Every New Year I used to come up to Helensburgh to see grandad and my family. It made me feel like a true Scot
SCOTLAND
HAD HE known, Alex McLeish could have saved himself a confrontation with the Beast from the East. The Scotland boss could have kept the car in the driveway, put the snow shovel back in the boot and turned up the central heating.
Safe in the knowledge that Scott McTominay never really had any intention of playing for England anyway.
The matter was settled even before McLeish had battled his way through the worst storm in living memory to sit down with the midfielder in Jose Mourinho’s office at the Manchester United training ground in early March. McTominay’s accent is Lancastrian. Strong, broad and unmistakably northern. But the bloodline and identity is defiantly Caledonian, his allegiances settled during childhood New Year visits to his grandparents on the Firth of Clyde.
‘I used to come up to Helensburgh every New Year,’ revealed one of the rising stars of the British game.
‘I’d go up and see my family, my aunties, uncles, my grandparents and everyone else who lives there.
‘That was where my dad was brought up. It’s a place that holds really heavy in my heart.
‘Every time I go up, the people are really friendly.
‘My grandad (Frank) is 83. Whenever I was growing up, my dad went to every single match and my grandad would come to the Nike Cup (global youth tournament). All my family were interested — but they were the main driving force.’
Finding its way into popular folklore is the myth that McTominay only qualifies for Scotland via the grandparent rule. Yet his father was born and brought up in Helensburgh.
When the player confirmed his intention to play for Scotland against Costa Rica in March, there was a bizarre outburst from Charlie Nicholas, who queried the apparent right of a 21-year-old with an English birth certificate and Coronation Street accent to don a dark blue jersey.
Yet McTominay insisted: ‘My mum’s family also have some Scottish in them. It was great and so important for my grandad to see me play for Scotland.
‘It was never really a decision in my eyes.
‘I was desperate to play for Scotland and to play as many games as I can.
‘I just want to make all my family in Helensburgh proud.
‘I spoke with my grandad when I was younger and it would have been a dream for him to see me play for Scotland.
‘For him to see me win my cap against Costa Rica was an unbelievable experience.
‘It was one of the proudest moments of my life and hopefully he can have lots more happy memories of me playing for Scotland.’
Even now people can’t quite believe he did it. England manager Gareth Southgate sent a text message seeking a meeting, the obvious carrot of a potential appearance in this summer’s World Cup finals in Russia dangling before a player who made 24 appearances for Manchester United this season — and finished the campaign being singled out by Mourinho for a special award at the club’s Player of the Season dinner. Yet here he is, speaking to
Sportsmail in the lobby of a plush hotel in Peru’s capital Lima in a dark blue training top.
The SFA’s decision to travel halfway round the planet at the end of a long season to act as a warm-up act for Peru and Mexico has drawn heavy — and justified — criticism. Players have been falling over themselves to find an excuse to dissasociate themselves from the whole business.
Yet McTominay seems genuinely delighted to be here, a childlike thrill in his voice as he discusses playing for the country he regards as his own.
‘For sure I want to be here,’ he insisted. ‘The boys who have pulled out, I am sure it will be down to genuine reasons.
‘It has been a long campaign for a lot of the boys. But I am a young lad, I want to keep going, I don’t want to stop. Playing football is the main thing for me, I love it and you have to keep it going.’
At a young age he was earmarked for Scotland duty by a man with a strongly persuasive touch.
‘I was in the development centres. I was in and around The Cliff (training ground) at the time and Sir Alex Ferguson was there and spoke to my dad.
‘There was a time at the Munich memorial where he pulled me aside and told me: “Make sure you do play for Scotland!”
Physically, McTominay appeared to fit a very Scottish mould.
At the beginning of 2015 aged 18, he was just 5ft 6ins tall.
By the end of the year he was 6ft 4in, a remarkable growth spurt literally stretching his body to the limit. His progress since then has been no coincidence. Scottish midfielders with the physical and mental attributes to keep £89million Paul Pogba out of the Manchester United first team are hardly queuing down the steps of Hampden.
A player making up for lost time, McTominay admitted: ‘I feel over the last four years I’ve missed a lot of games. From Under-16s to 18s I was feeling different things in my groin.
‘From 16 to 19, I wasn’t in a state to be competing with men. ‘I was smaller and shorter. ‘My body was all over the place, but as I got older I started to adapt to my body.
‘The last two years is where I have played centre midfield and played a lot of matches.
‘I have progressed at a rate I am happy with. I am more of a man than I was this time last year.’
Fame cast on his young shoulders, he takes it all in his stride.
Scotland are using training facilities at an international school in Lima, a vast city where diesel fumes cast a permanent cloud over ramshackle buildings.
Last Friday the Manchester United man was the player the kids were there to see. His was the autograph they all wanted.
‘I feel there has always been pressure on me,’ he shrugged. ‘Through Manchester United’s academy from 16s to 21s — and the pressure is even bigger going into the first team. Thousands of people are watching you in every match and, as I’ve got older, I have got better with dealing with it.
‘Manchester United is a massive organisation. It’s the same with Scotland.
‘People are interested in me because I’m a Manchester United player.
‘I tend not to think about it as much as some other boys might do.’
The attention reached its apex before his Scotland debut against Costa Rica.
After weeks of hype and expectation, McTominay failed to appear for the second half of a dismal 1-0 defeat and some wondered if he’d bother coming back.
Yet, meeting Scottish journalists for the first time in Peru, his path seems set. Gently guided by Mourinho, a manager fast becoming a father figure.
‘My manager from Manchester United was up for the Costa Rica game and he was delighted to see
one of his boys making his international debut, so he was pleased.
‘He is a top, top manager and the things he has done for me have been incredible this season. I want to thank him.
‘I didn’t want to say it on television or interviews but it is important to make sure he knows I am thankful to him for the chance he has given me.
‘You have to appreciate everything you have.
‘You have to be confident in your own ability in everything you do.
‘From playing with my primary school and then to Manchester United for all those years I have had to be confident.
‘You have to be confident you can make an impression on people and that has been an important thing for me.
‘I have real good friends and a tight network group who got me through those bad times I had.
‘Now things are looking up and it is good for them — the people there for you through the good and the bad.’