Steve Clarke shuts down BBC reporter on the Shankland bandwagon

It seems that BBC Scotland have treated the international break as Lawrence Shankland Appreciation week.

The state broadcaster appears to have only one thought in mind as they shamelessly promote the Hearts striker on every front.

During the 2019/20 season BBC Scotland produced the most pointless and uninformative ‘fly in the wall’ documentary as they followed Hearts on their journey to The Championship.

After his Jambos contract wasn’t renewed Craig Levein found himself promoted to the role of football expert at the BBC alongside big hitters like Tom English, Neil McCann, Rory Loy and Billy Dodds.

Following the defeat against Holland on Friday English came up with a pre-prepared tribute to Shankland that praised every move and touch that he made before being substituted for Che Adams.

Last night Scotland failed to win for the sixth match running with the north of Ireland following on the defeats inflicted on Steve Clarke’s side by England, Spain, France and Holland.

It is clearly a worrying run with multiple problems in a squad that includes Nathan Patterson, Billy Gilmour and John Souttar.

Given the chance to question Clarke on those issues post-match Sheelagh McLaren opted for the Hearts line, the decision to put Shankland on the bench and start with Lyndon Dykes. Scotland barely created a chance worthy of the name.

Most of the BBC Scotland discussion in the build up to the European Championships will be focussed on Shankland wile Clarke tries to make the best of a defence likely to include Patterson, Ryan Porteous and Jack Hendry.