The Scottish FA insists it will "cast the net as far and wide" to find Steve Clarke's successor — but the harsh financial reality has already narrowed the pool.
Clarke's shock resignation has sparked fan dreams of David Moyes or Ange Postecoglou taking the helm, with both names dominating social media and group chats. But the Premier League's deep pockets make either prospect a long shot.
“Scotland fans dream of Moyes or Postecoglou, but Premier League wages make them unrealistic.”
Clarke was earning about £500,000 a year at Euro 2024, and though his new four-year deal signed last month likely raised that, it still falls woefully short of Premier League wages. Moyes, 63, is entering the final year of a multi-million-pound contract at Everton, where he returned in 2025 and guided them to back-to-back 13th-place finishes.
Back in 2021, Moyes told BBC Sportsound he was interested in leading Scotland "when things are right for me and if it's right for Scotland." Then West Ham boss, he had just led the club to sixth in the Premier League and a Conference League title. But that timing still seems off. As former Scotland striker Kris Boyd put it on Sky Sports: "We're not daft enough to think the Premier League isn't paying high wages. In the future, I think Moyes will be a Scotland manager. Right now, he's the manager of Everton and will be on a big, big salary. The SFA won't be able to compete with that."
Postecoglou, out of work since leaving Tottenham, also carries a top-level pedigree. Yet the Scottish FA faces the same obstacle: elite club football has shrunk the pool of big catches.