Scotland could look at Hardie, says his boss
RYAN Hardie was excellent for Plymouth Argyle against Burton Albion last week and his manager, Ryan Lowe, is surprised he has not yet been called up by Scotland.
Hardie did not add to his 10-goal tally against the Brewers but he hit the bar and provided the assist for Ryan Broom’s goal, as well as giving the Brewers’ defenders a hard time all day with his pace.
“I was expecting a call just because he’s scoring goals,” said Lowe of the former Rangers youngster.
“I’m not sitting here telling (Scotland manager) Steve Clarke what to do by any stretch of the imagination, but you’ve got a leading goalscorer in the country at the moment and he’s your player.
“I’m sure Steve’s monitoring him and watching him, because who wouldn’t?”
Lowe reacted with modesty to the accolade.
“It’s great to have the backing of your manager and the confidence that he gives you on the park is very, very good,” he told the BBC after Plymouth beat Burton 2-1.
“When he says things like that he’s got the ultimate respect for you and he’s happy with the way you’re playing, which makes me feel a bit better.
“Internationals are where you want to be as a player but as I said to him – we had a chat about it – I’ve only scored 10 goals, it’s only a start, I want to go and get 20 and see where that takes me.”
Hardie began his career with Rangers, had loan spells with Raith Rovers, St Mirren and Livingston and moved to Blackpool in the summer of 2019.
But he did not get goals there and his career in England was kickstarted by a loan move to Plymouth in January 2020, scoring seven goals in 13 games as they were promoted from League Two.
Last season, he started on loan again and made the move permanent in January.
He says that the security of the move and getting his young family settled has helped.
“I think family’s a massive reason. I’ve got a wee boy that’s just turned one so we got him down here straight away when I came on loan and when we made it permanent in January last year it was just a bit of security as to where we were going to be for another two and a half years,” said Hardie.
“It gave me the confidence that I would be playing here next season instead of worrying where I’m going to be if we need to move again.
“It’s all about keeping the family happy. They’re settled here and that makes a massive difference to me on the pitch.”
Plymouth notably knocked the Brewers out of their stride in the first half last week and went top of League One with their win.
“There’s a special thing going on inside the club and every single player and every single person and member of staff is on board with it,” said Hardie.
“The way we play football is different to a lot of teams in the league. We’ve got our own style and we impose that on them and other teams need to change.
“We’re top of the league but there’s only 11 games gone, so it’s nice being there at the minute but the ultimate aim is to keep ticking off each game one-by-one and keep seeing where it takes us.”