Northern Ireland’s EURO2016 goalkeeper Michael McGovern is currently without a club despite having played with the likes of Ross County, Falkirk, Hamilton and Stranraer. As a young goalkeeper coming through the ranks at Celtic, the opportunity to move to Stranraer was important for McGovern. He remembers his time there fondly. He said: "I was just drifting along playing in the reserves and not even playing that many games because we had so many goalkeepers. I went out and done well and the team done well and it cemented my place in people’s opinions at Celtic and I really kicked on from there."
As with many moves, the connection between interest and availability was down to friendship: this time between Stranraer manager Neil Watt's with then Celtic reserve manager Kenny McDowell. McGovern went on: "Neil was excellent. Everybody wanted to do the best for him. Him and Stuart Millar were a great partnership. Everybody was really good. It was a great bunch. The journeys down to Stranraer from Glasgow are quite long. There was always good craic on the bus and things like that. I’m still in contact with some of the players from my time there so it shows you how much I enjoyed that, like Dexi Wingate, Michael Moore and Stephen Swift I speak to them guys now and again so it shows you how much I enjoyed their company down there. The banter was flowing all the time."
Things have changed quite a bit since then with McGovern doing his job prospects no harm with his performances at EURO2016. Not quite what he was used to when playing in Scotland. He said: "It was an unbelievable experience. It was an amazing honour to represent my country and it was brilliant to experience going to a tournament and all the things that come along with it. The atmosphere in the country was electric."