I’ve been in a good few dressing rooms in my time.
So when I look at Dundee United’s players right now, I can see there’s a real feel good factor amongst the playing group at Tannadice.
They’re doing a great job of proving themselves a serious Premiership team for a start.
I’d be the first to say I thought they’d struggle more, coming up from the Championship without making too many additions.
They’ve proved me wrong.
But the results aren’t the only thing the players will be happy with.
There’s also the atmosphere Micky Mellon is creating.
Everything the manager says seems to be positive. He’s always talking his players up.
In the last 10 days he’s called Lawrence Shankland “Scotland’s number nine” and backed him to start against Israel.
With two goals in two games to his name since returning for injury, I’ve got to say I think Mellon is right – Shanks should start for Steve Clarke’s side.
But he’s not the only player being praised to the high heavens.
Logan Chalmers has caught the eye with his recent performances.
Now he’s found himself put forward for a Scotland U/21 call-up by his manager.
That’s got to be a huge boost for the player’s confidence.
And I’m 100% behind Micky Mellon on this one – Chalmers is a huge talent and he deserves a call from Scot Gemmill.
In fact, I’m surprised he didn’t get it for the upcoming U/21 European Championship qualifiers.
He’s playing first team football and shining.
When you get a young player who’s capable of that, I think they should be added to national squads, even if it’s just to bring them into the group.
When I think back to being a young player myself, I never got into U/21 squads until I was playing every week in the first team at Dundee.
I think that’s maybe been a historic issue – players around this area sometimes seem to get overlooked.
I know St Johnstone have had a few players in recent years that could have been called up to the U/21s and haven’t really had the recognition.
Tommy Wright was vocal about that at the time.
It’s great to see Micky Mellon doing the same thing for Logan Chalmers.
It will do the player the world of good – and the confidence it gives him will do United good too.
Losing Alex Jakubiak for the start of the Championship campaign is the last thing Dundee needed.
And injuries are something they’ll need to hope don’t bite too badly as the season progresses.
The Dark Blues are going to be running with a small squad this season.
I’m quite confident, looking at what they’ve got, that they’ve got a strong staring XI.
There are good players from front to back with some real quality dotted around the team.
But because of the size of the squad, things like injuries and suspensions could end up having a big impact on how they go.
In fact, when Fin Robertson went down injured in Saturday’s friendly with Cove Rangers, I bet James McPake had a moment of panic.
It’ll be a worry right through the season too – and I hope it doesn’t have a negative effect on them.
That can happen – I’ve seen it myself.
You don’t want players worrying about getting injured or trying to avoid certain situations in games.
In an ideal world, players shouldn’t be thinking about that at all. They should be playing with freedom.
As soon as you start thinking: ‘I’m not going in for this ball, just in case,’ you’ve got problems.
That’s something James McPake will have to deal with this season.
Celtic and Rangers both face tough European ties on Thursday.
And from what I’ve seen in the past year, Rangers seem to be more adept at playing in Europe.
It seems to suit their style more.
Their best performances over the last 12 months have been in Europe, so Galatasaray will be worried coming to Ibrox.
Celtic haven’t quite shone the same way.
Sarajevo sounds like a tricky trip for them and I hope they can get a result.
But if I had to put my money on one side to go through, it would be Rangers.
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