THE BOYS ARE BACK IN BLUE

SCOTLAND Gordon Strachan is delighted to be able to call upon the services of three players who have returned all the stronger after their dark days. Graeme Macpherson reports

THE Scotland national team has become a finishing school for the restored and the rehabilitated. The evidence was presented in last month’s emphatic victory away to Malta and will be on display again on Saturday when Lithuania are the visitors for the opening home game of a World Cup qualifying campaign that many hope will conclude at the finals in Russia in two years’ time.

The rehabilitated is Robert Snodgrass. It would be stretching it – and also veering into the hypothetical – to say Scotland would have qualified for this summer’s European Championships had the Hull City forward not dislocated his kneecap, but their prospects would surely have been vastly enhanced. Instead, Snodgrass sat out the entire campaign, enduring a 15-month stint of soul-searching amid a long and laborious slog back to full fitness.

He is back now, however, and seemingly determined to make up for lost time, as his hat-trick against Malta underlined. James McFadden recently felt Snodgrass was the figure most likely to inherit his title of mercurial Tartan Army favourite and, in a squad filled with honest toilers but few entertainers, the 29-year-old seems ready to fill such a void. A downtrodden support crying out for a cult hero are pinning their hopes on Snodgrass being that man.

Gordon Strachan is a big fan too. A regular advocate of the need for a strong work ethic, the Scotland manager notes Snodgrass’ reported tough upbringing in Glasgow’s East End and sees a player who has fought and scrapped for all that life has given him. That the former Livingston player also possesses something of a gallus streak only endears him to Strachan more.

“Everything,” said the manager, in response to what he likes about Snodgrass. “He didn’t have an easy start in life and that’s character building. He didn’t come through easily, with everyone taking his hand and telling him he is great and wonderful, driven by car here and there, mum and dad in their fourwheel drive taking him everywhere.

“It was real his life, and where he has got to has been a real experience. When he had to deal with his knee injury because of the character-building thing, he was able to deal with it and now the knee injury has added to that character. He has come back and is playing the way he does. Not just for us, but for Hull.

“I think it was my first international here that he was sent off when we were 1-0 up and we got beat 2-1 and that shows you how important he is. He also scored in the Croatia game when we won over there, so he has been a big part of the squad. We like him about the place as well and saw him a lot when he was injured. He was always at the games. We liked that. There are small things a manager keeps in his mind, small things that can make a difference when I am picking a squad actually.

“We all know that he is tongue-incheek with a lot of things he does as well. There are a few players doing well at the moment but he is a big character and just as importantly he is a right good footballer who can play in different positions. He is everything I like about a player.”

Craig Gordon features among the restored. The goalkeeper is still behind David Marshall in the pecking order to be Strachan’s first choice, but having lost and then regained his place as Celtic’s No 1 this season, he has shown a determination not to simply settle for second best. Gordon’s reward was to make his Champions League debut in the 3-3 draw with Manchester City in midweek and Strachan was pleased to witness another positive turn in the career of a player who, like Snodgrass, had been previously sidelined by long-term injury.

“Craig has been tested by his injuries and has come back from another thing [being dropped],” added the manager. “To be out that long and have everybody think that he was dead and gone but come back is phenomenal.

“So, again you are tested mentally and physically in football but I think he is at the stage that he has done so much in his career that it is not a problem to him. We don’t like getting tested at times but we are delighted he has come through it.”

Another who has persevered is Barry Bannan. Now benefiting from regular club football at Sheffield Wednesday after years flitting in and out of teams, the midfielder was one of the stand-out performers against Malta. Strachan, who sees in Bannan a like-minded soul, is pleased things are finally paying off for the 26-year-old.

“People used to think years ago that crashing into tackles and sticking people up in the air was brave,” said Strachan. “It’s nothing like that. It’s actually being on the receiving end, being able to take those tackles and keep the ball. With Barry, 95 per cent of the time he gives you a ball that you can then do something with. You don’t have to tidy up after he gives you the ball.

“He asked me last year what he should do and I told him: ‘Just go play games of football’. And he went and did that. And I think he got voted into the PFA team of the year and that’s terrific.

“There were managers who thought I was a wee boy even at 32 because of my stature and the way I used to mess about. So he’s like me in that regard. I didn’t take myself seriously as a football player but I’ve always taken what I do seriously. And Barry is the same. He’s always laughing and joking around the place – and I love that – but the serious side comes when he’s asked to do a job on the training field and off it.” For the first time in a while, a quiet sense of optimism will imbue the Tartan Army as they make their way to Hampden next weekend but Strachan warned against taking Lithuania lightly. “Of course, the fans will expect us to beat Lithuania at Hampden. I understand that. But I think there’s an understanding from them now – because of YouTube and what they pick up in the media – of what’s actually happening. If you do your homework, you’ll appreciate that teams like Lithuania are actually not bad.”

To be out that long and have everybody think he was dead and gone, but come back is phenomenal