Lawrence Shankland: The striker Scotland has been waiting for?

Steven Naismith remembers it well. A game in Amsterdam before the last Euros, Lawrence Shankland up front on his own, a friendly to see if he was a contender for when the big stuff happened in Germany. Naismith is Steve Clarke's assistant now but back then he was Shankland's manager at Hearts. It was mid-March 2024 and the striker was tearing it up at Tynecastle. He had 28 goals to his name, including a run of 15 in 15. He was flying – and starting against the Netherlands.

"At one point, the ball breaks to him 20 yards out and rather than taking it out of his feet and finishing, he tries to reverse it for Scott McTominay," says Naismith. "I was watching it and that moment told me that he's still at sea at international level. See, when you go into the international set-up the first thing in your mind is fitting in. Just fit in. And I think that was Shanks fitting in."

"I texted him after and I said 'I cannae work out why you're passing to McTominay because I'd rather you have that shot than anybody else'. But when I thought about it I could understand it because maybe he was a bit unsure of his place. I told him he needed to think about what's got him there. 'You're in that starting team because the manager trusts you to take these chances. Don't pass them up.'"

"He's totally different now. He's comfortable. He believes he's part of it. And that's why he's in the squad – for these moments. He's matured so, so much. He's just elevated his game."

From Queen's Park to the World Cup

This Scotland squad is full of stories and Shankland's sudden rise to undroppable status is one of the better ones. In their quieter moments, you wonder if Shankland and Andy Robertson reminisce about their time together at Queen's Park, their trips to Elgin and Berwick, Annan and Montrose. Thirteen years ago they were team-mates in the fourth tier of Scottish football, finalists in the play-offs to enter the rarefied air of the third tier. They lost 1-0 at home to Peterhead in the first leg and 3-1 away in the second (attendance 954). From Balmoor – home of Peterhead – to Boston and the greatest show on earth. Robertson's journey to the World Cup has been laced with huge moments on giant stages with Liverpool over many years, but Shankland is only now emerging as a main man in his country's eyes.

A partnership that works

His run of form this season has made Clarke alter his thinking from one upfront to two, from Che Adams as the lone runner up top to a partnership with Shankland that has looked potent. Shankland scored 24 goals in 38 games last season. He has 10 in his last 12, eight in his last nine, six in his last six. He has played 173 minutes of international football since last August and has scored four goals. One every 43 minutes – no matter who you're getting them against – is an astonishing return.

The long road

He's taken the long road to Boston, from Queen's Park to Dunfermline, from Dunfermline to Aberdeen, from Aberdeen to St Mirren, and then Morton and Ayr United in the summer of 2017, when things started to happen for him. That's where he encountered Ian McCall, the Ayr manager who has become a mentor and friend to Shankland.

"Our relationship had a rocky start," says McCall. "He left me standing for 45 minutes at Lochinch training centre armed with the loan forms to bring him to Ayr from Aberdeen. It was only when I received a call from Owen Coyle [a good friend of Lawrence senior] that I found out he was on his way to Cappielow to sign for Morton. I was a little angry – it's the first and last time he ever let me down." McCall never gave up on him and eventually persuaded the striker to join him at Ayr.