Stuart Armstrong

was typing it when you posted

 

Another fantasy from them.

 

Nice goal there against Man United.

 

https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/...rendan-rodgers-celtic-ralph-hasenhuttl-562073

Beneath football’s outer surface layer of teen stars destined for success – the Wayne Rooneys and Jadon Sanchos and Trent Alexander-Arnolds – the nine-figure transfers and obscene weekly contracts, there are some fantastic examples of human endeavour.

Sometimes, a player’s career can hinge on chance meetings, a family move across the country, a coach spotting what others have missed, gradually working your way into first teams, via benches and snappy substitute appearances and impressing in training, rediscovering yourself. Ups and downs and lefts and rights.

They can encompass all of the thousands, or millions, or perhaps billions of little moments that led to Stuart Armstrong journeying from the Scottish Highlands of Inverness to playing in the Premier League for Southampton, reinventing himself as a No 10 under manager Ralph Hasenhüttl, scoring against Manchester United recently in an impressive spell since football resumed.


They have all contributed to this mild mannered, softly spoken, well-groomed 28-year-old, who takes his time answering questions and chooses words carefully, relaying them with a gentle Scottish lilt that massages the eardrums.

Armstrong is the epitome of graft and determination. He has not had it easy, despite what four Scottish Premiership medals, two Scottish Cups and two Scottish League Cups, won in four years with Celtic, might suggest.




Born in Inverness, he was confident in his ability as a young boy, but at 13 years old he had trial games at Aberdeen and did not make the cut. “It dented the confidence,” he says. “It planted that seed of doubt, I thought I might not be as good as I think I am.”

Armstrong went back into boys’ football for a few more years but got a break at Inverness Caledonian Thistle. A year later, however, they were relegated from the Scottish top-flight and did not have the funds to continue their Under 19 team.

During that year Armstrong’s family moved to Dundee, and Inverness academy coach Danny MacDonald, who Armstrong still remains in touch with, set up a link with Dundee United so that the teenage midfielder did not have to make the 300-mile, six-hour round trip through the Cairngorms so often. At Dundee United, he met a coach who would come to his aid at a time of need.




Stevie Campbell, now assistant manager at Brechin City, was Dundee’s Under 19s coach and took Armstrong’s training sessions. When Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s Under 19s folded, Armstrong’s father approached Campbell about giving his son a trial, but the coach had already seen enough and offered him a two-year youth contract. “When my dad told me I didn’t believe him, so Stevie had to tell me himself,” Armstrong says. “It all sort of clicked from there.”

Slowly, diligently he worked his way into Dundee’s first team, where he would play alongside a certain Andy Robertson, a “very young boy who nobody knew much about”, who would go on to win the Champions League with Liverpool and lift the Premier League trophy at Anfield last week.




Maybe Armstrong’s route through football, his steps along the twists and turns of life, have made him wary where others dive in.

Unusually, he did not have an agent until he was 21 years old, getting by with amicable contract extensions agreed between himself, his father and the manager at the time. In a cutthroat, murky world in which agents are continually doing whatever it takes to sign up the latest young talent, or stealing one from a rival, it is rare for a player not to be on someone’s books from a young age.

“Rightly or wrongly I was always a bit suspicious of the agents,” Armstrong says. “I didn’t feel I needed one at the time. There came a point where I felt I could move clubs and now was the time to have someone I could trust to facilitate that. We have a great relationship now and we’ve been on a very nice journey.


He was recommended a lawyer by a team-mate. “We have trust in one another and I think it’s very important whoever is representing you to have that trust.”

Equally rare, Armstrong eschews social media, apart from the odd bit of Instagram snooping. Whether it is for an extra sponsorship revenue stream, to launch social justice campaigns or simply to bask in the limelight, the majority of players now have at least one social media account, often several.



But football, Armstrong says, is a hard enough profession without adding an extra layer of pressure and urges caution. “I’m not a big social media man,” he says. “Twitter can be a dangerous place for a football player or any person in the spotlight where people can be free in what they say. It’s something you don’t need, in my opinion.

“Some people like it, some don’t. For me, I don’t need it. It’s a slippery slope. If you look at Twitter one week and you’re great, it’s fantastic, then the next week you’re not so great, it’s not so great. That type of emotional rollercoaster you don’t really need. You’ve got enough going on and enough pressures than worrying about that type of thing.”

Making it in football is never the straightforward process that the Sky Sports, club PR veil would have you believe. Casting his mind back six years, Armstrong recalls how his performances at Dundee United earned him a move to Scottish giants Celtic, but how even that was far from simple.



A natural central midfielder, Armstrong was played out on the right. He struggled for games.

Then Brendan Rodgers arrived, in 2016, and the Northern Irishman became another pivotal figure in his journey. “I don’t think he liked me at the start!” Armstrong says, honestly. “Not in terms of personality, but in terms of play. I think he’d seen me play wide and I don’t think he felt my performances were good enough. We had an honest conversation and I expressed a desire to play in the middle.


Rodgers gave him a go in training to prove himself, then in matches. “There was a lot of frustration from me in those days when I was playing as a wide player and I felt I had more to give. When I spoke to him he accepted my view and we developed a relationship from then. He gave me an opportunity to prove my point. He just believed in me and gave me that faith. He’s a fantastic coach, I can’t speak highly enough of him.”

Southampton came calling in 2018 with an offer of £7m and Armstrong could not say no. His grandparents live in England and he grew up watching English football, and had always made it clear that is where his ambitions lay. He loved Gianfranco Zola and Frank Lampard. “Lampard was a great inspiration for a young midfielder growing up. A goalscoring midfielder, his all-round passing, his play, his general aura.




Even on the south coast it has not been plain sailing. Armstrong was brought in by Mark Hughes and fell out of favour with Hasenhüttl, but just as he did early in his career he kept fighting, kept adapting.

Armstrong has always been more of a box-to-box midfield but Hasenhüttl spotted in him the attributes of a No 10. They had some “very honest conversations” about it. “I have a very strong opinion of where I see my strengths and where I hope to play,” Armstrong says. “Of course, he has a strong opinion on where he sees individuals and where they can best contribute to the team. I really had to adapt myself and give the manager what he saw from me and have faith and believe in what he was saying.”

The idea worked and Armstrong has been integral in Southampton’s strong form since the restart. They will finish the season at least 12th, could overtake Everton above them. They are not far away from Arsenal. Who knows what lies next for Armstrong at Southampton.




Coming to the end of this season it’s a proud moment for me, in terms of turning that around and finding my place in the starting XI,” he says. “Sometimes it’s not an easy path.”

Armstrong is testament to that.

 

Or "* teuchter voice" that some would have you believe

 

Wish him all the best and hope he does not get a serious condition with the virus.

 

Scored to help put Southampton top of the Premier League, tonight.

 

Decent goal

https://streamvi.com/watch/1604698697

 

Turning in a decent career down south.

Mad to think how effective he was for us in reality.

Came a long way since his Dundee utd days.

 

Good player. Glad he's doing well

 

He is a phenomenal player imo, he has looked brilliant in that league and could probably go up a level.

 

Always liked. Him, glad we signed him.

There was numpties thinking Christie was better than him, but no way, not even in the rung underneath him.

Mind you he's away now so * em, unless we have a sell on clause.

 

'A joy to watch'

Southampton 1-0 Liverpool


Karen Carney

Former England and Chelsea winger on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra

Stuart Armstrong has been the best player on the pitch by a country mile. He has worked tirelessly and in possession everything has been forward, forward, forward.

 

He’s more direct less * about with him score more for simple reason hits it low and hard none of this curling placed effort *


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Decant strike for an early goal..

 

His hair is fine