SIMON Donnelly last night gave a warning to his Scotland strike-rivals, telling them he is not going to France to be a reserve.
The Celtic man is oozing confidence after helping the Parkhead side to clinch their first title in 10 years, and intends to make his mark on the World Cup scene.
Donnelly is expected to be back-up to first-choice striker Kevin Gallacher and Gordon Durie. The 23-year-old, however, is heading on the US tour with the firm intention of earning a starting place in the June 10 opener against Brazil.
He said: ''You have to be positive. It's no good having an attitude that you are a squad player only. If you do, that's how you are certain to end up.
''Everyone in the squad has to approach the finals believing they are good enough to be in the starting 11 for the first game.
''I'm sure all the boys in the party are determined to show the manager they are worth a place in the team. I'm no different. ''It's up to the manager, but if I get a chance I certainly hope to take it.''
Donnelly's determination mirrors his season under Wim Jansen. The youngster made a sparkling start to the term, but was dropped after the arrival of #2m Norwegian Harald Brattbakk.
At that stage, Donnelly knew his place in France was on the line. Rather than crumble, though, he showed commendable character to fight his way back into the team and produce some vital goals as Celtic clinched the championship.
He admitted: ''Things have gone well. My aims at the start of the season were to win the league with Celtic and gain a World Cup finals place. I'm delighted to have achieved both.
''I must admit I was concerned at one stage. I felt I started the season well, but ended up being left out and even sat in the stand for some games.
''I'm pleased that I managed to fight my way back into the team and play my part in the league run-in.
''I scored some important goals and that also did my confidence no harm.
''My head is held high and I'm looking forward to the next few weeks with optimism. Hopefully, I can get the chance to show what I can do.''
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article