'Silly' if Clarke not offered new deal - Dalglish

Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version from BBC or go back to LFC Live.

Sir Kenny Dalglish believes the Scottish FA would be "silly" not to offer head coach Steve Clarke a new contract - no matter how the team perform at the World Cup.Clarke has overseen qualification for three major tournaments since taking charge in 2019, but the 62-year-old's current deal expires after this summer's showpiece in North America.Last week, he indicated the ball was effectively in the governing body's court over whether it wanted to retain him and said that he felt it was "50-50" that he would stay on.Sir Kenny, Scotland's record appearance holder and joint highest goalscorer, believes Clarke, who was his first-teach coach with Liverpool, has already done enough to be worthy of a new contract."He'd be a hard act to follow if he was to go somewhere," the 75-year-old said. "It's all supposition, isn't it?

I don't think he'll have a problem renewing his contract here [if he wants to]. Everybody's contract runs out sometime, doesn't it?

But I tell you, it won't be on results if he doesn't stay."Scotland continue their World Cup preparations with friendlies against Japan on Saturday and Ivory Coast next Tuesday.They then host Curacao on 30 May before heading to the USA, where they will be in a group with Brazil, Haiti and Morocco, with the top two plus eight of the best third-placed teams from the 12 groups qualifying for the last 32.Sir Kenny, who played at three World Cups, believes Scotland have to fancy their chances of getting through to the knockout phase for the first time."They've done fantastically well to get to the World Cup, it's a great achievement," he said. "I don't think there's any doubt about the progress they've made, even if they don't do well in the World Cup."