WHEN Charlie Mulgrew was relegated to England’s League One with Blackburn Rovers, one of his main concerns was that he might find himself out of the Scotland squad, never mind the harm it might do to his chances of captaining his country.

After an outstanding season as skipper for his club, Alex McLeish yesterday handed Mulgrew the honour of wearing the armband for Scotland in tonight’s match against Costa Rica.

Whether the former Celtic and Aberdeen defender’s reign as captain begins and ends there, only the Scotland boss knows. But Mulgrew is eager to make the most of the honour for however long it is his.

“Of course, I was concerned about Scotland,” admitted Mulgrew. “There were chances to maybe move on but I felt I owed Blackburn something.

“I was part of the squad which went down so I always wanted to stay and try and get them back to where the club should be. But there are obviously those doubts in your mind that it might not happen again.

“Every time I get called up I’m honoured. I never take it for granted. I only found out [about the captaincy] just before training, so it was a real honour for me. I didn’t have any inkling and I certainly wasn’t expecting it.

“When the manager told me, I was absolutely delighted. You grow up hoping to get the chance to play for Scotland.

“So, to be captain for a game is absolutely massive for myself and my family.

“I will just take it one game at a time. The manager just said I would be captain against Costa Rica. That’s as far as it went really.

“I don’t know if he is looking to build anything around me. He maybe looked at the amount of caps I have got and looked at the squad, and I have quite a lot in comparison to a lot of the other boys.

“There are a lot of captains in the changing room, a lot of leaders and hopefully we can get the right result.”

In donning the armband for his country as well as for the club he grew up supporting as a boy, Mulgrew will have ticked off two of his childhood dreams.

“Growing up a Celtic fan, [captaining them] was massive for me,” he said. “It was a real proud moment for me and I was very honoured to have done that.

“This is right up there with that. It is a massive honour.”

Mulgrew was a late arrival to the international scene, picking up his first cap in a friendly against Slovenia in 2011 just shy of his 26th birthday.

Now 32, and with 32 caps under his belt, he is keen to savour every moment that he has left in a Scotland jersey.

“I never gave up,” he said. “I always tried to keep believing in my ability. I always believed I could play for my country.

“I played all the way through the age groups and then I didn’t play for the full squad until I was 25. You do doubt yourself at times and worry it won’t come, but thankfully it did.

“That’s why I cherish each time I’m called up and I try to treat every training session as if it is my last.

“I never take being called up for granted. I always check each squad just to make sure I am there.

“I am always delighted when I am.”

The defender has taken to the role of leading Blackburn Rovers like a duck to water, and he doesn’t intend to alter his style that has proven so effective as he leads out his country, vowing to remain true to himself.

“There obviously is that in the back of your mind where there’s a bit of extra responsibility but I’ll just be trying to do my best for my country as I always do and try and win matches,” he said.

“I’ve played under a few good captains with Scott Brown the most notable. But I just try and be myself because when you start trying to act like someone else then people see through it quickly.

“Hopefully I’m captain because that’s what I’ve been doing - being who I am - and hopefully I can lead by example with the way I play.”

If Mulgrew is to skipper Scotland for a second time in Hungary on Tuesday evening, then he will face a hectic dash back home to face Bradford in a vital match for his club against Bradford on Thursday night, as Rovers battle it out with Shrewsbury and Wigan for automatic promotion to the Championship.

“I’m aware of the fact we play next Thursday night but my full focus coming away here is Scotland,” he said.

“I’ll be doing everything I can for Scotland. When Tuesday’s finished and we get back here, then I can deal with Thursday night.

“It’s still a long time – 36 hours before the next game. At centre-back, you don’t maybe do as much running as you would somewhere else.

“We’ll see what happens. My full focus is on Scotland at the moment.”

At the outset of any qualification campaign, particularly when a new manager is on board, an optimism tends to abound for Scotland that – over the last few years at least – has fizzled out rather abruptly.

But Mulgrew is hoping that the feel-good factor around the squad at the moment can help drive them towards their ultimate goal of qualification for Euro 2020.

“It has felt like the start of something new,” he said. “There’s a new staff and players.

“It feels like a fresh start. Everyone is eager to impress. We all want to be playing and get that jersey.

‘We all want to win for our country.”