‘I was in a state of depression. I couldn’t see when we’d win another game or keep a clean sheet’
THINGS ARE LOOKING UP FOR GALLAGHER AS HE REBUILDS HIS CONFIDENCE AT ST MIRREN
HAVING scaled seemingly heights, Declan Gallagher had a long way to fall. Handed a coveted spot in Scotland’s European Championship squad and ready to step up to a new challenge via a transfer to Aberdeen, the defender approached the summer of 2021 in buoyant mood.
If the Euros provided a sobering anti-climax for the Scotland fans fortunate enough to secure tickets for the reduced capacity games against the Czech Republic and Croatia at Hampden, it was a wholly deflating experience for the 31-year-old defender.
Capped on account of some sterling form at Motherwell, he had produced a career-best performance to subdue Serbia’s Aleksandar Mitrovic (pictured below) on the night Scotland qualified for their first major tournament in 23 years. Yet when the competition came round, he was overlooked for all three games and only made the bench for the final match against Croatia.
His morale dented, he then walked into an Aberdeen dressing room that was ill at ease with the new structures imposed by manager Stephen Glass.
‘It was difficult to deal with, mentally tough, because it’s something I’d never experienced before,’ he says. ‘I’d got that high of international football — the night in Belgrade, nothing will ever beat that in my career.
‘It’s hard when you
The boss believes in me. I’m happy and I think it shows on the park
don’t play at the Euros and your confidence drops a bit. Then you miss pre-season with your new club and don’t get off to a great start.
‘You automatically start doubting things in your own head that you didn’t used to.
‘The full season from start to finish was a low. I got myself back into the team then pulled my hamstring. I came back when Covid hit again, so it was totally stop-start.
‘It felt like a knock-on effect. At one point, I said to my missus: “I don’t know how I’m going to get out of this”. I was in a wee state of depression. I couldn’t see an end point. I couldn’t see when we’d win another game or when we’d keep a clean sheet.’
Their team destined for a lowly 10th-placed finish, Aberdeen fans voiced their frustration at Glass and his players, with new arrival Gallagher singled out for some fierce verbals.
Glass didn’t last the season. With new manager Jim Goodwin in situ and a squad overhaul underway, it was natural that Gallagher moved on in the summer.
And he has found a happier place at St Mirren where he is reunited with his former Motherwell boss Stephen Robinson.
‘I was never fully fit at Aberdeen but I can give it all the excuses I want — if you’re not doing it on the park, the fans have every right to give you the abuse I got last season,’ he reflects. ‘It just didn’t work out for both parties. But I’ve come here and I’m starting to find my form again.’
While Gallagher acknowledges that he is unlikely to match his heroics in Belgrade, he is now more inclined to celebrate the fact that it happened at all.
At 31, he still has plenty football in him and in Robinson he has a manager with whom he shares a mutual trust.
He doesn’t regard a Scotland recall as an impossibility either. As many have attested, national boss Steve Clarke is not the type to get too close to his players or maintain unnecessary communication.
Yet he has offered support to Gallagher over the past year. He continues: ‘I made a couple of squads when I was at Aberdeen but from there I wasn’t playing.
‘The manager phoned me up to talk about it. He actually took a bit of blame, which he didn’t have to do.
‘We had a really good chat. He said he’d taken me to the Euros and not played me and felt that had maybe dented my confidence.
‘He didn’t have to say that. He had choices to make himself and I’ve got the utmost respect for him and for what he’s done.
‘Last season wasn’t my greatest, so it was justified me coming out of the squad. Now that I’m here and playing well I’m hoping to catch the eye again.’
Knocked out of the League Cup after some worrying results in the group stage, St Mirren have rallied to deliver a solid start to their Premiership campaign.
Injury-free and back into his rhythm, Gallagher is enjoying his football again and is striving to earn an international recall that could deliver a 10th cap.
‘When we chatted, the manager (Clarke) told me just to get back playing well.
‘I did well under him, I got nine caps
and I was eight unbeaten at one stage. He knows what I can do and that I can play at that level.
‘But it comes down to what I do on the park for St Mirren, so hopefully I can catch his eye.
‘I’ve always said I’d love to hit double figures. It’s not an impossible task to get back into the Scotland squad coming to a place like St Mirren.
‘Getting a good pre-season under my belt and having a manager that I know at a club where I’m happy and full of confidence — I think that all shows out on the park. ‘We’re getting clean sheets and I feel that I’m playing well.
‘I like responsibility. We have some good pros like Trevor Carson who’s an international and Joe Shaughnessy the captain.
‘Last year at Aberdeen, we had a really young team. And when all the pressure is on you, it’s hard. ’Scotland was never in my mind when I signed for St Mirren in the sense that I just wanted to get back playing regularly.
‘I wanted to come here and find my form again, but he (Robinson) was the manager who got me my Scotland call-ups.’
Sometimes a player simply fits a certain club. Or clicks with a certain manager.
Gallagher excelled at Livingston and Motherwell but struggled with the specific demands of joining Aberdeen at a particularly turbulent point in time.
St Mirren seems like a better fit — and Robinson clearly knows how to unlock his best form.
The Northern Irishman may have cultivated a spiky public persona but Gallagher attests to a more sensitive character who is attuned to his players’ moods and needs.
‘He has belief in me,’ says the defender. ‘No disrespect to the managers at Aberdeen, but the gaffer here has always believed in my ability. I’m not a person who needs an arm round my shoulder but he does it anyway.
‘And it does make you feel good. Players will say they don’t need it but psychologically, it helps you.
‘He did that the minute I came in. He’s always praising me and he’ll text me privately, too.
‘If I need a kick up the bum or to be told I’ve been brilliant, he’ll do it. He’s always there when I need him.’