Angus Gunn is dreaming of walking out at Hampden as Scotland’s no.1 this weekend after signing up for Steve Clarke’s national service.
The Norwich City keeper is a former England youth international but nailed his colours to the mast after talks with the boss and is now set to emulate six times capped Scot dad Bryan. Gunn has been chased by the national side for several years and having now committed, the 27-year-old has his sights set on being in Clarke’s starting line up for the Euro 2024 qualifier kick-off against Cyprus on Saturday and the glamour showdown with Spain on Tuesday.
The former Man City and Southampton star has been a stand out for Norwich – where his old man is a club hero – in the Championship this season and is battling it out with Hearts shot stopper Zander Clark and Motherwell’s Liam Kelly for the gloves this week. Gunn admitted his heart is set on the prospect of earning his first cap and marching out at Hampden in the starting line up this weekend.
He said: “Ever since everything has happened it’s probably something I’ve thought about the most, to be honest. Hopefully I can have a good training week and, if selected, I’ll walk out at a full house here. To hear the national anthem, I think will put the hairs on the back of may neck up. I’m looking forward to the atmosphere but I think the most important thing is focusing on the game and getting the three points.”
Gunn has been a long-term target for Scotland with former bosses Gordon Strachan and Alex McLeish both making tentative moves with the Norwich star qualifying through his father. The keeper was firmly part of the England youth set up though and is still rated highly down south.
But Gunn revealed it took just one meeting with Clarke to persuade him to jump on board within 24 hours and Canaries pals Kenny McLean and Grant Hanley helped seal the deal.
When asked when the switch was sorted, Gunn said: “It was a couple of months ago now. The manager just wanted to come down and have a conversation. It was pretty chilled, to be honest. We had a good chat about football in general and then he obviously went on to Scotland.
“He just told me about the group and how positive it is, which I had already heard from people like Kenny McLean and Grant Hanley at the club. So I already knew that. He just laid it out to me and said he wanted me to come and be involved, saying he saw a good future with me with Scotland.
“I didn’t tell him straight away, but I knew straight away in my mind that it was something I wanted to do. I called him the next day to let him know and ever since then I’ve been excited and looking forward to this moment.”’
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