John McGovern says that he "detested" being ignored by Scotland when his midfield contemporaries were racking up the international caps.
The former Nottingham Forest captain skippered the club to two European Cups in 1979 and 1980, as well as winning the First Division with both Forest and their East Midlands rivals, Derby.
However, despite playing for Scotland under-23s, McGovern never played for his senior national side, in a career that spanned three decades.
Now 67, McGovern was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame last Sunday, but he says seeing rival players picking up caps in the 70s and 80s while he was being snubbed still rankles.
He said: "It was something that bitterly disappointed me during my playing career when at times I was playing against and beating the best in Europe.
"I looked at players like Ray Wilkins playing for England and thought, 'He can't out-run me, he is as slow as I am. And he can't out-tackle me and can't out-head me and he can't out-pass me, but he has 70 caps and more for England'.
"So there is something not quite right there, there is an inequality there that I definitely detested for a long time."
McGovern's career was intrinsically linked with Brian Clough, the legendary ex-Forest and Derby manager. The pair even worked together at Hartlepool, where they both started out.
McGovern said: "I started at 15 at Hartlepool and played for Cloughie there and he taught me how to play the game.
"I suppose that I had a slight deformity, a bent left shoulder, my style of running was poor and I was the slowest player I played with or against.
"I would have walked up the M74 with bare feet over broken glass to play for Scotland, I was that proud to be a Scotsman."
Despite his lack of an international career, McGovern says that being inducted into the Hall of Fame "gives me a bit of satisfaction".
He added: "When I phoned my mum about the award, she said, 'Do you get any money?' I said, 'Mum, this is much bigger than that, this is phenomenal for me to win'.
"I don't have any complaints. I am one of the guys who lived the dream."