Glass can’t wait to shine against top-flight teams

DOU BL E t it le w i n ne r Declan Glass has admitted it has only begun to dawn on him that he is about to star on Scottish football’s biggest stage.

The 20-year-old Dundee United midfielder can’t wait to get back to pre-season training today with his now top-flight team-mates.

It has been a long and difficult lockdown for players – as it has for the rest of us – with Glass not immune to the mental and physical challenges posed by the coronavirus crisis.

Life won’t exactly go back to normal today when he returns to work, with social distancing restrictions in place on the park. However, it is a start.

With his boots polished and ready, it is only now that Glass is allowing himself to look forward to big matches against the best the Premiership has to offer.

He said: “To be honest, it’s been quite mentally draining because of all the restrictions and uncertainty. It’s the same with the other lads – we have all just done our best to deal with it.

“As we have gotten close to coming back for pre-season training, I have felt myself getting a lift by the prospect of kicking a ball properly again.

“Of course, I have been working away on my own and doing everything I can to stay fit but it’s not the same as training with your team-mates.

“That is why I am l ooking forward so much to getting back into training. It will still be strange because of all the restrictions but I’m excited.

“Only now have I started thinking about just how amazing it will be to be playing against teams like Celtic, Rangers and Aberdeen.

“Before we got word that we would be going back to train, it still felt like last season hadn’t quite finished in a way.

“Slowly but surely, it has begun to dawn on me that United are back where the club belongs.

“We definitely deserve to be back up and I am confident that we will do ourselves proud in the Premiership.

“Four years in the Championship was way too long for a club like ours and I know we will be a good addition to the top flight.”

Glass, of course, can claim to be