TIER SCOT ON FOR TON
Evra axed after ban
From Back Page game in charge he believes those decisions will become a legacy of his 90-minute tenure.
Dalglish won 102 caps and Mackay is convinced Tierney can match that tally and go beyond it.
He said: “If he stays injury free and keeps to the progression I have seen in the last couple of years then without a doubt he can win over 100 caps. He has got an attitude to die for.
“I think he just follows Scott Brown around at Parkhead. The attitude he has, the mentality, is the same. He just eats, sleeps and breathes football.
“He was Celtic’s left-back against Bayern Munich. I asked him to play out of position at left side centre-back.
“He immediately said, ‘Of course’. I said to him, ‘How do you fancy captaining your country?’.
“You could see the smile ear to ear and immediately he said, ‘Of course’.
“He carried that out as if it was an Under-23 game in terms of his demeanour. He can captain for Scotland for 10 years. I saw it on Thursday night. He played against top players and was just so calm. I had no doubts the minute Brown got injured he would be my captain.”
Mackay is convinced Tierney’s near faultless display in a 1-0 defeat against the Dutch has provided the next Scotland manager with a potential answer to the long-running riddle that undermined Gordon Strachan’s four and a half years in charge.
He said: “At his club Tierney is obviously the left-back and does so well for Celtic.
“With Scotland we have a terrific left-back, a roving left-back. Let’s just say our strength in depth at centre-back is not what it should be.
“We have somebody like him who embraced it so well when I asked him to do it – and even more when I asked him to be captain. We have a leftsided centre-back who is quick, aggressive, athletic and steps with the ball so comfortably. Why not?”
As for Mackay he will now step back into his desk job as the SFA’s performance director.
He added: “I am proud and honoured to have not only managed the team against Holland but to have managed them to a performance like that – and to have a group of players who have done their country proud.” From Back Page be sent off before a Europa League game when he attacked a Marseille fan at Portugal’s Vitoria Guimaraes, left, after abuse from sections of his own support. UEFA yesterday banned him until June 30, 2018 and fined him €10,000 (£8829).
The Ligue 1 club then terminated his contract for his “irreparable act”.
Evra joined Marseille from Juventus in January and had a contract until the end of the season.