United front
McTominay dedicates his role in Scotland glory to Old Trafford godfather Sir Alex
SCOTT McTOMINAY has made 29 Manchester United appearances under Jose Mourinho and became a Scotland internationalist at the direct intervention of Alex McLeish. And yet it’s Sir Alex Ferguson who he chooses to call Boss.
The former Old Trafford manager, currently recuperating after emergency brain surgery earlier this year, was in McTominay’s thoughts as he helped Scotland beat Israel to secure promotion to tier B of the UEFA Nations League and take a step towards qualification for Euro 2020.
The promising midfielder appeared as a substitute in both Tuesday’s 3-2 win and the 4-0 routing of Albania last Saturday as he continues the process of settling into international football. Although too young to have featured under his club’s most decorated manager, McTominay had his fellow Scot in mind as he spoke after collecting his fifth cap.
‘That was one of the most important victories and it is dedicated to Sir Alex,’ said the 21-year-old.
‘Whenever I see him at matches I speak to him and he is always up for a chat. Like everyone I was devastated when the news came that the boss was not doing so well, so that one was for him.’
Ferguson’s golden age at Old Trafford was well underway when McTominay was born in Lancaster in December 1996 and his infancy
coincided with the arrival of the ‘Class of 92’ and first-team superstars like Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs.
Although Ferguson’s reign was defined by the success of the club’s homegrown talent, his retirement in 2014 saw a marked changed in approach. His immediate successor David Moyes was given limited funds to improve an ageing squad and was removed within months, but both Louis van Gaal and now Mourinho have been backed heavily in the transfer market.
While the signings of players such as Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic and Fred have limited the chance for academy graduate McTominay to play in his favoured central midfield role, he has featured occasionally as a centre-back as Mourinho tinkered with his team in the early weeks of the season.
Mourinho has never been slow to praise McTominay — the Portuguese coach named him his player of the year at the club’s awards night last season and even travelled to Glasgow to watch his protégé make his international debut against Costa Rica earlier this year.
Yet his progress has slowed this term and he last played for United in a 3-2 victory over Newcastle on October 3, a game in which he was substituted as his team trailed 2-0 at half-time.
In the circumstances, his latest involvement with Scotland has offered a much-needed injection of belief.
‘It will be nice to go back into the dressing room at Manchester United with my chest puffed out,’ he continued. ‘But when you play for that club, you should always have your chest puffed out.
‘It’s just important for me to try and take my international form back and get minutes at the club.’
Towards the end of last season, United legend Gary Neville questioned whether McTominay possessed the ball-playing attributes to be a fixture in his club’s midfield but observed that the youngster could eventually settle in defence.
‘Whenever you’re asked to play anywhere on the pitch, you should give it your best,’ reasons McTominay. ‘If you’re asked to play a different position, you should be learning and adapting to that the night before the game.
‘At my age, every game I play in is really important for my development. It’s all about game time and that’s what I’m looking for now and in the future.’
Now that he has played some competitive minutes for Scotland, questions over McTominay’s allegiances should evaporate.
Eligible through his Glaswegian father Frank, McTominay was courted in person by McLeish and displayed an appetite for Scotland when he travelled to the Americas for the end-of-season tour dodged by so many of McLeish’s preferred selections.
He looked bright and eager when thrown into the match in Albania last weekend and might have scored with a shot that clipped the bar. As Israel threatened a late comeback a few nights later, he was a welcome addition to the middle of the park.
As is befitting of a player making his way at one of the world’s biggest clubs, McTominay comes across as a substantial figure, one full of personality.
He insists he has been welcomed warmly into the group and, unprompted, he offers the suggestion that Scotland ought to take inspiration from the success story written by World Cup finalists Croatia, a country with a smaller population than Scotland.
‘As soon as I came into this squad, every player and member of staff made me feel at home,’ he expands. ‘Getting to play in the games and going on trips like Peru and Mexico really helped me bond with the team.
‘The spirit in that dressing room is top class and it’s amazing to be around it. There’s a real feeling that we’re doing this for each other.
‘Nothing is a problem to any of the boys in this group and that can take you far in tournaments. You look at the Croatian team and how good their spirit looked at the World Cup. They went on to achieve really good
things.
‘We have to look at countries like that. Watching Croatia go so far — they’ve got some top-class players but so do we as we’ve shown in the last two games.
‘They should be an inspiration to the boys. We should be dreaming about going to a major tournament.’
If nobody could quite bracket James Forrest or Ryan Fraser in the same category as Luka Modric, the integration of the two in-form wingers has given McLeish’s team an injection of pace and invention that attacks defences from both sides.
Forrest’s five goals over the two games felt like an overdue explosion after 24 barren caps.
‘He is a machine, isn’t he?’ beamed McTominay. ‘He’s had an unbelievable week and he deserves it. He’s a top lad and a humble guy too, so he won’t get too carried away.
‘He’ll go back to Celtic an even
It is about game time and that’s what I’m looking for now, and in the future As soon as I came into this squad, I have felt right at home
better player and continue to push forward. But he’s that type of guy — he’s just so focused and driven to achieve big things.
‘He’d be a sensation in the English Premier League. But he’s got the quality to go and play in any league in the world. He shows it every week at Celtic and is tied down to that club. But he’s a terrific player for Scotland to have, that’s the main thing.’
While promotion is the most clearly defined benefit of the wins over Albania and Israel, more important is the safety net of a play-off spot should the team come up short in the official Euro 2020 qualifiers to be played next year.
Beyond that, the results bought some breathing space for McLeish, who had cut a beleaguered figure in the wake of an away defeat to Israel and an improbable number of call-offs.
‘I’m so pleased for him, he deserves it,’ says McTominay of McLeish. ‘He’s a hard-working man and always sets us up to play the right way.’
So slim have the pickings been for the Scotland fans that full-time was celebrated like a trophy win at Hampden.
‘Seeing the fans celebrate at the end was class, I was loving it,’ adds McTominay.
‘At Hampden, when we’re in front, it’s always a special atmosphere.’
If McTominay is finding it hard to break into the United midfield, the performances of Callum McGregor, Stuart Armstrong and Ryan Christie suggest he will have to wait his turn for a crack at establishing himself in dark blue.
‘I can see myself in that Scotland midfield, of course I can,’ he adds. ‘If the minutes come at club level, it’s important that I’m competing for a start with Scotland. I just have to stay focused and show both managers that I’m capable of playing in these games.
‘As I say to my mum and dad all the time, we have to take things as they come. Never get too high, never get too low.’
A common-sense motto of which Mourinho, McLeish and Sir Alex would doubtless approve.