Summer plans on hold as Motherwell’s Declan Gallagher gets an unwanted staycation

Motherwell defender Declan Gallagher had big ambitions of self-isolating this summer for entirely different reasons than what may now be on the agenda.

Self-isolating was not what Declan Gallagher had in mind when he promised his wife a luxury break. Picture: SNS

The 29-year-old was optimistic that he could have had a role to play in Steve Clarke’s (pictured) Scotland squad for the play-off against Israel and, potentially, Norway, at the end of this month. Now any talk at all of the European Championships seems entirely fanciful.

As the Coronavirus has developed with some alacrity into a global pandemic football has been placed entirely on the backburner. A Uefa meeting this afternoon may shed light on what the next steps will be in terms of the logistics of re-arranged tournaments and, perhaps, some advice on how domestic leagues should 
proceed.

For Gallagher the lockdown period is significantly out of kilter with what he had in mind this summer.

Married two years ago, the defender had promised his wife a luxury holiday as soon as there was an obvious break from football responsibilities. With the Euros pushed to one side there is a staycation of a different sort.

“My wife wanted a holiday badly. But she knew what the job entailed and she knew that I was pushing for a place in the play-off squad,” he explained. “We got married two years ago so she was all over me to get something good organised this summer.

“She knew we might have needed to put a few things on hold. She had wanted to go to the Maldives or Dubai – somewhere nice and warm because we didn’t actually get a 
honeymoon.”

Of far more pressing concern for the defender is keeping himself in Clarke’s plans, whenever there might be plans to make.

Regardless of the massive uncertainty at the minute, surrounding not only football but the country as a whole, Gallagher can still draw comfort from the level to which he has elevated his game over the last year.

“I actually can’t believe it,” he said. “I was speaking to someone the other day and saying that I was in League 1 about three seasons ago and now I am sitting third in the table at a club like this. I have obviously got two caps for Scotland too so it has been unbelievable.”

The unprecedented situation, however, means that no-one knows what is coming next. For Gallagher that means keeping his head down and getting on with things as best he can as football waits in limbo for direction.

The defender made his international debut in a 2-1 win over Cyprus after having been involved in squads against Russia and San Marino and having had an experience of it he is eager for more, whenever some sort of normality may resume.

“Now that I have had a taste of it I am pushing to get into every squad,” he said. “I would be delighted to get back into the squad.

“I haven’t spoken to Steve Clarke at all but I got a message from the sports scientist, Graham Jones, a few weeks ago who sent out some video analysis and talking about the next camp and some of the gaffer’s thoughts.

“They have been in contact and gave us some footage to keep us on the ball. He did mention in the last camp that he would be keeping in touch with all the boys so that everyone was prepared.

“Hopefully it gives me something to look forward to.”