James Penrice admits the sound of the Conference League anthem gets him buzzing on the Euro stage. And he hopes his performances will soon have Scotland boss Steve Clarke dancing to his tune too.
Penrice has been a smash hit for Hearts since his summer move to Tynecastle and Jambos punters even coined a ditty in his name which rocketed up the social media charts after being shared on X this week. But it’s on the park that the 25-year-old has really been hitting the right notes – with Tynecastle boss Neil Critchley singing his praises last week.
Critchley reckons Penrice should be targeting a Scotland call up. And while the left back might have seriously strong competition on his plate if he’s to even make a Clarke squad with skipper Andy Robertson, Greg Taylor and Kieran Tierney the three go-to options – he won’t ever give up on chasing a cap.
Penrice only has to look to his former Livingston mate Nicky Devlin – who won his first call up this season after turning 30 – for inspiration in that regard. With no international football now until March, Penrice is desperate to give Clarke food for thought and knows Hearts’ Europa Conference League campaign is the perfect setting.
So far the 25-year-old has set foot in Plzen, Baku and now Brugge as the Jambos go about looking to extend their Euro trip into the new year. And ahead of this evening’s clash with Cercle, Penrice said: “The manager and I had a conversation about my ambitions. For my career, I mentioned that Scotland was one of them. I don’t see why not. I’m at a huge club. If I keep playing well I’ve got to have a chance.
“Robertson and Tierney? It’s a no-bad fight, is it?! Nicky’ Devlin’s been brilliant. It wasn’t a long time ago he was with Livingston. It’s hard work and that’s what gets you where you need to go. Playing in Europe, even in the league playing against big teams, you need to go and perform. That’s what I want to do. I want to perform every game and see where it takes me.
“Europe has been good. Playing where I was last year and then coming here and playing on big European nights, it’s been great. I’ve said it before, the big games every couple of days and then playing in Europe, it was a massive attraction and I’m just glad I’m doing it.
“Even the song getting played before the match – it was a bit of a weird one the first time I heard it. It’s been a crazy year, but for me and my family it’s been brilliant and I look forward to these games.
“I got sent the fans’ song a couple of times yesterday. It’s always good. It’s probably the first one I’ve got! It’s more for my family. It’s stuff for them that they can look and be proud of.”
Penrice has made the switch from Livi look seamless with his front foot displays on the left flank. But he said: “If it looks like that, that’s probably good. It’s been difficult, I’m not going to lie. It was a different way of playing. I’ve had to get used to that. I didn’t really have a pre-season as well.
“I said it before I signed – I said I can come in and make an impact. I think I’ve done that. Now I feel I’m getting up to my best game. I can keep showing people what I can do.”
Brugge are languishing third from bottom of the Jupiler Pro League and, like Hearts, are without a win in their last three. To add to their woes they will be without suspended star man Kevin Denkey who finished last season as the top scorer in Belgium and will next month complete an MLS record $16m move to FC Cincinatti. That’s a huge boost for the Jambos who are two points better off than their hosts in the Conference League standings and know a win would all but seal a last 16 play-off spot at least.
Over 3000 Jambos have made the journey to Belgium. And Penrice said: There’s no words you can put together. They’re going to be here and they’re going to be loud. Even in the airport today, the airport was full of hard fans. That’s what we want. We want the backing and we need to go and show that we can go and put out a result.
“Every game should be the same. You should want to win. Whether there’s 15,000 Hearts fans or 5,000 Hearts fans, you should want to go and win games. There’s a belief from us and a demand from ourselves that we can go and do that.”