Dundee United captain Jon Daly has backed team-mate Craig Conway to be the next Scottish success story in England if that’s the career path the Scotland winger chooses in the summer.
Daly has no doubts the 25-year-old could cut it in the Premier League and follow in the footsteps of the likes of Craig Gordon, Charlie Adam, Graham Dorrans and Alan Hutton.
He said, “I really don’t see why not. Craig’s still quite young and has his best years ahead of him. He’s already been capped for Scotland and I see no reason why he couldn’t head south and be a success in the Premier League.”
Conway was a late addition to the Scotland squad to face Northern Ireland in Dublin this evening, and Daly believes it’s a just reward for a sparkling spell of form.
The Irishman said, “It’s been a massive boost to us to have Craig back in our side. He’s been a really important player over the last few weeks.
“He’s come back from injury and hit the ground running. The team has definitely picked up with him back in it and I’m delighted for him that he’s got his call up.
“It’s great for him personally, and hopefully when he comes back his confidence will be even higher and he’ll carry on where he left off against Hamilton at the weekend.
“I don’t know Craig Levein’s plans but, who knows, he might get a run-out. If he doesn’t it will mean he’s fresh for us on Sunday against Celtic.”£600,000 bidTannadice chairman Stephen Thompson knocked back a £600,000 bid from Middlesbrough for Conway in the close season, and if he leaves at the end of this campaign as is expected it will be for nothing.
Daly understands why Thompson put a higher value on his head than the Teeside club bid.
He added, “I could see where the chairman was coming from. Craig had a great season and he’d just scored two goals in the Scottish Cup final to help us win it. So I could see why he turned the offer down. If he’d got the right fee Craig wouldn’t still be here.
“The decision was made to keep him, and from a playing side of things I’m glad he didn’t go because we’re going to need him for an important few months of the season.”
Daly is suspended for Sunday’s visit of Celtic, so the target man won’t get the chance of extending his run of two goals in two games.
He added, “It’s been great to get back amongst the goals and for the team to be winning again. Sunday’s a big game obviously, and hopefully the boys can get a point or three while I’m out.
“There’s never a good time to be banned, but it’s particularly frustrating when you’ve just scored a couple of goals.
“But we’ve got a lot of games coming up in the next few weeks, so I won’t worry about it too much.”
Meanwhile, midfielder Danny Swanson was one of several top team players to get a run-out in a closed-doors game against a young St Mirren side. Andis Shala, Barry Douglas and Ryan Dow were the others.