Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
To face fellow heat of battle
part of my decision to come to Tannadice. I thought it was something that would maybe come a bit later in the Premiership but thankfully it came this season and I got the opportunity to play for my country.”
Asked how much he felt he has improved over the course of the season, he said: “I’d played in the Championship with Ayr United but there were question marks over me when I moved to United.
“United are a big club and people were looking to see if I could produce again. Thankfully enough I managed to do that.
“I don’t enjoy proving people wrong. I just like proving myself right. I know what I can do. I know where I believe I can go in the game and I know my own ambitions – which I will keep to myself.
“I believe in myself.”
Shankland now hopes to convert Premiership audiences into believers, too – and he reiterated his enthusiasm for remaining with United, despite the likelihood of transfer interest from elsewhere.
“When I came I signed for three years and part of the plan was to get the club back to the Premiership and to be a part of it,” he said.
“That’s been my objective from the off. We’ve done the first part of it, getting to the Premiership, and I’m looking forward to the challenge of giving it a go.
“First and foremost the club has been in the Championship for longer than anticipated, so the first objective is to secure our place in the Premiership in our first season back.
“That will be the first thing. If we get that job done early doors then we can start looking up the table.
“But, for me, realistically you need to make sure the club is secured as a Premiership club again. It would be a disaster if the club went up and came straight back down.
“If we can get it done early doors then maybe we can look up the table and at sneaking into the top six or even better. We will see how we get on.”