I watched Scotland’s World Cup games in the pub - but 142-day whirlwind has me primed to make Hampden impact

From watching the World Cup from the comfort of his local pub to making his first international start at the heart of Scotland’s defence, it’s been a remarkable couple of months for Luke Graham.

Nominated for the SWFA Young Player of the Year award following a series of colossal displays for Dundee last season, many tipped him to make a late claim for a place in Steve Clarke’s squad for the tournament in the summer. Despite coming close to making the final 26-man list, there was no seat on the plane for Graham.

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Graham was told he was "close" to receiving a call-up to Scotland's World Cup squad in the summer. | SNS Group

Courted by both Celtic and Rangers in the weeks that followed, Portsmouth had launched a seven-figure bid during the January window. However, when the summer transfer window re-opened, it was Stoke City who won the race for his signature. Currently third in the EFL Championship, Graham has been a star performer for them this season.

Awarded his first international start in Friday’s 2-1 win over North Macedonia, Graham admits things are beginning to fall into place. “Not much is going wrong for me at the moment,” he smiled. “I wouldn’t say I merited a start, we have a lot of good players in the camp. It’s up to the manager to pick the team and, luckily, he gave me the chance.

“I have to be ready for it. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do since I was growing up. It was a dream come true. I’ve always said that one thing I wanted to do in my career was play for Scotland, so to get it over the line was pretty special. I had my mum, my dad, my sister here and quite a few of my mates. A good turn out.

“We have a lot of good centre-halves. Obviously it was unfortunate for Welshy [Stephen Welsh] and Binksy [Luis Binks] to go out with injury but that opens up a space for me to come in and try to cement a place. When you’re out on that pitch, you have to do everything you can to try and stay in the team. I gave my all and I’ll just need to wait and see what happens.

“We’re going through a bit of a transitional spell just at the minute, so it’s not going to be all smooth sailing from the get-go. It’s about adjusting to that and try to build on performances in every game.”

Graham has been a standout performer for Stoke City this season. | Getty Images

It was all so different for the youngster a mere 142 days ago. Asked how he digested Scotland’s World Cup adventure - the first in his lifetime - during the summer, Graham’s financial situation stopped him from attending the tournament in North America. However, on the evidence of his composed performance against North Macedonia, he’s got every reason to believe he won’t need to watch from afar when Scotland next travel to a major tournament.

“I didn’t go [to the World Cup] - it was too expensive for me!” laughed Graham. “I was just like everyone else, watching in the pub with their mates. It was pretty amazing and hopefully I can be part of something like that one day. I wasn’t too far away, Steve Clarke told me. It’s just about trusting myself now and hopefully get there one day.”