Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I was fortunate to be able to go to the Scotland games with my grandad and it's scary to think I could now be playing in one.
Hibs are such a brilliant club, amazing training ground, good coaches, and a great platform for Scottish players to get better.
To be honest, I had a brilliant group of players at Hibs and the support were very fair with me. They didn't make it difficult.
I think everyone will agree that it doesn't matter how we get to an international tournament. We are going to do whatever it takes.
When a Scottish player goes down the road you're always going to get doubters. You always get people saying you're from a pub league.
There's something special about big midweek games at Easter Road, under the lights, that makes us have that little bit extra about us.
Scoring at the big stadiums in Glasgow is something I have dreamed about doing since I was a wee boy and now I have managed to do that.
There's always going to be that question going up a division. Can you do it? Are you only good against the players in a lower division?
Sometimes a manager will assess the other team through the warm-up and try to get an inkling as to what way they are going to be playing.
You will always have people to prove wrong. I always have done and I always will. I use that to spur me on and stay hungry and that's the big aim.
In Scotland you can enter a comfort zone. I felt I had already developed a reputation there and felt it was important to prove I can play elsewhere.
It's always nice to be getting personal recognition, but I wouldn't be getting it if it wasn't for the help of my team-mates and the backroom staff.
There's a lot of good midfielders all desperate to play for their country and all I can do when I get called up is prove that I deserve to be there.
You learn more from defeats and it makes you hungry to go and improve the next time. That's the way I have dealt with things during my whole career.
It is not easy to get out of it. It is much nicer to be fighting at the top of the league but it is only nicer if you can get something at the end of it.
Football is a great place to get away from things, and going over to Greece was amazing and I've loved it - it is basically getting away from all the talk.
A lot of players and pundits can be talking the Scottish league down and it's not until players and coaches actually experience it they start respecting it.
All you want to do is first and foremost a job for the team but if you can entertain the people in the stands, and make then enjoy their day, then it helps.
I know I have been compared with Broony and he is a player I've looked up to massively. When I first went into the Scotland squad he took me under his wing.
When you experience lows like I have it just makes you hungry to go and succeed even more, and make sure days like that don't happen as much as they have done.
If you get too high it comes back to bite you on the backside so I was always aware in spells before when I've done well in a season, eventually there was a wee dip.
It's never nice looking over your shoulder and needing other results but sometimes that happens in football. It's a lot better to know your future is in your own hands.
Alan Hutton and I are always fighting the corner for Scottish football. It's a really tough league down here with a lot of quality players trying to get into the Premier League.
I'm going from Somerset Park one week to Wembley the next. It's crazy but that's football. You don't get to where you want to be without going through all these different places.
I think people maybe had a perception of me that I was just a hard working player, just a runner. Don't get me wrong, I think I am that but I've got a lot more to my game than that.
If someone is going to spend a whole game marking you, then there may be games when I will have to sacrifice myself for the team and take them away and create space for a team-mate.
I look at the likes of Darren Fletcher and Scott Brown and they're just normal people. They are humble and work away to become the best they can. That's the path I've tried to follow.
When you are growing up to even be involved in a Scotland squad is a massive achievement, to go on and play for your country is an amazing thing, something I will never take for granted.
The Villa boys will not be shy in telling me that I talk about Hibs all the time. I loved my time here, it was a special three seasons so I have a lot to be thankful for from my time here.
For every Scottish player and whoever qualifies to play for Scotland, it's important to put in the performances and, when a squad is coming up, to stay on your toes and prove you deserve to be there.
I've worked under a lot of managers, whether it's the national team or at St Mirren and everyone has their moments. I think it is important, you can't just let things pass if they are not good enough.
I remember when I was at St Mirren someone called me the ugliest thing they had seen at Tynecastle, and two minutes later I scored - it was brilliant. I just laugh it off - I agree with them most of the time!
I think it's really hard to replace what Scott Brown brought to Scotland. He was one of a kind and there aren't too many players like Broony. But for me, the more you try and replicate him, the more difficult it becomes.
I think you're always fighting a losing battle when you're Scottish and I don't think that's right. I think the way that people look at Scottish football is wrong, but at the same time, we have to start proving it on the park and start showing it again.