Steve Clarke never took a single Rangers star to Germany as his Scotland side were humbled in Munich.
The national team’s manager hasn’t always seen eye-to-eye with the Ibrox club over the years but the decision to drop defender John Souttar is one plenty believe he’ll live to regret at Euro 2024 this summer.
That’s if he doesn’t already.
The Ibrox centre-back, 27, is regarded by many to be amongst the most talented Scotland centre-backs of his generation.
But with injuries limiting some of Souttar’s formative years that potential has always been stunted by dramatic periods of absence.
Now at Rangers and with the worst of the injury problems behind him, Gers manager Philippe Clement has thrown his support behind John Souttar by selecting him regularly on Ibrox duties.
Souttar started 16 of 17 Premiership matches before going off at half-time in the 2-1 Old Firm defeat at Celtic Park.
And whilst John Souttar went into the summer carrying another injury problem, Steve Clarke didn’t afford the defender the same amount of faith before Scotland were humbled 5-1 by Germany.
Many Rangers fans reckon that if the man they called Soapy was backing up the defence, such a hammering might never have occurred.
The centre-back was cut from the Scotland squad alongside Hearts goalie Craig Gordon ahead of the tournament.
Rangers fans lament Souttar Scotland call
Rangers fans have taken to social media platform X in their numbers to openly criticise Steve Clarke’s Scotland decision-making.
Many believe the Scotland boss’s decision to go with Ryan Porteous instead of Souttar against Germany came back to haunt him.
The Watford centre-half was sent off with the score already at 2-0, lunging in with a horror tackle on Germany’s Ilkay Gundogan to give away a penalty.
It’s a challenge which Rangers fans have seen plenty of times before.
It put his teammates under pressure and played a huge role in the thumping 5-1 defeat which embarrassed the nation on the international stage.
Neil McCann branded the tackle a moment of ‘stupidity’ via the BBC.
The ex-Rangers winger isn’t the only one criticising Porteous either, with the brutal tackle not befitting of a match in the Scottish Championship never mind a European Championships opener.
Rangers fans aplenty have had their say on X with a couple of fans believing that John Souttar may well be feeling a little ‘smug’ after being dropped.
Steve Clarke also got in the neck from Rangers supporters for choosing Ryan Porteous over Ibrox option John Souttar.
One fan wrote “how Porteous gets a call up before John Souttar is beyond me” whilst another added “Clarke picked Porteous, Hanley, Cooper and McKenna ahead of John Souttar”.
It didn’t end there either with another branding Steve Clarke’s decision to leave Souttar at home as “baffling” claiming the Ibrox defender is “one of our best centre-backs”.
Others even took it a step further and demanded Clarke was shown the door!
Clarke’s Ibrox call could haunt him
When one looks at the competition, we reckon John Souttar is more than deserving of his place in the Scotland set-up.
But with the defender missing both Scotland friendlies in the run up to the tournament – the centre-back never even made the bench for either – we’ve got to give Steve Clarke the benefit of the doubt.
Whilst Ryan Porteous continues to be talked up by Scotland supporters, John Souttar is a better option when fully fit.
Ergo the only reason why the centre-back would miss out to the ex-Hibs star is that the Hornets defender has the advantage fitness-wise.
Nonetheless, the fact there is no Rangers player in the Scotland squad has been a topic of sizeable conversation amongst fans.
Ryan Jack was included in Steve Clarke’s squad for Euro 2024 but the midfielder was released by Rangers at the end of his contract.
Other notable Ibrox-linked players include ex-Academy starlets Billy Gilmour, Ross McCrorie and Liam Kelly.
