Andy Robertson will win his 102nd Scotland cap on Friday night against North Macedonia, and when he does he will stand level with Kenny Dalglish on a mark that has not moved in forty years. Four days later, in St Gallen, he could pass it. He says the whole thing gives him goosebumps. He also says Friday is not about him, and he means it in a way that takes some explaining.
The Tottenham left-back sat in the boardroom at Queen’s Park this week watching footage of himself at 19, coming off the bench in Warsaw on 5 March 2014. Gordon Strachan had told him to play the way he played at Dundee United and not to play safe. His first touch was a 30 or 40-yard carry upfield. His mum, dad, brother, aunt and two uncles were in the ground. There is a photograph of him and his brother Stephen at the airport afterwards, Stephen in a Poland hat and a half-and-half scarf, well oiled.
‘I’ve always doubted myself’
What followed was two Premier League titles, two League Cups, an FA Cup, a Champions League, a Super Cup and a Club World Cup, plus more games as captain of the Scotland men’s team than anyone. His own reading of it is odd and rather convincing. “I’ve never actually been confident,” he said. “I’ve always doubted myself and that’s always got the best out of me. I’ve always tried to prove people wrong and prove myself wrong.”
There was an ornate high-backed chair in the corner of the room where he spoke, out on its own among a dozen ordinary ones. Robertson noticed it. “There are normal seats but there’s one throne and Kenny Dalglish should be sat on it,” he said. “Friday night’s about the greatest player of all time in our country, and for me, that will always be Kenny. He’s had this record for so long. He deserves it. If he played in a different era, he would probably have played a number of games that wouldn’t have been able to be caught.”
The Dalglish stories
The admiration runs through the family. When Robertson’s agent first met Liverpool, Dalglish “accidentally” walked into the room, a coincidence Robertson is certain was arranged. After Liverpool beat Barcelona 4-0 in May 2019, Robertson brought Dalglish over to meet his grandfather and uncle, and his grandfather, who had just watched his grandson qualify for a second Champions League final, barged past him to shake Dalglish’s hand first.
His grandfather wore hearing aids and struggled to follow conversation. He heard every word Dalglish said, which the family still jokes about. Robertson moved to Liverpool in 2017 for what he calls the hilariously small sum of £8m, aged 23, with his wife Rachel expecting their first child, and says the Dalglishes helped so much in that period that he could never repay it.
A game Scotland need, not a lap of honour
None of this is being treated as a farewell tour. Robertson’s verdict on the last outing, against Slovenia, was blunt: Scotland were a yard off it everywhere, it was unacceptable, and they gave the supporters nothing to shout about. He talks instead about protecting the 15, 16 and 17-year-olds coming through, about how his own route, John McGinn’s and Ryan Christie’s all needed a measure of luck, and about Findlay Curtis bouncing round the squad.
Then he left, came back for a forgotten washbag, and pointed out that Dalglish almost certainly never had one of those.
Match context: Scotland host North Macedonia at Hampden Park on Friday 13 November 2026 in the Nations League. Robertson, now at Tottenham, debuted in Warsaw on 5 March 2014 aged 19 and would equal Kenny Dalglish’s Scotland record of 102 caps. Scotland travel to St Gallen to face Switzerland on Monday, where he could break it. Quotes via BBC Scotland.
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