THE two notable Celtic omissions from the latest Scotland squad are at contrasting points in their careers. David Turnbull can feel aggrieved to have missed out on this occasion after a fine run of form in a struggling Celtic side, but very much has it all ahead of him. For Leigh Griffiths, time is running out.

Griffiths is now 30, and lingering worries over his conditioning having hampered the forward all season. With Southampton striker Che Adams declaring for Scotland and being included in Steve Clarke’s squad for these World Cup qualifiers against Austria, Israel and the Faroe Islands, Griffiths may be left wondering if having waited all his career to be involved in a major tournament with his country, the opportunity is about to pass him by.

There were words of consolation of sorts from Scotland manager Clarke, though whether his decision to address Turnbull’s position individually and Griffiths in only general term means anything deeper, only he will know.

“I spoke to all the players who were in the squad in November and who are not in the squad this time,” Clarke told Sky Sports when asked if he had a message for Griffiths.

“I’ve explained the situation and I’ve explained why I’ve left them out and obviously those conversations will remain private.

“[I’ve told them to] keep doing well for your club because the make-up of a squad for a major tournament is probably slightly different from the make-up of a squad for this one.”

When the subject of Turnbull was broached, Clarke appeared more willing to drill down into the specific reasons why the former Motherwell man was left out, with the fierce competition in his area of the pitch a contributory factor.

“Good player, David, done well this year to break into the Celtic team,” he said.

“He looks a good prospect for us. Unfortunately for David, he is trying to get into what is probably the strongest area of the pitch.

“I'm sure if David keeps up his current form, his chance won't be too far away.

“People like David Turnbull, Nathan Patterson, Billy Gilmour, Ryan Gauld are all young players with good prospects. But the likes of Turnbull has to break into the team in front of (John) McGinn, (Scott) McTominay, Stuart Armstrong, Ryan Christie, Ryan Fraser - it’s an area of the team we are very, very strong in - and we also have to be very careful not to lose the dynamic of the squad.”

Celtic supporters may raise an eyebrow at such logic when Turnbull has largely outshone teammate Christie this season, but the scorer of Scotland’s goal in the play-off win over Serbia still has plenty of credit in the bank with Clarke despite his inconsistent club form this term.

“I can’t understand the clamour to throw some players out who have been part of a historic national team that’s qualified for a major tournament,” said Clarke.

“The time will come for these other players but, at the moment, it’s about getting the balance right so that we move forward in an organised manner.”

Meanwhile, Clarke has warned his players not to take their eye off these crucial World Cup qualifiers with the European Championships looming on the horizon, saying that the national side can’t rest on their laurels just because they have ended the long wait for tournament qualification.

“It’s an unusual situation with the Euros being delayed by a year, so to have three important World Cup qualifiers just focuses my mind and hopefully focuses the minds of the players because the only thing that’s important in the short term is the World Cup,” he said.

“We want to get off to a good start. We want to be competitive and we don’t want to be a squad of players and a management team that only get to one finals. We want to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 and March will have a big bearing on that campaign.”