Andy Robertson has been elevated from a Scotland mural trio as 'East Robboshire' leaves McTominay and McGinn in the shade. The captain's home district of East Renfrewshire has renamed itself after its favourite son, and he couldn't be more delighted.
He's one of a trio of Scotland players to have their own wall mural along with John McGinn and Scott McTominay. Now, Andy Robertson has an entire district named after him.
In the bowels of the Boston Stadium, the skipper had a genuine look of shock on his face when he heard the news. Robertson grew up in Giffnock, East Renfrewshire as a boy.
To mark the achievement of leading his country into a World Cup, the council decided to rename themselves East Robbo-shire for however long Steve Clarke's side lasts in the tournament. They launched it at a special celebration in Robertson's old school, St Joseph's Primary on Friday.
On the eve of our vital Group C opener against Haiti, it brought a huge grin to the skipper's face. Not just that he was being honoured by his own people back home. But also because Robertson knows Scotland's participation at the greatest show on earth - for the first time in 28 years - is certain to inspire the next batch of talented young players.
For a kid who played the game in the streets before joining Queen's Park and becoming a global superstar at Liverpool, Robertson knows how important it is to chase your dreams. He's still doing it now as he attempts to make history with Clarke's squad at this World Cup in America.
When he found out about East Robbo-shire, the man himself said: "I hope you can tell by my face that I didn't know this had happened. Where I was brought up is a huge part of my life. It's where I learned how to play football and learned a lot about life as well. There's a lot of that in terms of how the lads are feeling – where they're from, things like that. So it's a huge credit to the squad that this is the kind of situation we've been able to create back home."
"There are so many people from that area who mean a lot to me. Teachers have sent me good wishes, there have been messages from kids in school playgrounds shouting our names and singing songs. I never had that as a kid and it was the same for an awful lot of people. Because it's been far too long since we were on the biggest stage. So the excitement back home is one of the things that brings the biggest smile to our faces. It feels like we've been able to connect a country, to get our country excited. It's up to us now to try and keep it that way."
"In terms of general society, football has become a bit more expensive. But people can always kick a can down the road. That's what we all did when we were younger. I just hope that we can maybe inspire the next generation because this is on the world stage and we see how excited kids, parents and grandparents are. That's what you need, that's what you want. You want a buzz about football in Scotland because we know how much it means. We just hope that after this World Cup that buzz is still there. We can put things in place and put things right so that the next generation is coming through. They can put pressure on us and hopefully we don't need to wait another 28 years to get to a World Cup."
At Euro 2024, the overriding feeling amongst Clarke's squad on the plane home was that they hadn't done themselves justice. When it mattered most, they failed to turn up and didn't attack the tournament. But there's a new-found confidence about this group and Robertson is convinced that when they leave America there will be no regrets.
He said: "I think we've changed. The last Euros was unique as we were the opening game against the hosts which is never an easy task. But I do think we probably used too much of our emotional energy too far out from the game. As soon as we went into pre-camp, we were locked into Germany and by the time it came around we weren't quite ready to strike. This time, we've been busy getting used to the heat and humidity here. So we've probably changed as a collective. Obviously when you land in Boston, you see so many fans around the place. So now we're locked in and we're ready for the game. It's up to us now to get the game-plan right and get the three points we believe we can get."
"We don't want any regrets this time. When I look back at the last two Euros, you can look at certain games with regret. Could we have got over the line in them? Against Hungary at Euro 2024, could have have created more and been more clinical? You never want to leave a tournament with regrets and that will never change. We've done really well in qualifying campaigns under this manager. But now we need to take it into the tournament itself."
Around 30,000 Tartan Army foot soldiers are expected to descend on Boston ahead of the opener against Haiti. Robertson can feel their presence already. Until now, the Scottish squad has been cocooned at their base camp, first in Fort Lauderdale and then in Charlotte. But the captain knows it's now the players' responsibility to make the supporters' trip to the States a memorable one.
He said: "We've probably stayed away from most if it until now. But in the thousands of fans heading over, our families are in there. So we've seen pictures from Glasgow and Edinburgh Airport. My friends and family have travelled and every flight they were on, they said it was full of Tartan Army, wherever they went. Even in places like London and Dublin, our fans have taken over those flights in the last 48 hours. We know we've got the best fan base in the world. They follow us in their numbers and we know how long they've waited for this moment. It's up to us to give them a good time. In saying that, they'll have a good time regardless. It's up to us to give them an even BETTER time and something to shout about out here. On our list of motivations, that's the highest for us."
