Angus Gunn feared that a lack of first team minutes at Nottingham Forest would end his hopes of going to the World Cup with Scotland.
Concerned by his plight, the son of former Aberdeen and Norwich City goalkeeper Bryan tried to secure a move in January. However hard he tried to go out on loan in the winter window, he struck a brick wall.
“It definitely was a concern for me,” says Gunn. “Everyone wants to play football.
“I pushed very hard in January to try to get out. I had a few very good options and I was a little bit unlucky with injuries.
“I had a lot of conversations with the manager at that time as well. Nothing ever happened but after that January period went by I had to refocus again and make sure I was in top shape in training and whenever I got a chance to play.”
The issue is not unique to Gunn. The three goalkeepers in Steve Clarke’s 26-man squad accumulated a total of just seven club appearances between them all season, and it’s not difficult to see where the biggest selection dilemma lies ahead of the opening game against Haiti a week on Sunday.
Picking a number one is difficult enough when there is a substantial body of work to judge from. When the number of game racked by the three candidates can be totted up on two hands with fingers to spare it adds up to a conundrum a World Cup manager should never have to face.
Haiti’s first choice keeper, 38-year-old Jonny Placide, might not be the oldest goalkeeper on the pitch, let alone the tournament, when they face Scotland in Foxborough.
The first of his 83 caps came in 2004 and Craig Gordon has a chance of starting his first game in the World Cup at the age of 43, despite 225 minutes of playing time all season. The last of his three appearances came in January, a recurring shoulder injury an issue since February.
Like Gordon, Rangers goalkeeper Liam Kelly is popular member of the squad, but played just three times. Gunn, the number one at Euro 2024, hopes to go one better than his father – an unused substitute at Italia 90 – but accepts that his single appearance for Forest all season is an imperfect preparation for the biggest tournament in world football.
With nothing more to go on Clarke is likely to make his final decision based on what his goalkeeping coach Chris Woods sees in training.
“It is the manager’s decision at the end of the day,” said Gunn, hopeful of more game time in the final warm up against Bolivia in New Jersey. “We have obviously all come into camp last week and everyone is looking really sharp, everyone is training great.
“Ideally you’d like to play more regularly throughout the season. I managed to get a B team game in the week before coming away. That helped me a lot.
“It’s not ideal but on the other hand you could look at it that before the Euros I went in after playing 50-odd games in that season.
“Maybe going in I might have been physically and mentally fatigued. This time it is a different situation. You can take both sides of it.
“I have been training and I’ve been able to train full pelt at the club all year and physically I feel in great shape. Coming away here, getting acclimatised in Miami has been good. I am ready to go.
“Going back to start of the campaign against Denmark I managed to get a good clean sheet and that gave me a lot of confidence. Coming into the Scotland camp has been the highlight of my football year this year.”
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There were no assurances forthcoming from Clarke because no international manager can offer cast iron promises to a player who isn’t playing. Gunn’s salvation lay in the desperate lack of alternative options available. When it comes to international goalkeepers Scotland has a problem which didn’t exist when his father was unable to displace either Andy Goram or Jim Leighton from the first team.
While Gunn senior went to Italy under Andy Roxburgh he failed to see a minute of action and his offspring would love to avoid the same fate in America.
“It would be huge. As a kid you grow up watching the World Cup and it is the pinnacle of any player’s career and I’m no different. For our families as well it is massive and that was probably the biggest thing for me. Making them proud is the biggest achievement I can do.”
“I remember the Euros a few years ago. Dad had a great time and not just him, all my family.
“As a proud Scotsman he has absolutely loved the way my career has gone and the opportunities I’ve had. He has been able to watch me and he’s very proud. Not just him but my wife as well came over to all the away games in the campaign.
“She brought our little boy and he was kind of a lucky charm in the end. He came to the first game in Denmark and I got a clean sheet so I told her he needs to come to every game now. There will be a couple of late nights for him in Boston I think.”
