New Scotland assistant Steven Naismith revealed the possibility of qualifying for a World Cup within three months was a primary factor in his return to Steve Clarke’s backroom staff.
The 38-year-old attacker previously had a stint as first-team coach for the national team before leaving in the summer of 2023 – early on in the Scots’ bid to qualify for Euro 2024 – to become manager of Hearts.
After being sacked by the Jambos last September, Naismith took some time out of football to “refresh” before being summoned back to the international fold last month to become assistant coach after John Carver left to take charge of Lechia Gdansk.
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— Scotland National Team (@ScotlandNT) September 1, 2025
The Scots kick off their bid to qualify for next summer’s World Cup away to Denmark on Friday and with the condensed six-game campaign concluding in mid-November, the former Rangers, Everton and Scotland man is excited by the quickfire opportunity to get to a major tournament for the first time in his career.
“I was grateful the first time round to get the opportunity really early on,” Naismith said of his first stint as a member of Clarke’s staff. “It developed me as a coach and manager a lot.
“I’m definitely more experienced now, but I’ve slipped straight back in and it feels very good, it feels comfortable.
“It’s exciting because I’ve been around at stages latterly when I played, then when I was a coach, when things built up towards what was getting to Euros, which was brilliant, and the opportunity to get to a World Cup in three months is very exciting.”
Naismith was in the frame for several club jobs after leaving Hearts 11 months ago, but was always intent on picking his next role carefully.
“I’ve said consistently that for me it’s about what you’re going to,” he said. “I loved being a manager, I loved the intensity of it, but I was never going to just jump in.
“Over the course of being out, you reflect, you build on things that you think went well and you try and take that into whatever’s new. I think I’m in a better place as a coach now to come back in than I was at the start and hopefully I can help with that in the background.”
Naismith won the last of his 51 caps two years before Scotland played at the Euros in 2021 and then missed out on going to Euro 2024 as a coach after departing Clarke’s backroom staff shortly after the campaign-igniting win over Spain in March 2023.
Having seen the squad evolve, he is relishing being back in with a shout of going to a major tournament.
“To be part of the journey to the Euros was great because I think you could see each step and I think if you look at the squad as a whole, players are now in their prime,” he said.
“They were at the very start of that journey when I was here. For club and country, they’ve pushed on to become legends, big players at their clubs and Ballon d’Or nominees (Scott McTominay).
“I think the biggest change I’ve seen is that maturity and understanding. The guys now have got bags of experience in massive competitions with their clubs and they’ve been to major tournaments with Scotland. The next step is the World Cup.”
