Robertson hoping to get green light to return home

Former Rangers and Aberdeen defender David Robertson is hopeful there is “light at the end of the tunnel” in his bid to return home to Scotland from Kashmir.

The British High Commission has been involved in trying to arrange permission for Robertson, wife Kym and son Mason, who plays for Real Kashmir, to leave India, which is currently on lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Robertson, who became head coach of Kashmir in

January 2017, is staying at a hotel run by Real co-owner Sandeep Chattoo and has been placed on standby as transit permits are being finalised.

It is hoped the Scotland cap and his family will be given the green light to fly from Amritsar back to the UK in the coming days.

Former Dunfermline, Falkirk and Partick Thistle attacker Kallum Higginbotham, who signed for Kashmir last summer, is also stranded in the disputed north Indian zone and is expected to join the Robertson family in heading home.

“The call really raised our spirits,” Robertson, who won six league titles and eight domestic cups with Aberdeen and Rangers and had a fourmonth spell in charge of Montrose in 2006, said of being placed on standby.

“Clearances are required to travel through state borders but hopefully in a few days that will be approved and possibly in the next week or so we can all finally get home.

“The not knowing was the real tough part but there is now light at the end of the tunnel.

“It was getting really tough for everyone. Day by day everybody was falling apart.

“Kallum has two young kids and a wife. Being so far away has been really difficult for him too.

“Our coaches Jimmy Lindsay and Jonathan Craig are desperate to get home as well.”

Robertson told BBC Scotland: “As you can imagine, everybody’s mental state wasn’t in great shape – and it was the not knowing if we were going to get out.”

David Robertson has bossed Real Kashmir since 2017.