John McGinn on tongue-in-cheek Ben Doak claim and Aston Villa v Celtic Champions League ticket frenzy
Never mind Euros flop, Scotland midfielder still bearing scars of St Mirren relegation nine years ago
Anyone anxious to discover whether Scotland’s Euros exit is still weighing heavily on John McGinn’s mind can rest easy. Disappointments from years earlier still keep him awake at night so it stands to reason that he’s still processing a low dating back just a couple of months.
Never mind Stuttgart 2024, he remains haunted by being a member of the St Mirren side who were relegated from the Scottish top flight in 2015.
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It’s not as straightforward as simply moving on, as athletes often claim. “We go again,” has become a somewhat cliched mantra. However, according to McGinn, the truth is slightly different. Although wallowing in past failures is not an option, setbacks such as Scotland’s elimination at the group stage in Germany cannot be easily disregarded.
“You definitely don’t park them,” said McGinn. “I still think about getting relegated with St Mirren, what I could have changed, what you could do better? These things never leave you. Everyone always says the highs in football make the lows worth it, but they’re lying.”
That’s quite a statement considering the quality of those highs in McGinn’s case. A League Cup win for St Mirren in 2013, the club’s first trophy in over 30 years. And then that epic, hoodoo-busting victory with Hibs in the 2016 Scottish Cup final against Rangers.
Now at Aston Villa, he’s relishing the thought of forthcoming Champions League action against Bayern Munich, who they beat to lift the trophy in 1982, and of course Celtic, the club with whom he has rich family connections. He now has a bigger headache than the Oasis comeback tour promoters when it comes to distributing tickets.
But first comes Thursday’s return to action against Poland as Scotland make their debut in League A of the Nations League. Normally this would be eagerly awaited, particularly since an appointment with Ronaldo’s Portugal on Sunday in Lisbon forms the second part of a doubleheader. However, while the Hampden clash with Poland is heading for a sell-out, there’s no doubting that a post-Euros hangover is persisting, even amongst the players.
For that reason, McGinn was happy to bump into Ben Doak on Sunday night as a small rump of Scotland players congregated at the team HQ for the start of international week. The 18-year-old is an effervescent presence. He also has no hang-ups about Euro 2024 since he was not involved due to injury and is free, McGinn noted, “of the doom and gloom”. He has since moved on loan to Middlesbrough from Liverpool
McGinn reported Doak’s tongue-in-cheek greeting. “He cheered me up last night,” he said. “There were only five or six that arrived because a lot of the boys were still travelling, having played yesterday. We were touching on it (the Euros) and he said: ‘if I stayed fit it might have been different!’
“That’s just his character and it’s brilliant. He’s got a lot of confidence. He’s a good laugh and he’s fitted in well. He’s excited to play some games at Middlesbrough and I think he’s ready to contribute for us. I think everyone’s aware of his ability and he’s certainly something different to what we’ve got. Hopefully we can see that on Thursday.”
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Under-fire manager Steve Clarke risks insurrection if the forward does not play some part against Poland. McGinn whetted the appetite. “Even in training, he’s so explosive – sheer pace, power, strength,” he said. “It’s certainly something we’ve been missing over the past couple of seasons.
“He’s definitely going to bring something different there and hopefully we can see,” he added. “He’ll definitely get supporters off their seats and hopefully we can see that.”
McGinn addressed his own form in Germany this summer. The midfielder acknowledged he was not at his best in the three games. He made a conscious decision to stay away from social media in the aftermath and reflected on the mental as well as physical toll of top-level professional football. Watford defender Ryan Porteous, he pointed out, had only six days off this summer. “In any walk of life, it’s not fair,” he said. McGinn has called on the authorities to lessen the load but will suspect he’s whistling in the wind.
“As much as we’re all living our dreams growing up and you want to play in European competitions and for your country, it is getting a bit mad,” he considered. “It’s certainly something they’ve got to look at.”
It won’t get less relentless anytime soon for McGinn, with eight Champions League games to negotiate in the weeks and months ahead, including against Celtic. His grandfather, Jack, was chairman at Parkhead for a long time. Not unnaturally, McGinn grew up supporting the club. He knew what was coming when Villa and Celtic were paired together. Many in his large family wasted little time getting their ticket requests in. “I turned my phone off,” he said. “I’m just glad it’s not until January….”
Villa fans have had their imagination caught by a home match against Bayern Munich in October. “That’s probably taken a bit of the shine off the Celtic fixture in a sense,” he said. “So I’ve managed to avoid the lads’ questions about the game.”
Some teammates have, though, expressed their disappointment at not getting to experience a European night in the east end of Glasgow.
“A few of them have mentioned to me that they wished the game was the other way around,” said McGinn. “I think the lads will want to play at Celtic Park. I’ve ramped on about European nights there so many times to them!”
Related topics:John McGinnScotlandSt MirrenChampions LeagueAston VillaSteve Clarke
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