Max Johnston rise to Scotland success in focus as 'desire' from Sturm Graz propels him into Steve Clarke plans

Max Johnston's breakthrough into the full Scotland set-up at the age of just 19 doesn’t surprise Jamie McNee.

That’s because he sees first-hand what the Sturm Graz defender does to improve his game including mindset books from tennis coaches. McNee, who is a coach at Ultimate Soccer in Glasgow and SPFL League Two side Peterhead hailed Johnston for showing desire in sessions and for looking to improve at every possible opportunity.

McNee could also envisage very quickly that the former Motherwell man would go to the top but understandably admits that Johnston still has levels to reach in his development. He said: “His desire was massive more than anything, obviously he had his dad (Allan Johnston) who did it all in the game but Max totally took on himself about going to the gym and practising every day, even now he still kicks the ball about in his back garden.

“It’s not changed whether it’s the gym, physical or ball work. He is massive on the tactical side of the game. He’s always had ability, even when he started going out on loan, there would be managers saying that he needs to improve technically - I never seen that at all and I worked with him on a one-to-one basis where it’s 400-500 touches within an hour.

“He never struggled with anything whether it was left foot, right foot, finishing, consistency and weight of pass. He could do anything but that came from desire and hard work. On the eye, it didn’t look perfect but for me, he was always going to go to the top. I was speaking to him the other day and he isn’t settling for sitting on the bench for the national team - the first thing he said is it makes him hungry to be involved again.

“As coaches at Ultimate Soccer, we were saying, ‘Why’s he not involved?’ But