HAN’S SOLE FOCUS
Grant won’t let Ukraine plight distract him from job in hand
The phrase ‘ no- nonsense centre-half’ might have been coined with Grant Hanley in mind. If it wasn’t, then it should have been.
Because rarely in the game will you come across a player who is as focused on the job in hand.
Nothing else, other than playing and winning, matters.
He doesn’t do fuss or fluff.
He knows he’s not the world’s best defender. And no one will be hurting more in Norwich City’s dressing-room at their Premier League relegation than him.
But now that it’s done, it’s on to the next one ... playing for Scotland and qualifying for the World Cup.
Hanley interrupted a family break in Spain to talk about the monumental play-off tie against Ukraine at Hampden on Wednesday night.
There will be plenty of hype in the build-up to it. The pressure and tension at the stadium will be immense, with a final against Wales at stake.
But Hanley is too old and wise to get involved in any of that.
He’s as straight as a die, with nothing likely to distract him from putting in a performance for Steve Clarke’s side.
The type of performance that has made him a first-pick for the manager in this exciting new era for the national team.
A few years ago, he was struggling to make the squad. Now, the Tartan Army wouldn’t have a Scotland starting line-up without his name on it.
If he plays in every game between now and the 2022 World Cup, he’ll get his landmark 50th cap in Qatar.
His first was against Wales in 2011. He also got his first goal for his country against the same opposition nine years ago. But unsurprisingly Hanley doesn’t do omens or superstition.
He just wants to squeeze everything he can out of his career – and that starts by beating Ukraine.
He said: “I would just like to rack up as many caps as I can. Physically, I feel in a good place after a couple of years where I struggled with injury.
“People can do the maths and that might happen (get 50th cap in Qatar).
“But my mindset is just on the Ukraine game just now.
“As for Wales, if you know me you’ll know I’m not a big believer in that kind of stuff.
“I like to keep things simple. My focus is purely on Ukraine. I’ve never looked at goals or tried to tick boxes in my career.
“But playing at a World Cup is one of them. Playing at the Euros last summer was a massive achievement for me, the rest of the lads and the nation as a whole.
“The next step for us all now is to try to qualify for this World Cup which would be huge for everybody. But you can’t look too far ahead of yourself.
“I know it’s a cliche but it’s true. If you start thinking about what is coming up you end up getting slapped in the face.”
Seeing off a Ukrainian side united in grief and adversity won’t be easy for
Scotland. And doing it without Hanley’s sidekick at the back Kieran Tierney makes it an even tougher proposition.
But, again, Hanley refuses to get bogged down in details.
He’s convinced Tierney’s replacement – whoever he might be – will be capable of doing the job.
He said: “To lose a player of KT’s quality at any level – club or national team – it’s a blow. Arsenal have felt that as well.
“But we’ve got a big squad with a lot of players in there now.
“So there are guys there to step in and take their chance when it comes.
“We’ve got a number of boys who can play in that position which is a massive help to us.
“But right now it’s the same all over the park with
Scot land, which is probably why we’ve had a successful run. The manager has bodies and quality to choose from.
“We ’ re conf ident .
We’ve been relatively successful for Scotland in recent times and we’ll try to use that to our advantage to get through these ties.”
Hanley is now one of the key senior players in
Clarke’s dressing-room.
A leader, a captain at his club, and an
important figure in helping the likes of Nathan Patterson, Billy Gilmour and Jack Hendry to flourish.
But as understated as ever, Hanley says these boys have the resilience – and ability – to look after themselves.
He said: “It’s not something you do consciously, it just comes naturally as an experienced player.
“When you go through your career and gain that experience, very quickly you’re one of the older lads in the squad.
“So you do have that wee bit of extra responsibility to help the younger ones.
“I was lucky as a youngster coming into the Scotland set-up that I had a lot of good pros to learn from.
“Russell Martin was massive for me. Darren Fletcher and Scott Brown were also good. I’m wary of leaving people out because
there were loads of lads who’d been there and done it when I got in the squad.
“It’s important for young players to have that. But a lot of these boys now are selected for their country for a reason. “It’s because they’ve got the quality and mentality. So they probably don’t need as much of an arm around the shoulder as you might think.
“These boys are confident enough and mentally strong enough to step in and play on these sorts of occasions, like Wednesday night. They’re doing it at club and international level.”
And they’ll need to be at the top of their game at Hampden if they want to move one step closer to Qatar. It will be an emotionally- charged night given the conflict that’s still going on in Ukraine. But in typical Hanley fashion, he says the biggest respect Scotland can pay their opponents is to go and beat them.
He said: “The last game was postponed and we had a friendly where there was a lot of money raised for the people in Ukraine after what happened. “That was the right thing for us to do at the time. But now the focus for us has to be on football. “We’ l l be prepared properly, as we always are, to go and win the game. “That’s the only outcome we would eve r want.”
I’ve never been one to tick boxes but playing at a World Cup is one of them