Lyndon Dykes vowed to travel to Germany to support Scotland with “all of my heart” after being ruled out of Euro 2024 with an ankle injury.
The QPR striker suffered a training-ground injury two weeks before the opening game of the European Championship finals against the hosts in Germany and has been replaced by Bristol City’s Tommy Conway.
The Australian-born forward was an ever-present in the qualifiers and was at Hampden on Friday night as a TV pundit for Premier Sports as Scotland took on Finland in their final warm-up game.
And he will be with the squad as they travel to Germany on Sunday.
Dykes told Premier Sports: “The manager, I think he needs an extra person on the staff. I am going to go out there and support the boys, maybe do a little bit of media as well, just try and help as much as I can and be around them.
“I will secretly be very devastated but at the same point I will be supporting them with all my heart.”
The former Queen of the South and Livingston striker explained what happened at the City Stadium last Friday.
“It was just a freak accident, off a cross,” he said. “I lunged out for the ball and my studs got caught in the grass.
“At first we were worried about my knee. A few of the boys heard a cracking sound and that’s never a great sign, but as it went on I figured out it wasn’t in my knee as much, it was more my ankle. I tore a ligament in my ankle.
“It’s been very difficult. I am absolutely gutted, devastated. It was just really unfortunate the way it was. But I have come to terms with it and now I just want to support the boys as much as I can.
“I tried everything I could to get back. Credit to the medical team at QPR, they tried to push me as well to try and get back and maybe make something but the Scotland med team ruled me out.
“Like I said before, I am just really, really devastated. I am still coming to the fact of what happened. But it is what it is, that happens in football and now the boys have to push on without me.”
