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New Scotland manager Steve Clarke says he will not be “chasing down” players who have retired from international football.
Speaking at his unveiling, Clarke said he plans to “sell my vision” to coax back those who made themselves unavailable under Alex McLeish.
James McArthur, Allan McGregor and Scott Brown have all retired.
“The door is open to everyone. If players have retired, they have to un-retire themselves,” Clarke said.
“If they want to come back to the fold they have to get in touch with myself or the Scottish FA and say they want to make themselves available.
“I won’t be chasing down players who have retired. I only want players who are 100% committed to Scotland.”
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While Clarke insists he won’t go out his way to convince players to play for their country again, he does acknowledge he will speak to those who have pulled out in recent months under his predecessor.
In the last international window, Bournemouth’s Ryan Fraser, Cardiff’s Callum Paterson and Sheffield Wednesday striker Steven Fletcher were among those unavailable to face Kazakhstan.
McLeish also had nine players call off in November for the Nations League group game with Albania.
“The ones who have maybe pulled out of a squad a little too easily, it’s down to me to have that conversation with them, to sell my vision of what we’re going to do as a national team and how we’ll approach this tournament,” Clarke said, without referencing any individuals.
“Hopefully we’ll get as many good players on board as possible. A burning ambition of mine is to take Scotland to a major tournament.”
Clarke, who names his first squad next week ahead of the qualifier at home to Cyprus in June, says managing Scotland is the “pinnacle” of his career.
And he recognised a need to get the Scotland fans back on-side after the hostile mood at the end of the McLeish reign.
“It’s not dissimilar to the situation when I took over at Kilmarnock, obviously on a completely different scale,” Clarke said.
“We want to make the Tartan Army proud of their team. The numbers have dwindled but it’s my job to make sure the players are focused. I’ll give everything I got to qualify through the group stages. We have slipped up and have to pick up points – the two games in June are crucial.”
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