just because that’s the feel.”

“Listen, what I wanted to make sure was that when I felt it was time to step away, it was time to step away,” he said. “Signing the contract before (the World Cup) was a case of trying to give a little bit of comfort to the players knowing that we could continue the journey.

“I always had in my head that if we didn’t come out of the group, which is something that we’ve tried to do across three tournaments now, I always had in my head that if that didn’t happen then it was probably the right time to step away.

“Obviously if we’d managed to get that extra point and got out of the group then I’d probably have stayed on and tried to do another tournament.”

Asked if it was an easy decision, a philosophical Clarke said: “Yeah, in some respects it was easy because I already had in my head what I wanted to achieve as a head coach. I’d also ticked all the boxes.

“I wanted to go to a major tournament with my country. I did that with the Euros. The first Euros (in 2021) was a little bit not the Euros because it was Covid affected.

“The second Euros was great. The tournament didn’t go as we wanted but getting to Germany was fantastic. My lifelong ambition was to do a World Cup with my country. I’ve done that, so not a bad time to step aside.”

Clarke told his players of his decision at 7pm local time on Saturday, immediately after Scotland’s exit from the tournament was confirmed.

The embattled squad left their Charlotte base on Sunday, with Anthony Ralston, Scott McKenna, Nathan Patterson, Jack Hendry and Findlay Curtis among those who arrived at Glasgow airport today morning along with SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell and Scotland assistant coach Steven Naismith. Other players are expected to make their way back separately.

“It’s obviously an emotional moment when you tell your players that you’re stepping away after such a journey together,” he said.

“I think seven or eight of them have been with me from the start, right the way through. It was very important to me that the players knew first, and obviously just before I went into the meeting I had to tell my captain (Andy Robertson) because I knew that he’d want to say a few words back to me. Saying goodbye to my staff and my players was emotional.”

Despite the backlash to Scotland’s group-stage performance, Clarke is adamant he had a “brilliant” World Cup experience.

“I said I was going to enjoy it,” he said. “Coming out for the Haiti game with the Scotland fans there in their thousands and my family in the stands was just the best moment.

“The next two games were tough. We played difficult opponents. Morocco and Brazil, both of them can go really deep in the tournament and we competed with them, no matter what other people might say. We competed, both games were competitive.

“We showed a lot of character and we played some good stuff. We didn’t find the quality in the final third of the pitch but I could maybe say that across the whole seven years we’ve always been chasing and trying to find that quality in the final third of the pitch, and I hope my successor manages to do that.”