Scotland didn’t want me – but England did
I COULDN’T help but feel for Callum McGregor during the week.
The Celtic midfielder was in the news, not for something he did but as a result of someone else’s opinion of him.
Specifically that of Gordon Strachan, who left him out of his Scotland squad to play Lithuania and Malta.
That was a big surprise, not just to his club manager at Celtic, Brendan Rodgers, who commented as much, but to anyone who has been watching McGregor play recently.
He has been outstanding in a side which has been unbeaten in the domestic game for over a year, and has won their way back through to the group stages of the Champions League this season.
For him to see team-mates Craig Gordon, Scott Brown, Kieran Tierney, Leigh Griffiths, James Forrest and Stuart Armstrong in Scotland’s 26-man squad and be left out must have hurt.
The explanation given from the national manager was that he was sticking with the group who had done the job against Slovenia and England.
That will not have provided much consolation for McGregor.
He shouldn’t get too down on himself, though, because from personal experience, I can assure him football is a game of opinions.
And there will be plenty of good judges who would have him not just in the squad but in the starting XI itself.
I remember in 1980-81 being seriously disappointed not to make the Scotland squad.
Having played for Brighton in the English top flight, hitting 12 goals from midfield, I felt I had a decent claim to be called-up. I wasn’t alone either. At a sportswriters’ dinner, the late Ron Greenwood, then the manager of England, called me over to his table.
He told me he had a lot of sympathy for me that Scotland hadn’t given me a call, and that if I had been English, he would not only have me in his squad but his team.
I actually had an English grandfather, so by today’s criteria I could have played for them.
And as much as my ambition was always to play for Scotland – and had done so at various levels – I would have played for England.
When you are a professional player, and you want to do as well as you possibly can in your job and to play international football, that would have been a significant achievement in my career.
As it was, the grandfather ruling did not apply back then so it never happened.
But it was a very timely boost to my confidence at a time when I felt overlooked.
I’m sure Brendan Rodgers and the other coaches at Celtic Park will all be telling Callum just now to keep his head up, and keep playing exactly as he has been doing, and his chance will come.
They should be, because things change quickly in football.
It is not impossible, for example, that we could have a new man in place as Scotland manager in the not-too-distant future.
Fail to pick up six points from Friday’s match against Lithuania and the follow-up tie with Malta, and Gordon Strachan’s future in the role is likely to come under fresh scrutiny.
The moment it becomes clear our hopes of qualifying for the World Cup are at an end, that will be the case.
I sincerely hope it doesn’t happen. I hope we win in Vilnius and then follow that up with another victory in front of our own fans at Hampden Park.
The task won’t be easy, but it should not be beyond us.
There were plenty of positives to take from the 2-2 draw against England in June.
After those two terrific free-kicks from Leigh Griffiths, it looked like we were set to take all three points.
Unfortunately it was not to be.