Scotland defender Russell Martin believes he is being bossed by a future national coach at club level.
The Norwich City player was happy to welcome Alex Neil to Carrow Road in January after the 33-year-old made his way south from Hamilton Accies.
He admitted some of his clubmates weren’t sure what they were getting in the form of the talented but inexperienced Neil.
However, they have all been won over as they continue to chase propotion to the English Premier League.
As Martin met up with the Scots players at Mar Hall to begin preparing for tomorrow’s friendly meeting with Northern Ireland and Sunday’s Euro qualifier against Gibraltar both at Hampden the centre half claimed that he wouldn’t be surprised if, one day, Neil is in charge of his country.
“I can see Alex Neil as a future Scotland manager, for sure,” said Martin.
“I am sure he will have aspirations to manage at the highest level and he has all the attributes.
“He is doing really well in the Championship with us and his stock is on the rise.
“I think we will go up to the Premiership but, even if we don’t, his stock will continue to be on the up.
“He is extremely young so if he does want to be Scotland manager one day I am sure it will be well into the future.
“But he has been really good at Norwich – very impressive – and has made a big impact.
“He has changed the mentality of the place and brought a different attitude to the team.
“We needed someone to come in and grab the place by the scruff of the neck and he has done that.”
Martin revealed that first impressions counted for the Canaries, with Neil winning over the doubters straight away.
“At first, because of where he had come from and his age, some of the lads were maybe a bit cautious,” he admitted.
“For a few people there was a sense of: ‘Who is this guy?’
“I would be lying if I said there wasn’t.
“There was that perception inside and outside the club among some people.
“But that all went after the first meeting.
“In football people judge you too much on who you are and where you have been before, where, really, it should be about the here and now.”
Martin has also been pleased that Neil’s approach to the game mirrors that of Scots boss Gordon Strachan.
“There are a lot of similarities about how the manager at Norwich wants us to play and how we do things at Scotland,” he added.
“The gaffer (Neil) was chatting to me about the Scotland set-up just last week and was asking about some of the things we do when we meet up for international duty.
“He believes in a lot of the same things that Gordon Strachan believes in.
“Obviously, at Norwich we have a lot of Scots and things are very positive for both club and country at the moment. “
Martin and his Scotland mates will go into the Northern Ireland clash on the back of a 3-1 home defeat to England back on November 18.
Mind you, they did win the one that really mattered four days earlier when they defeated the Republic of Ireland 1-0 at Celtic Park.
Martin said: “England caught us by surprise a bit with the way they approached the game.
“If you look at the games they had played before that they hadn’t played with that level of intensity.
“So perhaps that match meant more to them than it meant to us.
“They had to prove a lot of things to a lot of people.
“We have discussed it, everything is very positive and we need to make sure it stays that way.
“We want to win both matches to keep our momentum going.
“If we can get points on Sunday against Gibraltar it sets us up nicely for the rest of the group matches and the big one we have in the summer (in Dublin on June 13).
“We have the ability in the dressing-room so we just have to make sure we approach the match properly.
“Germany, Poland and Ireland have all managed it so we need to do the same this weekend.
“If we can get onto 10 points it will put us right in the mix.”