Ex-Everton winner Pat Nevin spoke to Squawka about a range of subjects including Jack Grealish’s start at the Toffees and Scott McTominay’s importance to the Scotland squad.
Nevin, speaking to Squawka in association with online casino BetWright, also discussed Scotland’s chances in the World Cup qualifying double header against Greece and Belarus over the next 10 days.
Table of contents
Jack Grealish’s start at Everton
We’ve seen Jack Grealish shine since his move to Everton, one of your old clubs. Do you think that should be a permanent move that he makes? Or do you think he’s still got something to a role to play at a big six club?
Careers are short. He’s not missed a few years but they’ve not been what he wanted at Manchester City the last couple of years. And then you go somewhere where the joy is back in your game and your play, and it suits you and the people absolutely adore you.
Jack has found the perfect home at Everton. Absolutely perfect. He’s got a manager who gets it, knows what he needs. A lot of people from the outside are surprised that David Moyes is the right guy for him but he’s been brought up in the Celtic tradition. Moyes has always said ‘give me enough money and enough time and I’ll create a creative team’.
You’ve got Dibling, you’ve got Ndiaye and you’ve got Jack Grealish. You’re telling them ‘do what you’re good at, get the ball in the final third and go at people. And if you get beat, you get beat. Do it again’. It’s gorgeous to see.
I had a choice to stay at a top level team when I left Everton, or go to a team that I went on loan to; Tranmere Rovers. It was a no brainer. It was about the joy and the love of playing. I’ll play for this team that I loved playing for, and I think that’s Jack. There’s a guy who’s got the biggest, cheesiest grin on his face and he’s loving his football. Money’s not that important, you know? And you could go somewhere else and find yourself back on the bench again. That’s not going to happen. I just hope he stays and I think he should.
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Scott McTominay’s importance to Scotland
We’ve seen Scott McTominay go from strength to strength since he moved to Napoli. Just how good is he and how important is he to Scotland’s chances in qualifying for the World Cup next summer?
I could not believe Manchester United let him go. Of all the players Manchester United were going to let go, it shouldn’t have been him because his work rate was fantastic. His attitude was fantastic. He’s exactly what you want in any group and any team. And they let him go for what I considered buttons.
He had already started scoring regularly because Scotland had moved him up that little bit further, and he’d been used as a water carrier for Manchester United. Whereas Steve Clarke spotted it, saw him irregularly and in the odd training session but spotted that he’s an eight or a ten. He’s going to get much, much further forward and he can score goals. So he’s been spectacular.
There’s been a list of players like that that Scotland have relied on. I’m going to go back to my time. Brian McClair was very much like that. There’s just doing the right thing time and time again. And Scott’s been absolutely exceptional at that.
In Napoli they don’t take to absolutely everyone. They’ve got high standards there. A bloke called Maradona! But they absolutely love Scott. They absolutely adore them. And Billy Gilmore too. They are very well liked there. So yes, he’s flourishing. He’s doing brilliantly. He’s scoring goals. He’s a massive part of the team defensively as well. And people are going ‘oh well he’s really improved’. Absolutely not. He was always that good. He just wasn’t used right.
Scotland’s chances at World Cup qualification
Scotland have got a big home double header coming up this week, with Greece and Belarus in the World Cup qualifiers. What do you make of Steve Clarke’s squad selection?
Well usually with Scotland we don’t have to worry about it too much because the squad, generally, 95% picks itself. So you know who the usual suspects will be but it’s the ones that are slight outliers that raise the eyebrow.
Craig Gordon, and the fact that Craig is 42. The knees might creak a little bit, but you’ve got so much experience and he’s never let us down. And if you’re 42, you know the answer to life, the universe and everything!
The concerns are that we don’t turn up as a group. It’s Scott McTominay. It’s John McGinn. It’s Billy Gilmour. It’s our fullbacks, Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney. We turn up most of the time and when we turn up we could beat anyone. We can beat the Spanish. We can beat the Danes. We can beat anyone.
But sometimes we don’t turn up. We can absolutely blow it. There was a game against Greece at Hampden Park not that long ago where we blew it. We got hammered 3-0 and we were absolutely outplayed. So it’s about everyone being on it.
I’ve got great hopes that we can beat Belarus, that’s not a problem. But the Greece game could well decide if we are going to the World Cup. It’ll go a long way to deciding things so we’ve got to win that one.
How high are your expectations in the qualifying campaign? Do you think Scotland qualify?
I think we can qualify. Scotland aren’t favourites in this group. You have to accept that but we’ve had a great start to the campaign. We’ve punched above our weight a few times. Sadly, I was still playing football the last time we were in the World Cup so you’re talking decades.
There’s hope. Expectation is possibly pushing it a little bit but it’s one of those great groups where each team can beat the other. The top three teams can all beat each other. So it’ll absolutely go down to the wire. We’re fine with that. And if we only get runners up and playing a playoff, that’s fine. We’ll take that right now.
Pat Nevin was speaking to Squawka on behalf of online casino BetWright.
