RISE OF THE SUPERMACS!
McTominay: I dreamed of cap call
MANCHESTER UNITED midfielder Scott McTominay admits he will be fulfilling a childhood dream when he makes his senior Scotland debut. Alex McLeish travelled to United’s Carrington HQ earlier this month to hold crunch talks with the 21-year-old, who was also being courted by England. McTominay, who was born in Lancaster to a Scottish father, has burst on to the scene at Old Trafford this season, at times keeping £89million Paul Pogba out of Jose Mourinho’s side. Despite interest from Gareth Southgate, McTominay’s meeting with McLeish was short and sweet
as his international allegiance always lay with Scotland. After being named in McLeish’s first squad of his second spell as Scotland boss, he is set to play against Costa Rica at Hampden on Friday before the team face Hungary next Tuesday. ‘The manager (McLeish) travelled a hell of a long way to come and speak to me and I have to thank him for that,’ said McTominay. ‘But the conversation was relatively simple — I wanted to play for Scotland and always have done since I was a young boy. ‘It was an incredibly proud moment when he did call me up. My dad (Frank) was tremendously proud of me and so were the rest of my family. It’s a big honour to come here with the Scotland national team. That’s what you work for your whole life, from when you’re a young kid. I have to thank Alex McLeish for giving me an opportunity and to hopefully show people what I can do.’ Earlier this month, McTominay posted a picture on social media showing him training with the Scotland youth team at 18. He was delighted to be reunited with a familiar face when McLeish’s full squad met on Sunday in a hotel near Edinburgh. ‘I’ve a lot of good memories from that Scotland training camp,’ he said. ‘Oli McBurnie, who is also in the squad, was there and so was George Byers, who is doing really well at Swansea. There were familiar faces like Ricky Sbragia and John Collins. Hopefully, I see them again in the future.’ McTominay also revealed his admiration for Scotland and former Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher, now at Stoke City. ‘I trained with Darren a couple of times at United and I looked to him as a real role model and leader,’ he explained. ‘When we played Stoke earlier this season I spoke with him. He was really good, telling me to keep working hard and looking to improve. That’s the message I also get every day from the manager (Mourinho) and from Alex McLeish.’ Meanwhile, ex-Manchester United and Scotland star Brian McClair has praised McLeish for going the extra mile to get McTominay, compared to the text sent to the youngster by Southgate. McClair said: ‘Alex made a huge effort getting to Carrington to meet up with him, because it was in the middle of the bad weather we had. He made it, put a case. Gareth Southgate sent him a text.’ Former SFA performance director McClair, who worked with McTominay at United’s youth academy, first recommended him to Scotland’s youth teams and now backs him to establish himself as a full international. ‘As far as I can remember, his gran’s got a farm in Stranraer. When I found that out, I was always pushing him (to play for Scotland),’ said McClair. ‘I’m looking forward to seeing how he deals with the national game.’