in the past 16 months, jordan rhodes has been shunned by scotland and then dropped by blackburn rovers any suggestion that the mild mannered forward might throw in the towel, however, has been a definite non starter deemed unsuitable for gordon strachan’s favoured high energy 4 2 3 1 system, a conciliatory rhodes vowed that if he couldn’t change his game he would certainly bust a gut to try to improve it blackburn striker jordan rhodes talks to scotland boss gordon strachan on the touchline on wednesday  then, left out by gary bowyer for blackburn’s fa cup goalless draw against liverpool at anfield earlier this month, the 25 year old again elected to keep his counsel in an era when young millionaires aren’t slow to sound off about their perceived woes, the £8million man’s riposte was delivered silently on the park a winning goal in his first game back against bolton was followed up by a deadly double at charlton the following week it led to a £10m bid for his services from middlesbrough, swiftly booted out by blackburn owners venkys two weeks ago kevin gallacher, the former blackburn and scotland striker, is a big fan of rhodes but admits there were times he feared there might be parallels between the hitman and kris boyd jordan rhodes (left) challenges northern ireland's aaron hughes during the 1 0 victory  boyd may have been the finest goal grabber scotland has produced in recent years, but the flaws in his overall game limited him to just 18 international caps and seven goals for his country gallacher has been impressed, however, to see rhodes show a fighting quality to match his efficiency in front of the net the boy seemingly without a temper has rolled up his sleeves and scrapped it out to win his first scotland call up since november 2013 gallacher now feels rhodes could be a key player on sunday against whipping boys gibraltar in a european qualifying group where goal difference could prove decisive ‘jordan’s not egotistical he wouldn’t spit the dummy,’ said gallacher ‘but he’ s a real predator even though it’s not been his best season he’s still got 16 goals this season for blackburn rhodes in action during his last scotland call up which was back in november 2013  ‘we had someone like that before in kris boyd but for some reason kris never got the opportunity at national level to get many caps and many goals jordan had seemed to be going along similar lines but he’s up for the battle he’s proven that at blackburn, where he has found it difficult this season he’s been in and out of the side but he came back in and got a few goals and put pressure on the manager ‘i know he’s elated to be back in the scotland squad for the northern ireland and gibraltar games and he’ll be looking to start he’s got to take his chance when it comes since poland and ireland have both taken seven off gibraltar, i’ ve a feeling this group is going to come down to goal difference – and jordan can certainly score goals’ gallacher recalls rhodes facing a tough baptism of fire at blackburn where fans viewed him as a striker proven only in the lower tiers of english football with huddersfield but if ever a pedigree for scoring against mediocre opposition comes in handy, it’s against a gibraltar team so new on the scene they have no fifa ranking rhodes, in action against northern ireland, will hope to feature in sunday's contest with gibraltar  ‘jordan was scoring 20 plus goals a season but people questioned him when blackburn bought him for £8million,’ said gallacher, now 48 ‘he wasn’t tried and tested in the english championship i do think people worry because he hadn’t played and scored at the highest level and maybe that’ s in the back of your mind as a manager ‘but it’s up to jordan to keep his head down – as he does – and to work hard and score goals his game is all about goalscoring but at international level you need to do that tiny little bit extra if you want to succeed but that’s what jordan’s been working hard at he’s shown he will try his best to do what it takes to get back in’ by a quirk of fate, the last time scotland reached a major finals, blackburn rovers striker gallacher’s goals secured craig brown’s team a place at the world cup in france and his ewood park team mate colin hendry led the team out against brazil in the opening match in paris rhodes (right), who has been in impressive club form,  celebrates with blackburn team mate craig conway  in 2015, rhodes and his ewood park captain grant hanley both find themselves in the squad as scotland hope to end their international exile by reaching the euros, also in france, next year gallacher believes hanley has a head start on hendry but has the potential to be compared favourably to the man who in his prime was known as braveheart ‘grant is young and has still got one or two mistakes in him but if he keeps working hard it’s natural he will be compared with colin hendry because they are both scotland and blackburn defenders ‘but what i would remind grant is that colin hendry wasn’t the perfect player at 23 colin was a late developer at national level and grant is away ahead of colin for his age the older, the more caps, and the more experience grant gets will make him an even better player ‘i loved going to major finals as a player and i’d like to do it with the tartan army hopefully grant and jordan can help that happen’
gibraltar past 16 months rhodes this season sunday scotland blackburn euro 2016 november 2013 25 year old
the striker has been dropped by blackburn and scotland in past 16 months  25 year old has scored 16 goals for blackburn so far this season  rhodes last earned a call up for scotland in november 2013  scotland faces gibraltar in a euro 2016 qualifier on sunday 