Scotland v Serbia: Robert Snodgrass is ready to show class after his big step up

ROBERT Snodgrass turns 25 tomorrow. It’s the age which many players regard as the midpoint of their careers but, in a sense, the Glaswegian’s is just beginning.

• Scotland take on Serbia on Saturday and Macedonia on Tuesday

Having moved from Leeds to Norwich City in the summer, Snodgrass is coming to terms with life in the Premiership, and hopes that Scotland will feel the benefit of his fresh start in England’s top flight.

Having spent four years with Leeds, Snodgrass felt he was ready for a move up. What he was not quite prepared for, by his own admission, was the physicality and athletic prowess of his opponents. “There is a difference there from the Championship,” the former Livingston player said yesterday. “Physically everybody is like a man mountain – it’s unbelievable how big the lads are. But I have tasted a bit of it now and you can’t wait for the next week to come really, and try to taste a bit more and see how well you can do.”

Norwich had a baptism of fire in the Premiership, losing 5-0 to Fulham, but, having drawn 1-1 with Tottenham in their last match, they are confident they are getting up to speed. And

Snodgrass, who scored the equaliser in that game, is convinced that, with hard work and attention to detail, he can get the better of the “man mountains”.

“It is one of those things where you just have to focus on the fitness and nutrition side of things. The technology gets you up to speed quite quickly.

“You need to have the technical side of things – it’s not just about being big and strong. Sometimes you can get yourself too big but the power and speed and the strength of these lads is unbelievable. I’m sure most of the lads who have played in the Premier League will tell you mostly everyone is an athlete. That’s the difference between the Premier League and the Championship.

“When it comes to ability it is the best league in the world and some of the best players are playing there. I didn’t really have that technology and that advice [in Scotland] the way it is down there.

“Even at Leeds I was watching some of the under-11s and under-12s coming in and doing weights. It was unbelievable. At 11 and 12 we didn’t really know what any of that stuff was. That shows when you see the Victory Shield every year and you see the difference in size of the

English players.”

After his media duties at the Scotland team hotel in the morning, Snodgrass was off to his old school, St Mungo’s in the East End of Glasgow, in the afternoon. For many former pupils who, like Snodgrass, preferred sport to academic subjects, a return to their old school would be something to dread. But he was looking forward to his return, having already been back several times before to meet some of the teachers who were particularly helpful to him.

“It will be good to see some old faces and some old teachers as well,” he said. “My PE teacher Mr Shields helped me along the way and I remember some primary school teachers that helped me along the way as well.

“It is not often you get a lad from the East End pushing through. At that time I was just breaking into the SPL and they were trying to do the best for me they possibly could to try to help me on the footballing side.

“I don’t think I will have any good memories of the normal school kind of stuff. I was never inside the class, I was always in the

corridor. But I have some fantastic memories from school and I made some friends for life. When you get to secondary school you split up from your primary school and meet a lot of new faces.

“Your family always say when you leave school you’ll miss it, and that was the case for me. You don’t realise until it is gone how much of a good time you had there, that it’s where new friendships begin.

“There’s a track across the road [the Crownpoint Sports Park, which Scottish athletes such as Lee McConnell sometimes use as a training venue] and I do some running there sometimes in pre-season to try to get myself fit. I have seen some of my old PE teachers. Not as much as I would like to, as I stay down south.”

The old story is that every aspirant footballer meets a

careers officer, who tells him to stop dreaming of a career in sport and learn to do something practical instead. Snodgrass had more supportive teachers, who believed he was gifted enough to make it.

Even so, there was a time after school, especially during his early days with Livingston, when he lacked the requisite self-discipline and could have done with the sort of support he had at St Mungo’s.

“I was probably a bit young and naive,” he explained. “The only path I had in my head was football. Sometimes you don’t really have the guidance and advice to guide you along the way. You start to develop and learn, and you start to become a man, really. You realise what it is all about. You realise it fast, especially when you move down south and you realise you don’t have your friends and family around you. It’s a case of growing up and being ready.”

Snodgrass is confident he and his Scotland team-mates will be ready at Hampden on Saturday when Serbia come calling in the opening Group A match of the World Cup qualifying campaign.