Everyone at Pittodrie and Cormack Park was delighted this morning to hear that Nicky Devlin had been called-up to the Scotland squad for the first ever time. It’s due reward for a career in which he has dedicated himself to his profession and the wider game, a nice reminder that the good guys do come out on top sometimes too.

RedTV subscribers can watch the interview in full here. 

“It is an incredible feeling. When you’re growing up you always want to try and be good enough to put yourself in a position to play for your country and thankfully, I’ve managed to do that, so I’m thrilled.

“I found out from the staff on Tuesday morning. We came out of the daily meeting we have at quarter past ten and the staff let me know then. They were all absolutely delighted for me as well, as were all my teammates, so it was a special feeling. I wasn’t able to concentrate as much as usual during training I must admit!

“The players had a wee song and dance in the dressing room once they heard the news, so it’s been brilliant. We’ve got a few boys who get called up internationally as well, so they were all delighted for me. Hopefully I can go there and do them proud as well because their efforts have helped me to get there.

“Croatia and Portugal, they are two very difficult games but that’s why you want to do well and earn the call ups because you want to be involved in games like that. As a footballer, you’ve got to be looking forward to playing in games like that.

“I think the European campaign last year definitely will help. We played four European games away from home and some of the venues we had to go to and teas we played were top class. I thought we did really well in a lot of them, so hopefully that will help me. It’s another step up from the European games I was playing in, but hopefully, if I’m given the opportunity, then you can show that I’m able to stand up to the test.

“I was never involved with Scotland before, so it’s not as if you feel like you’re missing out too much, because you don’t know what it feels like to begin with! When I came up to Aberdeen, I felt like I was putting myself in the best position to try and do well enough to earn a place. I’ve been trying to concentrate on winning games for Aberdeen and that’s helped me get this call up.

“There’s been plenty of ups and downs. There was a lot of my career when I first started playing, I was part-time and I’ve worked my way up to be able to play at a fantastic football club, a club where we want to achieve things, so that was the biggest achievement to date, and then obviously this on top is incredible. As a player, you’ve got to just work hard, that’s all you can do, and hopefully if you can get a good run together, a good bit of form behind you, then you never know where it can take you.

“I’m probably at an age now, the next maybe two or three years, where I’m going to be at my best. Especially with the new manager coming in, trying to learn as much as I can from him and his coaching staff, I think I’m understanding the game a wee bit more now as well.

“I think probably in previous years when I was growing up, I relied on the physical side of my game to be able to cope with situations but under this manager and his coaching staff, it’s more maybe about understanding the position better so that you don’t have to rely on those things. It’s hopefully making me a better player.

“What is really important to me is that we go off to the internationals on the back of a good result against Hearts. The Scotland thing almost doesn’t seem real just now, because we’ve got that game and my full focus just now is on Sunday and making sure we can pick up another three points, because I know how hard the boys have worked to get to the position we’re in just now. Especially going into an international break, we don’t want to go into that break on the back of a poor result, we want to go in with another three points and to put ourselves in a really strong position in the league.”