After a period of frustration and self-doubt, the midfielder has made great strides with Manchester United and Scotland
Steve Clarke in discussion with Scott McTominay during the Euro 2024 qualifier against Spain(Image credit: Getty Images)
For club and country, Scott McTominay is probably in the best form of his career right now.
His resurgence has been most clearly signalled by a huge increase in his goalscoring contributions, but it extends far beyond that.
McTominay partly attributes his improved performances to a discussion with Scotland manager Steve Clarke that led to a change in his mindset, as revealed in a recent interview with FourFourTwo.
"I was going through a bad patch with football, having not played as much at club level as I thought I might have. That frustration is normal and healthy, but a conversation with Steve Clarke around that time stuck in my head," said the midfielder.
Scott McTominay warming up for Manchester United (Image credit: Getty Images)
"He just asked if I was OK. It sounds simple, but I don’t think anyone has asked me quite like that before. I told him that I was fine, and I genuinely thought I was, whereas he felt, with the way I was walking around and acting, that I wasn’t my normal, smiley self. I thought that was interesting and it definitely planted a seed."
At the time, McTominay was playing infrequently for Manchester United and struggling to find his rhythm at international level too. He needed a reset and Clarke's words provided it.
"He said I should think about football the way I did as a child – to get back to enjoying it for the purest of reasons. Why did I start kicking a ball around in the first place?
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"I remember going back to my room and speaking to my parents and girlfriend about it. I thought he was bang on. In the next two games I scored four goals – it’s mad."
Those four goals, a brace each against Cyprus and Spain, got Scotland's Euro 2024 qualification campaign off to the perfect start.
Scott McTominay celebrates his second goal against Spain with Kieran Tierney (Image credit: Getty Images)
That was the launch pad the Tartan Army needed to qualify for next summer's tournament, with McTominay leading the charge.
He finished the campaign with a remarkable seven goals from eight games, having scored just once for his country before this year.
"The manager made me feel so relaxed, because I knew he had my back. He isn’t the type to say much, because he doesn’t have to; what he does say is often impactful," continued McTominay.
"I give him full credit for how good I felt as that campaign got underway. The momentum from it has helped me so much."
Sean Cole is a freelance journalist. He has written for FourFourTwo, BBC Sport and When Saturday Comes among others. A Birmingham City supporter and staunch Nikola Zigic advocate, he once scored a hat-trick at St. Andrew’s (in a half-time game). He also has far too many football shirts and spends far too much time reading the Wikipedia pages of obscure players.
