Declan’s dizzying rise to stardom reaches a whole new high
LIFE-CHANGING. There’s no hint of overstatement as Declan Gallagher sums up the gravity of his achievement in helping Scotland to qualify for Euro 2020. Tomorrow marks a year to the day since the Motherwell defender made his Scotland debut in a win over Cyprus in Nicosia. Before earning his surprise call-up to the national team, his career highs stretched to a couple of promotions from Scotland’s second tier.
After a history-making shift in Belgrade on Thursday night, he has now exceeded his most outlandish expectations by helping his country qualify for its first major finals in over two decades.
There may have been no fans there to see it but the squad partied like it was 1998. From an on-field huddle through dressing-room boogie to a conga line back at the team hotel, Gallagher had never experienced anything like it.
‘I’ve had celebrations before, the biggest one for me was probably earning promotion to the Premiership with Livingston and also winning the Championship with Dundee,’ says Gallagher. ‘This has blown all that out of the water. Twenty-two years, it’s unbelievable.’
The 29-year-old happily admits he’s far from the most glamorous name at Steve Clarke’s disposal. If the team was selected on the basis of market value he would struggle to make the bench but, fortunately, Clarke does not pick players on price tag or reputation.
As he chewed over the options to staff his back five for the play-off final against Serbia on Thursday, the national coach had the luxury of choosing Andy Robertson, Kieran Tierney and Scott McTominay, each a regular at one of England’s elite clubs.
To augment them he could have gone for Liam Cooper, a Premier League captain with Leeds United, or Nottingham Forest’s new £3million signing Scott McKenna.
Instead he plumped for Gallagher, with his clubmate Stephen O’Donnell making up the contingent at right wing-back.
‘Scotty has got his move to Nottingham Forest, Coop is the Leeds captain,’ says Gallagher. ‘They are two great players. To be picked ahead of them is a massive honour and it feels great that the manager trusts me enough to do that.
‘I was happy I could repay him with such a good performance. That’s me six unbeaten in all my appearances and the team is on a nine-game unbeaten run.’
From Craig Levein’s complaints regarding the quality of available player to Gordon Strachan’s ill-considered comments on genetics, previous Scotland managers have tended to explain qualification failure through the unfortunate habit of talking down the country’s footballers.
Clarke, in contrast, trusts his own organisational skills to mould what is at his disposal into an effective unit.
If that means pulling in Andy Considine from nowhere to earn his first cap at 33 or tasking Gallagher to sit between surrogate centre-backs like McTominay and Tierney then he will do it.
The blend in midfield has been equally effective, with Rangers’ Ryan Jack excelling as a screener and providing a platform for his Celtic counterpart Callum McGregor to enjoy his finest hour in a Scotland jersey in Belgrade.
Higher still, Ryan Christie foraged with purpose around target man Lyndon Dykes, another Livingston alumni who has scaled new heights in a Scotland shirt.
Underpinning it all is a sense of camaraderie, a union of equals where club colours and wage slips are rendered an irrelevance.
‘When you look at the back five on Thursday it was Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United and two Motherwell players!’ chuckles Gallagher.
‘But, to be fair, it meant as much to each of those guys as it did to me and Stephen.
‘Regardless of who we play for at club level, this was huge and I think you could tell that from the celebrations at the end of the game. You saw the emotion from Ryan Christie, Scott McTominay. ‘Everybody just wanted it so much.
‘To get there and get over the finish line to a major tournament is massive, such a great achievement for Scotland — we are back to being a proud nation again. ‘Sometimes there is a wee bit of negativity around Scotland simply because we haven’t reached a finals in so long. People fall into the trap of thinking everyone is better than us. ‘It happened with Serbia, a lot of people looked at their quality and who their players play for. But look at our team —
three of the defence play for some of the biggest clubs in England.
‘John McGinn plays at a top Premier League club and then you have Callum McGregor and Ryan Jack who play for the top teams in Scotland.
‘So, realistically, our team is as strong if not stronger than the Serbian team.
‘I think we have proved now that we can compete against some of the best teams in the world.’
Charged with shackling Serbia’s prolific target man Aleksandar Mitrovic (36 goals from 60 caps), Gallagher had one of the most exacting tasks of any Scotland player. Handed such a specific brief, he simply locked on to the muscular Fulham striker and refused to let go.
‘I enjoyed the battle,’ he says. ‘Every defender has their preferences — some like playing against pacy players, others against forwards that like to drop in.
‘Me, I prefer the physical battle. Mitrovic is a strong boy and obviously getting that booking early on didn’t help me too much.’
That first-half card, flashed after a routine aerial tussle with Mitrovic, prompted an unusual half-time incident in which Spanish referee Antonio Mateu Lopez approached
Gallagher with an admission. ‘The ref did say to me at half-time that he had made an error,’ continued the defender. ‘I have never experienced that before, a ref actually telling me that he was wrong, but he had obviously watched it back.
‘So when he penalised me for another header — which I also thought I won fairly — he just gave me a speaking to.
‘I think I got a bit of leeway from him, but it was hard. I had to be able to get touch tight to Mitrovic but, at the same time, make sure I wasn’t committing any daft fouls.
‘Even at half-time there is another 45 minutes to play and I knew I was on that yellow. Then it goes to extra-time… I had to be careful but I loved the battle and I’m just happy I came out victorious.’
By the time Mitrovic got his first proper sight of David Marshall’s goal, he had no Gallagher for company, merely the burden of striking the penalty needed to keep Serbia in the competition.
Kenny McLean, who’d just tucked away his own spot-kick to give Scotland the advantage, predicted what was to follow.
Gallagher reveals: ‘Watching the shoot-out was nerve-wracking but
Kenny’s first words when he came back were: “Marshy’s saving this one, I’m getting ready to run!”
‘That’s exactly what happened. Kenny was halfway there before the rest of us because he knew it was going to be a save.
‘It was amazing just to see Marshy saving it. Unbelievable and oh what a night it was.’
As someone who has battled adversity since being freed by Celtic as a youngster, Gallagher has specialised in overcoming the odds.
Jailed for a serious assault during his first spell at Livingston in 2015, he could easily have been lost to the game altogether. Instead he absorbed his punishment, stayed fit and rebuilt his career.
Given the job he did on Mitrovic the other night — and his general consistency at this level — it’s not inconceivable that a big move could transpire.
Regardless, 2021 is shaping up to be something special.
In addition to the birth of his second child, due in February, he has a major tournament to look forward to, one that will see Scotland make history at Hampden and Wembley.
Scotland’s recent record against both the Czech Republic and Croatia is decent, while the prospect of facing Gareth Southgate’s England in London evokes memories of Leigh Griffiths’ two free-kicks in 2017.
‘Hopefully we will have fans in for those games but we will be underdogs in every game we play at the Euros,’ reasons Gallagher.
‘The England game is the one everyone wants to watch. It’s the rivals. You saw what happened last time we played them, the 2-2 game with Griff’s free-kicks. We will go into the England game confident and feeling we have nothing to lose.
‘I have a wee boy due in February, which is something else to look forward to. With the games so close to home, I’ll hopefully be able to spend a lot of time with my newborn in the build-up. That will be good.
‘Already this is life-changing for me. It’s just amazing. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would ever see a major tournament with my country. Here we are, we have just qualified and I don’t think it has even sunk in yet. It’s a career high. It won’t get much better than this.’
Don’t bet against Gallagher finding new ways to overachieve next summer.
‘THE REF TOLD ME AT HALF-TIME THAT HE’D MADE AN ERROR, SO I DID GET A
BIT OF LEEWAY’