Who persuaded Alex McLeish to hand Sheffield Wednesday defender Liam Palmer a first Scotland call-up

Uncapped Palmer, who qualifies for the Scots through his late grandmother, who was from Carluke in South Lanarkshire, won his first call-up today.

He has been selected in the 27-man squad for the European Championship 2020 qualifiers with Kazakhstan and San Marino.

McLeish said: "He’s been in the system with him before with the young ones and I've got to be honest, in recent times he wasn’t flagged up. All of a sudden we recognised Liam was playing extremely well for Sheffield Wednesday.

Liam Palmer wins his first Scotland call-up

"He was a midfielder converted to a full back so there was a little bit of that to discuss. The fact he was played right back, left back and midfield then again it is a player of versatility.

"James McFadden went down to watch him a few weeks ago and James was really impressed by him."

Scotland face Kazakhstan on March, 21 before travelling to San Marino three days later.

Barry Bannan, meanwhile, returns to the international set-up for the first time since 2017.