‘Gilmour wants to be the best - like Souness’

ARCHIE Gemmill, Scotland great and scorer of that goal against the Netherlands in the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, has never been especially forthcoming or insightful on the rare occasions that his son Scot has quizzed him about his playing days.

His insight into the mindset of the outstanding footballers he shared a dressing room with on the 43 occasions that he represented his country, though, recently proved enlightening.

Billy Gilmour, who has become the most talked about player in British game this month as the result of his man of the match-winning displays for Chelsea in their wins over Liverpool and Everton, caused jaws to drop when he was asked what his ultimate objective in the game was last year.

“I want to be the best player in the world,” he said with atypical ambition for a Scot when he was interviewed by the Football Daft podcast.

Yet, Gemmill Jnr, who yesterday named Gilmour in the Scotland Under-21 squad for the European Championship qualifiers against Croatia and Greece this month, knows that many of his illustrious predecessors shared that exact same desire.

“It is interesting,” he said. “I was doing some work for the SFA and we were speaking about the mentality of the players. I actually don’t speak to my dad about my work too much, but I did speak to him in this regard because his generation are perceived as very good.

“I said to him: ‘Think back to when you were playing with so many famous players. What was the mentality of the players and the team?’ He is hopeless with information like that.

“But the one thing he did say that resonates with me is that guys like Kenny Dalglish and Graeme Souness and himself too, in fact the entire dressing room, were sitting there before the game thinking in their heads that they were going

It shows his hunger and his ambition – it’s exciting to see

to be the best player. They wanted to be the best player out there.”

Gemmill added: “A few people would say that Billy was immature with what he said, but others would say that it shows his hunger and his ambition and there would be people in both sides.

“But there is a real resonance for me when I hear someone say something like that because I am also hearing it from my father who mirrored that mentality with the greats of Scottish football.

“That era had every player wanting to be the best player and weren’t happy if they weren’t the best player, no matter who they were playing.”

Gemmill, who appreciates that Steve Clarke may call up Gilmour for the full Scotland squad for the Euro 2020 playoff semi-final against Israel, has been as pleased as any of his compatriots to see Gilmour finally fulfil his huge potential, break into the first team at Stamford Bridge and perform well.

“It’s exciting and it’s what we all want to see,” he said. “Historically, people ask, where are all the young players and what is possible? Well, we have a player who’s actually doing it and confirming his talent which is really exciting.

“Hopefully he’s just enjoying the moment. He should be enjoying the moment. With regards to a Scotland call-up, it’s the same for every player historically. If you do well for your club then international football comes.

“Hopefully he’s just concentrating on his next game.”