... from setbacks and shifts on building sites to Scotland’s No1, Bain is a slow-burning star GREAT SCOTT!
FOR the 602 hardy souls in attendance, Elgin City’s 2-0 loss at home to East Stirlingshire in August 2010 was a fairly unremarkable match.
Few, if any, at the Third Division encounter at Borough Briggs could have guessed that they were, in fact, seeing the first glimpse of a future Celtic and Scotland goalkeeper.
But it was not long before young Scott Bain had convinced all around him he was destined for the very top.
Sent on loan to Elgin for a season from Aberdeen, the 18-year-old learned his trade in the fourth tier of Scottish football.
Barry Wilson, the former Livingston, Inverness Caley Thistle and Ross County midfielder, played alongside Bain as his professional debut ended in defeat to the Shire nine years ago.
He is not surprised to see the 27-year-old now first choice at Parkhead and in pole position to replace the retired Allan McGregor as Scotland No1 when the Euro 2020 qualifiers kick off in Kazakhstan on Thursday night.
‘I don’t remember too much about his actual debut — but we all knew after two or three games at Elgin City that Scott was going to be a top keeper,’ Wilson told
Sportsmail yesterday. ‘I can’t recall a single blunder he made at Elgin, which is the biggest compliment you can pay a young keeper.
‘Scott commanded his box and, even at 18, he was excellent with his feet. Defenders quickly decide if they can trust you to handle firm backpasses — and they could do that with Scott.
‘They gave him the ball knowing he’d pick a pass out himself instead of just putting his boot through it. Scott settled fine at Elgin and, looking back, I’m sure he will think his spell on loan helped him.’ DESPITE impressing at Elgin, Bain was deemed surplus to requirements at Aberdeen. The added irony for the future Scotland keeper was he was let go by former national team boss Craig Brown in 2011. It may have been tough to take, but the early brush with adversity was to prove a blessing in disguise for the keeper.
‘I didn’t see it coming,’ Bain recalled recently.
‘At the time, I thought: “Oh, I’ll
get another deal here easy”. But it (being let go by Aberdeen) was probably the best thing that ever happened to me.’
Tossed on to the scrapheap by the Dons, Bain would end up working as a labourer as he rebuilt his career in the Third Division.
That happened under former Aberdeen team-mate Paul Hartley, who convinced him to go part-time at Alloa Athletic.
Two consecutive promotions followed and, when Hartley got the Dundee job, he made sure Bain followed him to Dens Park.
‘Scott Bain’s rise is incredible,’ Hartley said recently.
‘He’s an example to every young player that you can reach the top if you work hard enough.
‘I always knew he had massive talent. He just needed a chance to play games and pick up experience.
‘He agreed to sign and go parttime but he also had to get a job and, for the first two years at Alloa, he was working on building sites.
‘Scott would be carrying bits of chipboard up the stairs during the day and then training with us at night.
‘He worked hard and he was outstanding for Alloa. We were promoted from the fourth tier to the Championship and he got better every year.
‘When I got the Dundee job, I knew I wanted to take him with me and we paid around £30,000 to sign him. The step up to the Premiership didn’t faze him. He was excellent for Dundee when I was there.
‘I take great satisfaction in seeing a boy who had been written off at Aberdeen and has fought his way through the divisions becoming Celtic No 1 and now having a great chance to become Scotland No 1.’ BAIN’S 124-game Dundee career came to a sudden, shock end when he fell out with Hartley’s successor Neil McCann.
After a half-time bust-up in October 2017 during a 3-1 home loss to Hamilton, the keeper was fined two weeks’ wages and did not play for the Dark Blues again. But the spat with McCann kicked off a remarkable journey for Bain.
He signed on loan for Hibs on January 1, 2018, but did not play any games for the Easter Road side. Hibs agreed to cancel his contract and allow him to sign for Celtic just before the transfer window closed.
Soon he was hailing the ‘biggest win’ of his career after replacing the injured Dorus de Vries to start on his debut for Celtic in a 3-2 Old Firm win at Ibrox last March.
Bain went on to win the title, and the Scottish Cup. In May 2018, he became a permanent Celtic player, penning a four-year contract with the Scottish champions.
Declaring himself ‘the luckiest man in Scotland’, Bain insisted karma had been at play for himself and for McCann — who would be sacked by struggling Dundee five months later.
‘I think the two parties probably got what they deserved out of what was going on at Dundee,’ he said at the time.
‘Here’s me sitting here (having signed for Celtic) and them (Dundee) finishing a mediocre season.’ ONE month after signing permanently for Celtic, Bain’s remarkable journey reached 7,500ft above sea level when he made his Scotland debut at altitude in Mexico.
Replacing Jon McLaughlin at half-time, Bain represented his country in front of 80,000 in the iconic Azteca, making two superb saves within minutes of coming on and recording a personal clean sheet in his 45-minute cameo.
‘This season has probably summed up my whole career,’ he grinned after the 1-0 loss to a team that would reach the last 16 of the World Cup in Russia that summer.
‘It shows you can be thrown to the side and then, suddenly, you are on top of the world.’
Yet, when Craig Gordon excelled in Celtic’s 1-0 loss to Rangers at Ibrox in December, few expected Bain to be No 1 when the winter break was over.
But Brendan Rodgers gave the former Dundee keeper the nod and he has once again grasped his big opportunity with both hands.
Bain has started all 15 of Celtic’s matches so far in the second half of the season. He has conceded just two goals in their 13 domestic games and impressed in the club’s Europa League exit to Valencia.
Neil Lennon, who signed Bain for Hibs before returning to Celtic Park last month for a second spell as boss, has no doubts his keeper can handle the step-up to represent his country against Kazakhstan and San Marino.
‘It’s a brilliant opportunity for him,’ said Lennon.
‘He’s ready for it. I think he’s been exceptionally good for us over the past couple of months. I see an improvement in him. He has good composure, great agility and he’s excellent with his feet.
‘He has a chance now to make himself the Scotland No 1. It has been a meteoric rise for him. But he’s handled it extremely well.
‘If he gets the opportunity, I’m sure he won’t let anyone down. There is good competition there. But if he can stay injury-free, he has got a great chance of becoming Scotland’s No 1.’