Scott McTominay on cusp of greatness - the Man Utd meeting that set in motion a Scotland and Napoli idol

Saltires waved among the Maradona murals as Napoli close in on Serie A title

When Alex McLeish took a train through the teeth of the Beast from the East storm to keep a Jose Mourinho-arranged appointment with Scott McTominay, he helped set in motion a chain of events that could reach an apotheosis in Italy later this month.

McTominay is well on the way to becoming a god in the South – the Italian south. No Scot has ever won the Scudetto but Napoli, with McTominay as a driving force and Billy Gilmour cast as willing auxiliary, are at most three wins and a draw away from doing so. They travel to the heel of the Italian peninsula to face Lecce on Saturday already three points in front of second-placed Internazionale, who host Verona at San Siro in the later kick-off. There are just four games left, with McTominay in sparkling form. “He is clearly in much stronger form than when he arrived,” said manager Antonio Conte on Friday. “He never had a primary role at Manchester United, while here we gave him one.” He has become to Napoli what he’s long been for Scotland.

McLeish has since rated recruiting McTominay in 2018 as his “first triumph” in his more trying second spell as Scotland manager. “It was a wicked night,” he recalled. People were being ordered not to travel unless strictly necessary.

Scott McTominay with Alex McLeish during a Scotland training session in Edinburgh in 2018. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Commitment to Scotland

McLeish viewed his journey as being of strict national importance – England, the country of McTominay's birth in Lancaster, were understandably interested in calling him up given he was playing an increasingly central part in Mourinho’s Manchester United side at the time.

McLeish resolved to look in his eyes and discern whether McTominay, whose father is from Helensburgh, wanted to play for Scotland or not. There was no mistaking the burning desire he detected. McLeish is speaking to The Scotsman from another train as he travels through the heart of England once more, this time to see a grandson play in a football tournament in Blackpool. The weather is more clement though reception is patchy. “Mourinho said to me, ‘Alex you should come down, get the big man signed up.' I didn’t hesitate,” recalls McLeish.

“It was an ill-fated night in a way, the storm had whipped up!” he continues. “But I made it anyway. I was determined on behalf of my country to recruit someone who was then just an emerging player.”

The meeting took place at Carrington, the club’s training ground. McLeish nearly didn’t make it. His train terminated at Newcastle due to the weather. “I had to get to York and then Manchester Piccadilly and it was 4am by the time I checked into my hotel. The receptionist had me down as a no show but he said, ‘I’ll get you something’. He got me a room.”

It was meant to be a breakfast meeting that morning but Mourinho contacted McLeish. “He said, ‘I hear you’ve had a problem, just come at lunchtime and we’ll get Scott into my office,'” he recalls. “My first question was: ‘Big yin, would you like to play for Scotland?’ He said: ‘I would absolutely love to play for Scotland, that is my first love’ – in his big English accent!”

Scotland midfielder Scott McTominay is closing in on the Serie A title with Napoli. (Photo by CARLO HERMANN/AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images

Following footsteps of Maradona

Joe Jordan’s header v Czechoslovakia, Davie Cooper’s penalty v Wales, David Marshall’s save v Serbia, ….McTominay saying yes to Scotland. It’s proved right up there in terms of significant moments and means the midfielder now stands on the cusp of creating more Scottish football history in Italy. On 11 league goals for the season following last weekend’s match-winning double against Torino, McTominay has already surpassed Denis Law’s previous record of ten for Torino in Serie A in season 1961-62. Now he has another legend of the game in his sights, someone who can justifiably be regarded as the best footballer of all time.

Neapolitans have freebased Diego Maradona since he led them to their first Serie A title in 1987, and in truth from the day he arrived at the club from Barcelona three years earlier. Anyone who has watched the thrilling opening scenes to the documentary that was made about his life by British director Asif Kapadia will remember a visceral ride through teeming streets. The car carrying Maradona and his entourage eventually reaches what was then known as Stadio San Paolo, where he was unveiled at a chaotic press conference that saw the first journalist to ask a question ordered to leave - he had unwisely referenced the Camorra, the Mafia-style scourge of the Naples area.

Almost inevitably, Maradona fell into the crime organisation’s clutches. Meanwhile, in a probably not unconnected development, his cocaine use got worse although, for the time being, his central addiction remained football. Neapolitans in turn became dependent on Maradona. Statues were erected and murals daubed on walls. Lives were devoted to him.

The adoration remains as clear in the present day as it was then, as a steady stream of Scottish visitors can now attest. Tommy Guthrie, a Dundee United supporter from East Kilbride, had the good fortune to select last weekend’s clash v Torino, with McTominay scoring both goals in a 2-0 win. Tickets were purchased online for 35 euros each and in reasonably straightforward fashion considering it’s the Serie A leaders we are talking about. The easyJet flight from Gatwick to Naples on a Friday has become the Tartan Army express with kilted football tourists.

Napoli fans celebrate winning the Serie A title in 2023 alongside one of many murals of Diego Maradona in Naples, Italy. (Photo by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images) | Getty Images

More venerated than Lukaku

“You go through the city, and Maradona is everywhere,” says Guthrie, who works for the Premier League in England. “He’s all pervasive…Paintings everywhere on walls. There are loads of stalls around, in the centro storico, which is the old town, and even in the main shopping thoroughfares there are stalls selling Napoli gear. Whether it’s scarves, fridge magnets and strips with Maradona 10 on the back - they’ve since retired the number – he is by far the most popular.

“But of the current players, McTominay 8 (his shirt number) is a favourite. You have (Romelu) Lukaku there who is probably the biggest name in the team in a recognisable world context. But I’d say McTominay seems to be more impactful and more venerated.”

He was certainly the pivotal figure for Conte’s side last Sunday night. Two goals from near-post finishes following trademark late runs put Napoli in the title driving seat (Inter had suffered a home defeat against Roma earlier in the day). The Napoli Tannoy announcer was forced to work overtime. He now has a well-rehearsed gambit where he shouts out “Scotto! Scotto!” after goals, with the crowd chorusing back in unison: “Mac-Tom-In-EEE! Mac-Tom-In-EEE!” This can happen seven or eight times after a McTominay goal.

Scott McTominay of Napoli celebrates after scoring his sides first goal during the Serie A match between Napoli and Torino at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. Cr: Getty Images. | Getty Images

Can you imagine if Maradona was still around? He’d likely be in Naples for one or indeed both of their final two home fixtures against Genoa and Cagliari at the now renamed Stadio Diego Armando Maradona and he’d be angling for pictures with McTominay, not necessarily the other way around.

Of course, the Scot won’t ever displace Maradona in terms of affection. No one could. It’s distressing to note that at the same time as Napoli are again battling against the odds at the top of Serie A, a court case is ongoing in Argentina to establish the facts surrounding Maradona’s death in 2020. It’s hard to believe given he seems so central to Napoli’s Serie A successes, but, if Napoli can get over the line this season, they will have won the Italian title twice since Maradona passed away after a heart attack following surgery on a brain blood clot at the age of 60. It’s taken a while, but life does go on. New heroes emerge, sometimes from the most unlikely places.

Saltires are now waved in Curva B, where Napoli’s largest ultras group are based in their home stadium, instead of those of Georgia, the homeland of their previous talisman. A banner in the bustling streets of the historic old town depicts the three titles already won - the Maradona-inspired successes in 1987 and 1990 and then 2023, when Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, the brilliant winger from Tbilisi who’s since joined Paris Saint-Germain, was the impetus.

The handsome McTominay, hair noticeably longer since his move to Italy, is now on course to be the latest poster boy in a city where the worship of idols other than Maradona is permitted, although only in very special circumstances.