Grant Hanley sure Scotland can bounce back from their Nations League relegation

Grant Hanley vowed that Scotland will prove their doubters wrong once more by bouncing back strongly from their Nations League relegation.

The centre-back understood the frustration of the Tartan Army as the Scots were booed off following a humiliating 3-0 home defeat by Greece on Sunday that resulted in a 3-1 aggregate loss in the play-off and demotion to League B.

Hanley was adamant that the Scots have shown often enough during Steve Clarke’s reign, however, that they should not be written off as they build towards the 2026 World Cup qualification campaign later this year.

“There was a good feeling in the squad after Thursday night (following the 1-0 first-leg win in Greece), but I suppose that’s football,” said Birmingham defender Hanley, reflecting on the contrasting emotions of the past week.

“It’s not the first time I’ve had it happen in my career, where you go off a big high to a few days later having a massive low. It’s about how we deal with it and how we move on.

“We’ve definitely had some major high moments in the last few years. There’s also been some major lows. I’m sure the squad will prove again, as it has done, that we can bounce back.

“It’s up to us as players to react to that and to move on. This squad’s got character. I don’t think that’s something you can ever question. I’m sure we’ll bounce back.”

Scotland have qualified for two European Championships under Clarke and won promotion to Nations League A, but they have also suffered the frustration of failing to win a match at either of those two major tournaments, losing a 2022 World Cup play-off to Ukraine, and now demotion from League A.

The Scots lost all three of their opening matches in the top tier of the Nations League against Poland, Portugal and Croatia but then picked up seven points from their closing three fixtures against the same opponents. They continued that upturn in form with victory in Greece last Thursday before falling flat on Sunday.

“Obviously, we wanted to end it well and we’ve not been able to do that,” said Hanley, reflecting on the campaign. “It’s ended with disappointment, but I think throughout, we were nearly there. You look at the start of the campaign, we had some good performances and not quite getting the results, and obviously, we finished it strongly.

“We’ve been unsuccessful (in the play-off). We’ll need to learn our lessons from that, which we will, and we’ll move on.”