CHARLIE Mulgrew was offloaded by Gordon Strachan during his troubled first spell as a player at Celtic – but he has no concerns about being deemed surplus to requirements by him with Scotland now he has recovered from his injury problems.
Mulgrew is hoping to be handed a start at centre half in the Euro 2016 qualifier against Georgia here in Tbilisi tomorrow night despite Grant Hanley and Gordon Greer both being fit and available for selection.
Strachan is a huge admirer of the versatile player and selected him in his side for the meeting with the Republic of Ireland in Dublin back in June – a game in the Aviva Stadium which ended up tied 1-1 - despite the fact he had just returned from a lengthy lay-off.
The 29-year-old did not command the same respect from the national team’s manager at the outset of his career when, after a series of off-field run-ins, he was allowed to leave the Parkhead club without making an appearance and move to Wolves.
However, he has stressed he has a good relationship with the man who is responsible for overseeing our bid to reach the European Championship finals in France next year and is optimistic of being involved in this Group D fixture.
“It’s good to know the manager trusts me and involves me in big games,” he said. “I’ve had a difficult time with injuries, but now that I’m hopefully over the problem with my hamstring tendon I hope to be involved as much as possible.
“Things didn’t happen between me and him first time round, but I’d say that was probably more down to me than him. I was young and inexperienced and I had to leave Celtic to go and play games. He knew that was best for me and I knew it as well.
“The way it’s worked out, it proved the right way to do things. I’m playing with Celtic and involved in the international team, so it’s been the best thing for me. Everything’s going well at the moment.
“I never thought when he got the job that it would be a problem. In between leaving Celtic and him taking over Scotland, we’d spoken a couple of times, come across each other now and again, and there was never a problem.”
Mulgrew added: “It was all blown out of proportion at the time. The fact that there wasn’t an issue is shown by the way he’s treated me since.
“My situation is proof that you should never burn your bridges. The lesson is that if there’s ever a time not to fall out with people, this is it. You never know when you’ll work under someone again, when you’ll need them or they’ll need you.”
Scotland are currently in third place in their section behind leaders Poland and World Cup winners Germany – who play each other in Frankfurt tomorrow evening – and Mulgrew knows that victory over Georgia away will be crucial to their hopes of qualifying.
“If we want to go automatic I think we need to win this match and that’s all our preparations will be about,” he said. “We only beat them 1-0 at home, though it was a good performance, so we know they’re a tough team to beat. We’ll be doing all we can to get the result.
“These are two big games for us. We’ve got a huge opportunity to collect points and we know there’s an opportunity to qualify, but no one’s getting carried away. We’re all just focussed on Georgia.
“There’s a big tournament ahead, but no one’s looking that far in front of us. We’re just taking the next game as it comes and trying to get the points here.”
Greer, Hanley and Mulgrew have all partnered Russell Martin in the centre of the defence during Scotland’s quest to reach the Euro 2016 finals and the Celtic player believes the competition for places which exists within the national squad is what has been responsible for their impressive showings to date.
“It’s what drives us,” he said. “There’s so much quality that no one wants to miss out. In the past there would maybe be pull-outs, but now it’s rare for someone who’s picked not to be here. That’s a big reason for our performances and results.”
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