Scotland have spent decades searching for a reliable natural finisher, and Lawrence Shankland appears to have finally answered that long-standing call.
Steven Naismith, now Steve Clarke’s assistant, recalls a telling moment from a friendly against the Netherlands in Amsterdam back in March 2024.
Shankland, then Naismith’s player at Hearts, had scored 28 goals that season including a stunning run of 15 in 15 games, and was given the chance to start against the Dutch.
“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.”
Naismith texted Shankland after the game with a direct message, telling him: “I cannae work out why you’re passing to McTominay because I’d rather you have that shot than anybody else.”
The former Hearts manager told Shankland he needed to trust his instincts, reminding him: “You’re in that starting team because the manager trusts you to take these chances. Don’t pass them up.”
Naismith believes that conversation, and many others, helped shape the player Scotland now see at the World Cup in the United States.
“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,” says Naismith.
The numbers behind Shankland’s recent form are genuinely remarkable for any striker at any level of the game.
He scored 24 goals in 38 games last season, and has netted 10 in his last 12, eight in his last nine, and six in his last six games.
In 173 minutes of international football since last August, Shankland has scored four goals, a return of one every 43 minutes that his manager Clarke could barely have dreamed of.
Those performances have convinced Clarke to shift his tactical approach, moving away from Che Adams as a lone striker to a partnership with Shankland that has looked potent and threatening.
His journey to this moment has been long and winding, taking him from Queen’s Park to Dunfermline, Aberdeen, St Mirren, Morton, and Ayr United, before eventually arriving at the top of Scottish football.
It was at Ayr where he met Ian McCall, the manager who became a mentor, though their relationship did not begin smoothly.
“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.”
Once Shankland eventually joined Ayr, he repaid McCall’s faith immediately, scoring in nine of his first ten games before finishing that season with 29 goals in 33 appearances and helping the club win promotion.
“It became obvious quite early that he was playing levels below where he was capable of playing,” says McCall. “He can score every type of goal; tap ins, headers, right foot, left foot, curlers, drives, chips and on the odd occasion from 50 yards.”
McCall believes a specific quality sets Shankland apart from most strikers, saying: “He has a number of terrific attributes but most vital amongst them is his awareness of finding space. The higher you go in football that trait becomes more and more important.”
A difficult spell at Hearts in 2024-25, when he scored just nine goals and the club finished seventh, threatened to derail his Scotland hopes, but the arrival of Derek McInnes as manager transformed his fortunes completely.
McInnes made his admiration for Shankland clear to the Hearts board, a deal was done, and the striker responded with a series of outstanding performances including goals against Denmark and Curacao.
Shankland has since moved to Rangers, and turns 31 in August, finally joining the club he was long linked with after years of speculation.
His old mentor McCall is in no doubt about what made the difference over the long haul: “I hope he’d agree that the love he received from the dressing room, and the fans, at Ayr allowed him to recover his swagger. He became a leader in our dressing room and has flourished in the years since.”
Scotland fans will hope that swagger is fully on display at the World Cup, where their striker finally looks like a player who knows he belongs at the highest level.
