NUMBERS DON'T count for Stephen McManus. Only the other day did he discover he will wear '4' on the back of his new Celtic kit, a more befitting figure than the '44' previously sported. "From No.1 to No.99, it doesn't bother me in the slightest," the 25-year-old says.
"What is important is to make sure you are in the side every week and performing well."
And when it comes to that selection, the armband he will wear doesn't count for McManus either. Next week will mark the first anniversary of the Lanarkshire de
fender becoming the club's youngest captain since Billy McNeill four decades earlier. Over the past 12 months, his stature has swelled – both through holding up the league championship trophy and upholding the role's best traditions. "He was born to lead," team-mate Aiden McGeady was moved to say of him the other day. So enhanced is McManus's status, indeed, he might be entitled to feel relaxed about the club's bid to land Romanian internationalist Gabriel Tamas from Auxerre in a £3.5m deal. Fat chance.
"Not at all," he predictably counters. "It doesn't work like that. When you come back, whether you are captain or not has no relevance. Everyone is back to square one and you need to earn the right to get in the side. I am no different from anyone else. The manager will pick the 11 he thinks will fit the bill to retain the title and go on to bigger and better things."
Should Tamas be tied up, Gordon Strachan will pick him. McManus would then find himself in direct competition with Gary Caldwell for the other centre-back slot, and be helped by the fact he is left-footed and the Romanian right-footed. Perhaps that is why he appears welcoming of the challenge. Or perhaps it is because it would be far less than daunting than when found himself fifth-choice central defender and without a single senior game in that preferred position a mere three summers ago, as Strachan prepared for his first season.
"When you play for Celtic or Rangers there are challenges all the time, and if the Romanian lad comes in he has a good pedigree," McManus says. "He played in the Euros – every minute of every game, which is great – and if he comes in he will be another great addition to the squad."
McManus is entirely unaffected by the trappings of his profession. The epitome of the honest pro, his humility, personable nature and devotion to hard graft have meant the throwback-stopper being cut some slack in the face of notable limitations. Indeed, unlike all his defensive colleagues, he seemed immune from criticism as Celtic's backline regularly exhibited a fragility under pressure last season – keeping only one clean sheet across 10 Champions League and four Old Firm encounters. McManus isn't oblivious to the fact that his decency will do him favours.
"I was brought up to believe that no matter how successful you are, there are always pitfalls," he says. "If you keep your feet on the ground and are modest people will have a lot of time for you. I am proud of the way things have gone, but I hope I have a long career ahead of me."
It is impossible not to warm to McManus. There is no mistaking his sincerity as he slips into touching reverie when counting blessings over a remarkable transformation. Since the summer of 2005, he has gone from emergency left-back cover to successful club captain and Scotland regular. Now, in the absence of the injured Barry Ferguson, he is the man national coach George Burley says will lead the country in the September's World Cup qualifying double-header.
"I don't have airs or graces," McManus says. "If someone had said to me: 'listen, this is where you're going to be in five years,' I'd have said: 'You're having a laugh, you should be in a mental institution'. I find it hard talking about the Scotland captaincy, to be honest. I will probably not understand and appreciate what it is until my career's finished. I know for a fact that my parents and my family are the proudest people because I have not come from anything beforehand, I've always played the game.
"My dad and my two papas used to go everywhere to see me. They were at Inverurie Locos, Deveronvale and Forres Mechanics when I was in the reserves playing pre-season games. I remember I made my debut on a Sunday (against Hibs, on March 21, 2004] and my papa Charlie, my dad's dad, passed away on the Friday so he never got to see me playing. It's things like that bring it all back to you; remind you how far you've come.
"There isn't a day that goes by without me thinking about how lucky I am because I know things could have gone another way. You only get out of something what you put in, and I am just trying to be the best that I can."
So is John Kennedy, now on a season's loan with Motherwell as he attempts to rebuild a career shattered along with his knee four years ago. McManus signed schoolboy forms at Celtic on the same day as Kennedy, though was considered the more modest centre-back prospect. The pair's diverging career paths since provide a searing illustration of football's cruel caprices. Not that McManus is likely ever to lose sight of these. "If it all gets taken away tomorrow then I can say: 'Well, I've had a helluva ride up till now'. I've been one of the lucky ones."
McManus and his Celtic cohorts had a helluva ride in the final two months of last season alone. Many of his team-mates have talked of there being no more satisfying manner in which to win a title than the emotion-charged circumstances in which Strachan's side retrieved a seemingly irretrievable championship and made it three-in-a-row at Tannadice, two days after Tommy Burns was laid to rest. McManus has a slightly different take, which typifies his even-handed approach to the game.
"The celebrations were wilder and more enjoyable. But if we hadn't won it would have been more of a low, so I'd always rather have a title wrapped up as soon as possible. It is the same with Old Firm games – when you win them it is an unbelievable high but when you lose them it is an unbelievable low. Winning the league the way we did was an unbelievable high, but during your career you are going to have massive lows as well. It is important to enjoy it but have a wee bit of respect for other people as well.
"It was a strange atmosphere, but one that will always live with me, no matter what. I remember as a kid watching videos when Celtic won at St Mirren in 1986. I remember Jim Stewart holding the ball and you suddenly hear the roar (to greet Dundee scoring against title-rivals Hearts]. I had never experienced anything like that until we played at Tannadice. It was an incredible feeling (when roars went up to greet Aberdeen scoring against Rangers]. That's something you could never, ever explain unless you are in that environment."
McManus, in his prosaic fashion, makes a pretty decent fist of it.
The full article contains 1254 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
