Malky Mackay tries to create Champions League club atmosphere for Scotland
Malky Mackay has tried to create the atmosphere of a "Champions League club" during his week in charge of Scotland.
The former Celtic player picked eight uncapped players in his squad for tonight's friendly against Holland and has made a conscious effort to make sure they bond with their team-mates and new backroom staff.
Ahead of the Pittodrie friendly, Mackay said: "The group have gelled pretty quickly together. That's important, that there is an ambience.
"It's something I absolutely want to make sure - that there is a club atmosphere. It's something I have seen with other countries before, having had players from other countries.
"The little Chilean, Gary Medel, who I had at Cardiff City, he said he had a club atmosphere when he went to play with Chile and it's something I want to make sure we garner when we get the payers here together: everything that's there for them, that they could be walking into a Champions League club.
"I don't want it to be underwhelming for them when they come away. From the minute they arrive to the minute they leave, it's an experience for them. And when they go back to their club, they want to come back again."
Mackay, the Scottish Football Association performance director, is in interim charge following the governing body's decision to end Gordon Strachan's tenure.
Despite what could be a fleeting spell in command and the new-look nature of the squad, the 45-year-old insists it has been a smooth process of getting that togetherness he craves.
"It's something I felt quite easy with because it's something I know well from club football and the culture I want to bring to something," he said.
"When I brought the staff together, six or seven hours before the players came together, we had a whole afternoon together and we looked through the things I was asking them to implement to make sure that the four/five-day lead-in to the game was exactly the way I wanted it, and that it runs like a football club should run.