Billy Gilmour - journey from 'Oor Billy' to Scotland's hope

Billy Gilmour’s football journey is one not travelled alone.

Last Wednesday afternoon in Frankfurt Airport's’ Terminal A, a platoon of Tartan Army foot soldiers were readying themselves for the final leg of their journey. Among them, was the Gilmour brigade.

A clutch of number 14s on the back of Scotland strips moved through the place, the same name centred above them in homage to one man.

Mum and dad were there, with more than a dozen others marching behind to support the man Scotland fans are screaming to be the saviour of the nation’s Euro 2024 campaign.

But that support, or indeed belief, is nothing new for Ardrossan’s brightest son, fondly nicknamed 'Oor Billy'.

It all started with a ball at his feet as soon as he could walk.

Grandad practiced with him, mother Carrie took him to training, while father Billy Snr coached him at his boys club, Tass Thistle.

"My dad was in the Navy for nine years," Gilmour told BBC Sport. "He played football himself, probably not to the same standard as me, but he says that’s where I get his skills from.

"Everything I did, every day when I woke up it was, ‘I want to go and play football’. To say I’m a professional footballer now, I’m happy.

"My family have been brilliant. Every home game they’re there, away games they come down too and the same with the national team. They’re my biggest supporters."

Mum has cursed the lack of ornaments in the Gilmour house growing up in fear of a straight shot or pass, while footage of him as a youngster shows him careering around the garden wearing shin guards so big he resembled a hockey goalie, such was the embryotic spark of his football journey.

Rangers eventually came calling and so did an early chance to be involved in first team matters.

"Of course it’s your dad [who is your inspiration], but football-wise it was Cristiano Ronaldo," he said. "When I got a bit older and I understood what position I was going to play in, it was [Andres] Iniesta.

"I trained at 15 years old with the first team under Mark Warburton and David Weir.

"The kit never fitted me or nothing. I was buzzing, I got my own number. I was 65, it’s come down a lot now."

The number has come down while the stock has risen immeasurably.

A move to Chelsea came in 2017 for the teenager, in a switch that grabbed the headlines north of the border as Rangers lost one of their brightest prospects.

The deal was done just after his 16th birthday, with his senior debut coming under Frank Lampard just two years later.

"I took that jump," said Gilmour. "I had full confidence in myself to come down and give it my best. I always knew I could go back, but I’d regret it if I didn’t.

"It was definitely a difficult decision. What made it easy was my dad being away for nine years. He said, 'you’re going to feel homesick sometimes and if you are it’s normal, just give me a call’.

"Frank was amazing with me. He gave me the chance at Chelsea to express myself. He gave me a lot of trust."

On the move, Lampard told the Scottish FA’s Oor Billy documentary, external: "There was something about him in terms of his personality and his family’s way, his mum and dad, that it struck home to me. A very normal family.

"They really wanted to support their boy."

A handful of Chelsea appearances came for Gilmour, who by this point was growing in stature.

In the search for more game time, though, a loan spell to Norwich City would prove a difficult period for the Scot with the Canaries being relegated from the Premier League.

However, the start of that season would bring Gilmour’s first international cap, with him going on to play a starring role in Scotland's draw at Wembley at the last European Championships just days later.

"It definitely never went to plan," said Gilmour of Norwich.

"When looking back, it’s helped me a lot. Nobody wants hard times in their career, they think it’s just train and play and you’ll start, start, start. But that’s impossible.

"It was an eye opener and I learned a lot more about myself than the football."

Now part of a Brighton team that looks at home in the upper echelons of the Premier League, Oor Billy looks equally comfortable in his own surroundings.

Only just turned 23, he is a linchpin for his club side and may well be in line to try and help his country get their Euro 2024 campaign back on track against Switzerland on Wednesday.

Gilmour started on the bench in Scotland’s 5-1 thrashing by Germany in Munich, and already there is huge clamour among fans and pundits to see if they’ll get their wish.

"He’s been brilliant with me," Gilmour said of manager Steve Clarke before the tournament. "Of course I’m from the same area as him, he’s an Ayrshire boy.

"He’s helped me a lot, especially at my time at Norwich when I wasn’t playing. He had that loyalty to pick me and say, ‘look, you’re not going to play, but you’re part of the squad. Train and work hard and go back to Norwich’.

"When I came into the squad he made me feel welcome from the start and I guess he now looks at me as an older player. I’ve been in the squad for a couple of years and trying to take more responsibility.

"I’m not a kid now."