The former Portsmouth man’s unlikely charge into Euro contention after against-the-odds fightback from injury hell

It was a season which started with a mystery injury which rendered his leg so weak he had to ask a team-mate to put his socks on for him.

Now, after fighting back from a serious fitness issue which turned his dream £2m move into a living nightmare, it could end with the former Pompey loanee representing his country at the European Championships.

That’s after Ross McCrorie was drafted into Steve Clarke’s provisional squad last week, ahead of the action getting underway in Germany next month.

The defender, who spent the 2019-20 season on loan at Fratton Park, endured a horrific period after agreeing a summer switch to Bristol City form Aberdeen, when the 26-year-old went down with a suspected muscle injury ahead of the new campaign.

McCrorie was left taking a cocktail of pills to deal with the pain excruciating and no one able to diagnose the issue, until a bone infection in his pelvis was detected as the root of his troubles.

It meant the first half of the campaign was a write off for the 26-year-old, who made 23 Pompey appearances in a Covid-impacted season in which he became headline news as one of the first people to test positive for coronavirus with the campaign curtailed.

McCrorie has rallied, however, under new Robins boss Liam Manning, making 22 appearances down the right flank in 2024.

That has once again brought the former Rangers man to the attention of Clarke, after being called up to the senior squad last summer following a flying season with Aberdeen in the SPL. That paved the way for McCrorie’s return to English football in the Championship, where his problems started.

It’s issues at right-back which have prompted the opportunity for the man who operated in midfield in his time at PO4, with Brentford’s Aaron Hickey and Everton’s Nathan Patterson sidelined.

Now McCrorie has a chance to stake his claim to be one of the 26 players on the plane to Germany, after making Scotland’s provisional group of 28.

Scotland open their campaign against the host nation on June 14, before group games against Switzerland and Hungary follow, with Clarke explaining his thinking over McCrorie’s inclusion.

He said: ‘Well obviously I lost my two first-choice right-backs/right wing-backs - Aaron and Nathan.

‘So looking down, Ross obviously had a really difficult time when he first went to Bristol City with quite a serious problem.

‘He got back in the team over the second half of the season and acquitted himself well. He got some minutes under his belt. He’s another one who’s been in squads before, so I’ve got a chance to look at Ross as well and see how he’s doing.’