Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Cummings quest to join Scottish elite is no joke

Scotland's Kenny McLean
Scotland's Kenny McLean

From Denis Law’s one arm aloft to Kenny Dalglish’s two.

From Gordon Strachan’s doomed attempt to leap over an advertising board to Leigh Griffiths’ catch-me-if-you can run around the Hampden track.

From Joe Jordan kissing his fist to John Collins pointing at the name on his back.

There have been some never to be forgotten goal celebrations in a Scotland shirt.

If Jason Cummings has his way, there will be a new one unveiled at Pittodrie on Thursday night.

And, fair to say, it will be a bit different.

The Nottingham Forest striker is a well-known joker and now he has the Batman character’s famous smile tattooed on his hand to prove it.

If Cummings finds the back of the net against the Netherlands, one of the best-known smiles in cinema will get a whole new audience.

He said: “I was actually sober when I got it! It’s for a goal celebration. I’ll need to start scoring goals to do it. If I score this week, that will be the one.

“The Joker does it and I’m a big fan of him. But there is nothing really significant behind all of my tattoos. Except for Sandy from Grease. That’s who this is meant to be. I asked for Sandy from Grease as she was in the movie, not now! I’m a big Grease fan. A massive fan. Honestly. It’s my favourite movie.

“Seriously, I can do the movie word for word. I just watched it when I was growing up, I don’t know why. There is a space left on my arm for Danny Zuko and the Pink Ladies!

“Why do I like The Joker? It’s just his character. I think he’s a bit like me.

“A striker needs a celebration. I scored that many goals up here that I was running out of celebrations. I needed a new one. Nah, I’m only joking. I don’t know why I got it. I’ll regret in 20 years, but live for the moment.”

Cummings does not need a tattoo to show how he’s feeling in the build-up to what he hopes will be his first Scotland appearance.

“Honestly, I am so over the moon,” said the former Hibs man. “If I could go back and tell the 12-year-old Cummings that his dream of being called up had come true, he would be so happy. When I saw my name, I was so proud.

“Growing up, this was my dream and my family are so proud. Getting into the Scotland squad was always something I wanted to tick off.

“It’s a friendly but it won’t be for me and the lads. We are focusing on Euro 2020 and this is the start. If I get involved, I’ll be on it.”

“My family are proud. For me, it would be great to get a cap and get on. But just getting called up is a massive achievement.

“I have got a taste of it now, so I want to keep myself in the squad and get the full thing.

“A target for me would be to try to get myself into the team and stay around the squad. Obviously, to do that I need to be playing well for my club team.”

Four goals for Forest have won Cummings his place in Malky Mackay’s squad and he hopes that Scottish football fans will see an improved player from the one who left Edinburgh.

“I feel that I have got fitter and a bit bigger,” he said. “There are loads of aspects. The games come thick and fast – Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday – that you have to make sure your recovery is right.

“I feel that I have matured as well. Playing with and against better players has made my game come on and I feel I have got better.

“It’s a different standard. The opponents are a bit fitter with more stamina. It’s a bit more professional.

“It did take me a while to get into it. But Mark Warburton’s philosophy is how I want to play, so there is no problem there.

“He loves to play football. He is all about getting the strikers in behind and scoring goals.

“Nothing has really changed on that front – the goals are the same size.

“I have done OK. I’m still adapting. It’s taken me a while to get used to it but I have four goals.”