Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Saints manager can understand the talk of Rooney for Scotland
THE Shaun Rooney for Scotland calls have started on the back of the St Johnstone defender’s Hampden heroics.
And his club manager can understand why.
The former Inverness Caley Thistle full-back followed up his Betfred Cup quarter and semi-final goals with another one to settle Sunday’s final against Livingston.
And with national coach Steve Clarke favouring the same rearguard formation as himself, Callum Davidson agrees that Rooney is a possible contender for a call-up to fill a position Scotland don’t have strength in depth at.
“Shaun effects games,” said the Saints boss.
“To score in the quarterfinal, the semi and the final is a remarkable achievement, particularly for a right wing-back.
“Shaun has unbelievable enthusiasm. He’s a great athlete and he is still learning.
“He is Scottish and Scotland are looking at that position.
“So potentially he can go on and fill the right wingback or centre-back role for the national team.
“They are two different positions but in the systems we have played he has adapted well.”
Scoring the winning goal in a cup final and being the subject of Scotland Euro 2020 talk represents a stunning transformation for a footballer who wasn’t even a St Johnstone firstchoice just a couple of months ago.
“Shaun had to be patient to get his chance because Danny (McNamara) was playing so well for us,” said Davidson.
“And he did extra work when he wasn’t playing to make sure he was ready.
“I want competition for places. That’s why James Brown came up from
Millwall when Danny went back.
“Like Shaun, he is now having to be patient because of how well Shaun is playing.”
As well as he played in his one start against Rangers, Brown wouldn’t have had a realistic expectation of being selected at the weekend.
However, it would have been different for the likes of Guy Melamed, Scott Tanser and Craig Bryson.
“Telling some players they weren’t starting was probably the hardest thing I have had to do,” said Davidson.
“I just felt the formation was right for the game. That dictated my team selection.
“I knew they would be disappointed. I was a player myself and all I could do was try to be honest with them.
“Obviously they weren’t happy about it but their attitude was spot-on and professional, as I would have expected.”
Picking Murray Davidson was not an option after the midfielder’s calf injury setback at the start of final week.
But no one deserved his medal more – and there was one spare as a result of Saints not filling their bench.
“It was an easy decision to list only eight substitutes because that’s the size of our squad,” said Davidson.
“They were picked on the basis of who could come on and impact the game.”
He added: “Murray deserved his medal. He has been a massive part of this club over the years and played a huge role in getting us to the final.
“It was only right for him to pick up a medal on Sunday.”