The night a new Scotland was born as Callum McGregor, John McGinn and Ryan Christie signalled changing of the guard
dailyrecord.co.ukMalky Mackay only took charge of Scotland for 90 minutes against the Netherlands. But much of the success that sees the nation about to step onto the European Championships stage for a second successive time can be traced back to that otherwise bleak night at Pittodrie.The 1-0 defeat to Dick Advocaat’s Oranje might not have lived long in the Tartan Army’s memory.
Delve deeper though and you'll find it was a changing of the guard moment for Scotland. Mackay, then the SFA’s performance director, took caretaker charge after the exit of Gordon Strachan and handed debuts to Callum McGregor, Ryan Christie and Ryan Jack - three of the Euros squad who now sit on a combined 129 caps ahead of Friday night’s opener against Germany.John McGinn, then at Hibs, was given only his second start for his country.
Kieran Tierney won his ninth cap and was made captain. But, crucially, he reverted to left centre half inside Andy Robertson having been deployed at right back in recent outings under Gordon Strachan.Scots stalwarts such as Darren Fletcher, Scott Brown and James McArthur who had been cruelly denied a chance to strut their stuff on the big stage of the international scene stood down as the new generation got their feet firmly in the door.
The rest is history. Twenty-three years of big tournament exile came to an end. Now it’s back-to-back Euros.Mackay not only made the changes that night, he left with a plea to whoever was next in charge to keep the group together.
Read more on dailyrecord.co.uk
