‘I want to stay. I don’t think there’s a ceiling here, you can go right to the top’
HE remembers the moment well. When the burden on his shoulders could be measured to the last ounce unlike the indeterminate weight of expectation that would follow further down the line.
Freed by Aberdeen as a teenager in May 2011, Scott Bain took to the building sites of Edinburgh to fill his pockets with a few quid and keep his quest of keeping goal on a full-time basis flickering.
To be clear, it was no life of misery. If training twice a week and playing with Alloa at the weekend were the undoubted highlights of it, labouring by day was an acceptable if monotonous means to an end as opposed to a source of endless sufferance.
But who wouldn’t have hoped to ease off on the manual labour — especially when others around him recognised talent commensurate with many goalkeepers playing at the top end of the game?
‘I worked at a site that wasn’t too far from where I stayed,’ recalled Bain.
‘I used to work from eight to four, Monday to Friday. On a Tuesday and Thursday, I would also go to Alloa and train from seven to half-nine.
‘I would be back home about half-ten, go to bed and be up the next day for another eight to four.
‘I actually really enjoyed it and it stood me in good stead.
‘I was a labourer for the first year and in the second year, I helped out two boys with building kits for houses. I really enjoyed that — apart from the winter.’
Blessed with an enviable laissez-faire demeanour, Bain’s stopgap option soon threatened to become his career of choice.
The wake-up call he needed to extricate himself from what he knows to be real life probably came not a moment too soon.
‘I think it was three days in and we did a big joinery job on a Cala Homes site — five, sixbedroomed houses — and the forklift driver brought over a pallet of plasterboard sheets. There were 72 sheets on a pallet,’ he explained.
‘I had to load them into the house. I did that and I thought I was done for the day. But then the forklift driver told me there were another four pallets to be sorted!
‘At that point, I’m thinking: “Nah, this isn’t for me”. ‘I actually loaded the flat I’m in now with plasterboard sheets. So I can go round to tell them what I think of the joinery work and get my dad to fix any problems.’
The influence of Paul Hartley in getting Bain to where he is today is hard to overstate.
His manager at Alloa during a romp through the lower leagues, Hartley made Bain’s signing for Dundee on a fulltime basis his priority in 2014.
‘You have to try to make the most of it,’ said Bain. ‘You don’t know how long it’s going to last, do you?’
The answer to that question is just over three years. Hartley’s sacking by
Dundee last April opened the door for Neil mcCann.
Despite public denials of a bust-up between the pair, Bain’s appearance on the bench for the club’s development squad after a home defeat to Hamilton did not suggest much bonhomie between them. There was to be no way back.
‘It was difficult at Dundee,’ admitted Bain. ‘I’m not going to lie. When I knew my contract was coming to an end this season, I thought if I was still at Dundee, then it would be hard to get another club because you’re forgotten about quickly in football.’
Salvation, of sorts, came by way of a loan deal to Hibs. Signed by Neil Lennon to apply pressure to ofir marciano, Bain did his job.
If the fact he did so without playing a single minute at easter road was frustrating, payback came by the fact he was still eligible under FIFA rules to move on loan to Celtic after Craig Gordon’s injury.
Initially behind Dorus de Vries, Bain concedes he felt he might have been making up the numbers.
‘It did go through my mind a bit,’ said the 26-year-old. ‘But Celtic wanted me to come and that was a big confidence boost.
‘I think once you get your chance, you just need to enjoy it and try to take it.’
The chance came in the most extraordinary of circumstances.
An ankle injury to de Vries in training necessitated rodgers phoning Bain on the morning of the game against rangers at Ibrox earlier this month to tell him he was making his debut. others may have felt like drawing the covers over their heads.
‘It was the next level from anything else I’ve experienced,’ he insisted.
‘I just went and enjoyed the game. I thought it might never happen again — so I had to enjoy it.’
That match proved to be a career-affirming experience. Bain conceded two goals that day, the first after only three minutes, but thwarted rangers on many more occasions. The resultant fall-out has been felt 40 miles away.
‘It’s been mad,’ he said. ‘I stay in edinburgh and it’s not as big as Glasgow. But a lot of people recognise you and speak to you. The support I’ve had from the fans has been incredible.’
Bain admits to being pleasantly surprised with how he’s handled that extraordinary start to life at Celtic.
‘A little bit,’ he said. ‘But I’ve always been quite laid-back over things in terms of games and crowds.
‘I think I just have it naturally. obviously, it got tested when I was at Dundee. It probably helped a little bit that I was managing to get through it.’
The more significant vote of confidence came next time out at Fir Park, with Bain selected ahead of a fit-again De Vries.
‘I came in, did really well and it’s hard for the manager to change the team,’ he said.
‘But I have to thank him that he stood by me and it was another boost to my confidence that he believes in my ability.’
Despite never selecting him ahead of marciano, Lennon is on record as stating he would still like to see Bain play for Hibs. rodgers and the player clearly have other ideas.
‘I want to stay at Celtic. I love it here,’ added the goalkeeper.
‘I can reach my full potential here. I don’t think there’s a ceiling at this club. You can go as high as you can possibly go, working with the staff, the manager, Woodsy (Stevie Woods) and the other keepers.’