Scott McTominay gives Scotland Euro 2024 boost - but ex-Celtic kid's cameo catches eye in odd role

Scotland held their first written press conference from Garmisch-Partenkirchen on Monday, with assistant coach John Carver tasked with fielding questions from journalists. Here are the highlights from his Q&A with journalists in Bavaria:

On the players being able to flick a switch when it comes to competitive action: "I think they can. It’s like one day you have a bad training session and the next day you come in and it’s like a totally different group of players, because players can. The fact we have three really good days leading into it now means we can get down to some real work. When I say real work, obviously when you are planning for the friendlies it’s a mixture of your starting team but now we are doing work on the team and formation and how we are going to play."

On Scott McTominay's condition and return to training: "I don’t know if you guys were there at training this morning, he was quite impressive, eh? But if you think about it he was one of the last ones to finish because of the cup final. He has been working hard behind the scenes, doing some stuff. It’s no different for him. He came on that training ground today and looked like he had never been away. He will be reading and firing for sure."

Scotland manager Steve Clarke (right) with Scott McTominay (left) and Ryan Jack during a training session at Stadion am Groben at Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Did your heart sink when Andy Robertson picked up an injury in training: “Absolutely. I just thought, ‘Not another one!’ Because that’s what you are doing. Thankfully, when we finished training I walked across there, had a good conversation with him and he’s fine. But you do worry. We had another one with Zander in the warm-up the other night, the same sort of thing. He hurt his ankle. And all of a sudden you are thinking the worst. But he was fine.”

On John McGinn's dancing on hotel arrival and bringing levity to the group: “In fairness, there are a few in the group who are very good like that. But it is important. And the longer you stay in a tournament and go in a tournament the more important it becomes because you are living in each other’s pockets for three, four, five weeks. We have already had two weeks away if you think about it. So we need somebody to break the ice and put a smile on faces. Sometimes it is me, believe it or not. You might be surprised there! I am not bad with the darts!”

What actions say about McGinn's character: "Isn’t it good that he joins in with the people and the culture. I couldn’t have done that – especially when they went down to the squat! That’s not me that! If I had done that I wouldn’t have been getting up again. But it was good. I was standing behind him just in case he got injured and thinking, ‘John! No! No! No!’ But it was good because he embraced the whole situation. It was very important that we did that because, let’s face it, we are coming into the towns and we need for the hosts to see that we are going to appreciate everything they put on for us and do for us. Then we have to focus. But what an environment we are in.”

On kitman Aidan McIlduff, a former Celtic kid, joining training: “He’s not bad by the way! I think he was a young ex-player. Sometimes we do use some of the staff and obviously Mozza had a bad performance in his last one so he was dropped today. We’ve got a few members of staff who think they are players. But everyone pitches in. I can’t believe the size of the staff we’ve got here. I’ve seen people I’ve never seen before in my life! But it’s not a bad thing because these people are working for us and we hardly ever see them because they are beavering away behind the scenes. They are just as important as I am or Steve to the organisation. When you are away at a tournament you have to treat these people like they are one of us – and they are. They are so important to us.”

Scotland assistant manager John Carver speaks during a press conference.

Steve Clarke's emotional talks with Craig Gordon and John Souttar: “Extremely difficult. I’ve got to be honest, it was very, very difficult. But you know what? The fact is he [Gordon] wanted to stay and wanted to be with the group and he got his game time. Then he wished us all the very best and that’s a testament to the man he is. After this tournament he might go back to Hearts. He might get in the team ahead of Zander - you don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. And I’m sure in his mind he’ll think his international career is not over and he should think this way. I’m going to give you a line here - it was probably one of the hardest decisions he’s had to make in his life in football. We had conversations which will remain between us. But, with both Craig and John, it was extremely difficult but more so for Craig because of his history and his background. I’ve only known Craig for four years but he’s been in the national team for 20.”