If I was Gordon I’d have no fears about throwing Kingsley in at Wembley SAYS ALEX SMITH
HE was the reason behind one of Scottish football’s most experienced coaches passing on the chance to sign a young — and free — Andy Robertson, last valued at £12million by Hull City.
And no less a figure than Thierry Henry, impressed by the way this young defender put the shackles on some of the world’s most dangerous attackers, has singled him out as one of the best and brightest in the British game
All things being equal, then, Gordon Strachan should have no qualms about naming 22-year-old Swansea City star Stephen Kingsley in his squad today, and then calling upon him to line up for the national team at Wembley next Friday night.
True, veteran boss and current Falkirk technical director Alex Smith still winces — only half jokingly — as he recalls Kingsley picking up a red card just moments into his second game for Falkirk.
However, having watched from the stands as he denied Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez breathing space in Swansea’s 2-1 win over Arsenal at the Emirates last season, Smith is convinced the boy has what it takes.
‘He has a good temperament,’ said Smith who, if he was Scotland boss, wouldn’t hesitate to start Kingsley following injuries to Robertson and Kieran Tierney.
‘Playing England at Wembley, he would be nervous like anybody else. But he has been to the Emirates and he played well when Swansea beat Arsenal 2-1.
‘Thierry Henry spoke about him afterwards on TV and said he was one of the best young players he’s seen in that position.
‘His second game for Falkirk was at Stirling Albion — and he’s from Stirling. He was on the bench and, with five or ten minutes to go we put him on.
‘He gets the ball from the goalie, plays it up to the striker, who loses possession. They get it and hit it back to where Stephen is.
‘The right winger from Stirling Albion takes possession of the ball and Stephen comes clattering in. Ball, man, everything, right out on to the track.
‘The referee produces a red card. He was only on the park a minute, in his home town, with his family sitting in the stand!’
Mercifully, that early setback wasn’t enough to prevent Kingsley from making a positive impact at Falkirk, as his ability at both left-back and centre-half persuaded Swansea to dip into the Scottish Championship for a player of obvious potential.
Smith, who won both the League Cup and Scottish Cup as manager of Aberdeen in the 1989-90 season — as well as lifting the Scottish Cup in 1987 with St Mirren — speaks with pride and admiration about a player who made his Scotland debut in last summer’s 3-0 friendly defeat to France.
And, if Strachan is willing to listen to advice from a real football man of enormous experience, he might find a way to play both Kingsley and Lee Wallace.
‘I’d have no worries at all about playing Stephen against England,’ said Smith. ‘I’d play him at left-back or left centre-half. He could be the answer there.
‘I know it’s Gordon’s area and I don’t want to intrude. But Lee Wallace could play at left centre-half for us, too. I think he’s a good enough defender to play there, he’s strong enough and he could break forward from that position.
‘Stephen really could play next week. He was in our academy from the age of nine, I think. I’m so proud of him because coming through that pathway is difficult, going from year to year and proving you’re good enough.
‘When I went to Arsenal to watch him, I was so pleased. He had 60-odd thousand watching him, and he was outstanding.’
Those who watched Kingsley coming through the Falkirk ranks are not surprised by anything he does. After all, Smith and his scouts put their faith in the youngster when they passed on Robertson.
‘We were sitting at Hampden, watching Queen’s Park,’ he recalled. ‘We were watching this winger when we saw Robertson at left-back — and what a player he was.
‘We had a chance to get him. But we decided: “No, we can’t bring him to Falkirk because we’ve got Stephen Kingsley, who has just broken into the first team at 17.”
‘So then Dundee United sign Robertson. He was always going to be a really good player, but we had that reason for not signing him. It shows you how much we thought of Kingsley.’
Alex Smith was inducted into the Hall of Fame at Hampden last weekend along with Stevie Chalmers, Jock Wallace, Gary McAllister and John Wark.
‘‘It’s Gordon’s area, but Stephen may be the answer for us’’