Aiden McGeady today

I was just thinking ahead for the Barca game and with McGeady playing this well we have a smashing chance of turning them over. The new signings are already contributing quite well and their presence is having a knock-on effect on those on the pitch. For example, McDonald and Hesselink have upped it a notch since Samaras has joined and now Robson’s knocking on the door too. We’re really clicking into gear and that’s 7 wins on the bounce and 5 goals in successive away fixtures. McGeady versus Messi is a mouthwatering prospect and I can’t wait for it.

Leave Houghton, Aldridge and Lawrenson out of this…

Did you spot it by the way?

The way we played in the last two games was superb. Samaras and Robson have really upped the ante for the guys on the pitch and that’s excluding Mizuno who I assume won’t be ready in time.

Brown will be a big loss for the home leg but Donati/Robson aren’t bad replacements to have waiting in the wings.

Just looking at our fixtures there last night - fucking SPL arseholes. We don’t play a single home game in the month of March. We’ve just had 3 away games in a row, now we’ve two home then and it’s all aways until April.

Another thing I was meaning to post is that we appeared to be trying out a few variations to our formation yesterday. At times it looked like we were playing 4-1-3-2 with Hartley holding and Aiden, Brown and Naka breaking forward and wide ahead of him. You could see it from the position Aiden was in when he received the ball and scored his goal and also when he got onthe ball in the middle of the park in the build up to the penalty. I think it might be a good formation to use against Barca’s 4-3-3 and I wonder if we were testing it out yesterday. That said we were very fluid all through and having Naka back means sides can’t really double or triple mark Aiden as we’ll open them up down Naka’s side. The return of Naka, having fit full backs and the new signings have added a fresh impetus in recent weeks and it’s time to press on now.

We might have a home game in March if the rearranged derby gets fixed for around that time but the fixture list is more than a little bit odd alright. The huns have played 13 home games and 10 away so far, while Celtic have played 11 home and 12 away. It’s conceivable that after the split after 33 games when everyone has played each other 3 times that 4 of the huns’ last 5 games could be away from home.

Something awfully weird is afoot. BBC Scotland`s Chick Young is praising a Celtic player to the absolute hilt. Of course he has a dig about him playing for Ireland but that reflects the endemic racism Aiden has to contend with every time he plays for Celtic in Scotland.

From BBC:

Frankly, there doesn`t seem much point in even opening the polling booths. Ballot papers are not required.

Just be done with it and give Aiden McGeady the player of the year awards now, both Scottish Football Writers Association and that of his fellow professionals. Its shootie-in.

The gifted young Glaswegian, who allowed his football soul to be wooed over the sea to Ireland, has lit up the season with his dancing feet and dipping shoulders, leaving magic dust and shell-shocked defenders in his wake.

Oh, what a loss for Scotland is the one who got away. How could that have happened?

You cant blame the lad. Hes entitled to play for the country of his forebears if that`s what stirs his heart.

The Irish prised a foot in his door when Celtic stopped him playing for the Scottish schoolboy team and Packy Bonner started to nibble his ear.

It was a piece of opportunism by Dublin, thats what it was. But it was Scotlands loss all right.

McGeady is the fans kind of player. Big, ugly centre-halves might be vital components of successful teams but they dont affect the box office. You don`t make up your mind to take in a game just to see a bloke built like a brick outhouse boot a ball into the stand.

But McGeady and his ilk? Things of beauty they are. They make turnstiles click like machine gun fire and they warm the soul on a cold winter`s day.

Four years ago I stood with Martin ONeill at Celtics Barrowfield training ground on a spring afternoon and watched the club`s youngsters play. McGeady shone like a diamond in a coal face.

It was as if the ball was laced to his boot. They couldnt get it off him, couldnt get near him.

Except he loved it so dearly he couldnt bear to part with it. He should have been in dribblers anonymous.

Beating three men was never enough - he always needed to take on just one more.

And so the strikers grow weary of making runs and checking out of them only to go again…and again…and again. They are, after all, playing football, not dancing the Grand Old Duke of York.

ONeill told me that at that stage of McGeadys development it was not a problem, but there would come a time when the player would realise that the pass and the cross were as telling as the mazy run, when the extraction of the Michael of just a couple of players was enough.

And now the Celtic player has reached - and eased into - that stage.

It makes you wonder what he might be worth in the transfer market if Alan Hutton- a defender - and Craig Gordon - a goalkeeper - are price-tagged at 9m.

Celtic are sitting on the kind of goldmine which at one fell swoop could write off the cost of their Lennoxtown training complex.

Multi-million pound deals will never replace the joy of discovering and nurturing your own talent, although McGeady can reflect on the irony of life given that those who were developing with him - players like Ross Wallace and Craig Beattie - never quite took it to the next level at Celtic.

Thats not McGeadys problem. But I doubt if he has many, as spring thinks of poking her head out from under the duvet.

It`s his season in the sun, all right, and that showing against Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Sunday was the embodiment of everything in his locker.

The double drag-back - copyright Zinedine Zidane - for the creation of Scott McDonald`s second goal was stuff to take the breath away.

But there is more to his game now than flicks and tricks. He is not a performing seal.

But he should retain the skills. He`ll have two player of the year awards to juggle with come May.

[quote=“Bandage”]Another thing I was meaning to post is that we appeared to be trying out a few variations to our formation yesterday. At times it looked like we were playing 4-1-3-2 with Hartley holding and Aiden, Brown and Naka breaking forward and wide ahead of him. You could see it from the position Aiden was in when he received the ball and scored his goal and also when he got onthe ball in the middle of the park in the build up to the penalty. I think it might be a good formation to use against Barca’s 4-3-3 and I wonder if we were testing it out yesterday. That said we were very fluid all through and having Naka back means sides can’t really double or triple mark Aiden as we’ll open them up down Naka’s side. The return of Naka, having fit full backs and the new signings have added a fresh impetus in recent weeks and it’s time to press on now.

We might have a home game in March if the rearranged derby gets fixed for around that time but the fixture list is more than a little bit odd alright. The huns have played 13 home games and 10 away so far, while Celtic have played 11 home and 12 away. It’s conceivable that after the split after 33 games when everyone has played each other 3 times that 4 of the huns’ last 5 games could be away from home.[/quote]

Is there a set of results we should be hoping for so to try and get Rangers having more away games after the split (e.g. should we be hoping Aberdeen do well to force the huns to go to Pittodrie)? And do we know what those circumstances are.

I see us having 5 home games before the split (including rearranged huns and Dundee United games) and 5 away games. That means we’ll be 16 home and 17 away before the split. Are we then guaranteed to be 3 home and 2 away afterwards? What if the top 6 is Celtic, huns, Hibs, Dundee United, Killie and Hearts. Would we then have to play 1 home game (huns) and 4 away games?

[quote=“therock67”]Is there a set of results we should be hoping for so to try and get Rangers having more away games after the split (e.g. should we be hoping Aberdeen do well to force the huns to go to Pittodrie)? And do we know what those circumstances are.

I see us having 5 home games before the split (including rearranged huns and Dundee United games) and 5 away games. That means we’ll be 16 home and 17 away before the split. Are we then guaranteed to be 3 home and 2 away afterwards? What if the top 6 is Celtic, huns, Hibs, Dundee United, Killie and Hearts. Would we then have to play 1 home game (huns) and 4 away games?[/quote]

This isn’t definitive but I think to try to ensure an equitable league every team plays 19 home games and 19 away games. Because of the nature of the league, after every team has played each other 3 times for a total of 33 games, the top 6 and bottom six are split into 2 separate groups with the top 6 playing each other again to make another 5 games (38 in total) and this is where things can get skewed.

For example, I recall the huns had to travel to Aberdeen 3 times a few seasons ago because they’d played 17 home games prior to the split but most of them were against teams who ended up in the bottom section. That meant 3 of their last 5 games had to be away ones to get the 19/19 balance and so they ended up with another trip to Pittodrie. Having to go up to Aberdeen 3 times may have seemed unfair but it was mitigated by the fact they’d already played most of the scheidt teams twice at home.

So in essence I think I’m correct in stating that Celtic will have 3 home games after the split. Aside from ourselves and the huns, Dundee United and Motherwell look pretty assured of getting their top 6 spot. The remaining 2 spots are between Aberdeen, Caley Thistle, Falkirk, Hearts and Hibs.

One of our guaranteed home games after the split will be against the huns. If the top 6 remains as it is now then we’ll have played Dundee United, Motherwell and Inverness twice at home by the split so we’ll get the benefit of playing one of them 3 times at home (if my calculations are correct). We’d also play Aberdeen at home as we’ve played them twice up there now.

The huns will have played 17 home games before the split, and like a couple of years ago, they’ll have played the weaker sides like Gretna and St Mirren twice at home so they’ll have to play 3 games away from home. One of them will be against us and the 2 others would be against Aberdeen and Caley Thistle if they stay in the top six. However, there could be a scenario where they have to play someone away from home for a third time if the likes of Hearts break into the top six.

It’s very complicated to be honest.

Right didn’t know you could play the same team away 3 times. It’s fecking stupidly complicated and I’d accept it if it was to make room for a winter break or something. But it’s not, it’s just a shite idea.

Yes, it’s a rubbish system alright. I’m fairly sure (but not entirely sure) that what I’m saying is correct. As things stand the huns have to play 9 of their last 15 games away from home, including us twice, so there’s plenty of football to be played. But given their fixture listing and their next 2 games being against St Mirren and Killie then it might not be until March that they start to feel the heat.

We also have our 6 consecutive away games (4 in the SPL) to contend with in March too:

01/03/2008 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Hibernian 12:30 A
04/03/2008 UEFA Champions League Barcelona 19:45 A
09/03/2008 Scottish Cup Aberdeen 12:45 A
15/03/2008 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Motherwell 12:30 A
23/03/2008 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Gretna 14:00 A
29/03/2008 Clydesdale Bank Premier League Rangers 12:30 A

All in all, it’s fair to say the league set up is quite a mess.

Article from today’s Scotsman for anyone who’s interested. I think it’s time for Aiden to inherit the number 7 jersey and thus follow in the footsteps of Johnstone and Larsson:

AIDEN McGeady’s dismantling of Aberdeen the other day, confirming his emergence as arguably the most formidable footballer in Scotland, will have surprised nobody who has long known of his exceptional natural talent, least of all himself.

Professionals within the game have been aware of the 21-year-old Celtic winger’s extraordinary gifts since pre-adolescence, but those who, at the time, proclaimed him as a future star will have told him nothing he did not already know.

It was as a 15-year-old that McGeady expressed his ambition to become the youngest player ever to wear the green and white hoops of the Celtic first team. The declaration was enough in itself to suggest that he considered himself already worthy of the distinction.

The precociously skilled invariably recognise and then develop a high regard for their expertise, initially wondering why others cannot do what they can do before the realisation that they are a small and treasured minority.

It is a tendency that – especially in immaturity – frequently leads to a certain aloofness and a stubborn resistance to advice from those who are perceived as inferior. This is, more often than not, interpreted by observers as an inflated ego that is likely to obstruct and slow the progress of players to whom the game has always come easy.

The most common cure for the potentially damaging affliction is exposure to the professional game, where older, stronger, more experienced and less respectful rivals make life appreciably more difficult than it ever was among players in the same age group.

Almost 40 years ago, one of McGeady’s predecessors, Victor Davidson, was similarly acclaimed as a potential giant following schoolboy days in which he had been immeasurable to his contemporaries.

As time passed, Davidson was overtaken in the race to first-team status by other prodigies at Celtic such as Kenny Dalglish, Danny McGrain, Lou Macari and George Connelly. One night, he came on as a substitute in the home leg of a European Cup tie, at a stage when progress to the next round had already been secured.

The following day, I asked Jock Stein about Davidson’s appearance, wondering if it was an indicator that the player was at last beginning to fulfil those early expectations.

“I just wanted to show him the game isn’t easy,” said Stein. What the great manager was saying was that Victor had failed to make the anticipated progress because he had not learned that, at that level, natural talent wasn’t enough, that it had to be supported by application, spirit and a willingness to recognise and absorb sound advice when it was given.

McGeady never did achieve his initial ambition to be the youngest Celtic player, although his raw talent was enough to see him make his debut and score the wining goal against Hearts just a few days after his 18th birthday in April, 2004. Six months later, he would give a man-of-the-match performance against Milan in the Champions league.

But it is an open secret around Parkhead that, during those formative years with the club from the age of 15, he could be frustratingly unreceptive to coaching. Gordon Strachan, like Martin O’Neill before him, has often found it difficult to elicit the desired response from McGeady in the matter of tactical awareness and conforming to the team ethic.

This has almost certainly been attributable to a great extent to the player’s own aversion to playing as what may be termed an old-fashioned winger. McGeady has said often enough in public that he has always regarded himself as a creative central midfielder, with an undisguised disdain for the widespread perception of him as an orthodox wide man of limited variation.

The great strides he has made this season seem to be thrilling evidence of a change in attitude, a readiness to accept that his pace and virtuosity are, for the time being at least, perfectly suited to the role preferred by his manager. And the more successful he is, the likelier he is to make himself comfortable and continue to be as productive as he has been in the last few months.

At 21, of course, McGeady has years in which to develop a greater range and, eventually, to become equipped for the creative position he craves. More immediately, as he has already shown, he can be a tormenting irritant to opponents from wider areas and a valuable contributor to his team’s quest for further honours.

Article from the Herald today. They’re all out praising Aiden this week but I’m not sure he did anything particularly different in the game against Aberdeen to what he’s done for 75% of the games this season. Just shows up better in highlights because we scored from two of his crosses but the consistency has been there since September.

The Celtic youngsters following in the footsteps of McGeady
MARTIN GREIG February 12 2008
AIDEN and the magic feet.

It is a fairytale which has become essential reading for every child in Celtic’s junior academy. McGeady is the modern-day skills disciple who is inspiring an army of ardent followers.

The 21-year-old has shaped the philosophy of the club’s youth structure and every one of his twists and flicks are now replicated at under-age levels by dextrous youngsters eager to emulate their hero.

advertisementIt is not only Gordon Strachan who will pick over the bones of Celtic’s demolition of Aberdeen at the weekend. The Celtic youth coaches will sit down this week and pick out the moments of exquisite skill which marked one of the most thrilling individual performances of recent seasons.

They are already familiar with the mesmerising Zidane’ turn, which bamboozled two Aberdeen defenders and led to the creation of Celtic’s fourth goal, scored by Scott McDonald. One youth coach estimates that he sees the same turn at least three or four times in every training session. Such has been McGeady’s impact.

Another of his tricks - executed on the touchline later in the game - in which he stopped the ball with one foot and stabbed it forward with the other, is a new one which the coaches will use the pause button to analyse and then eagerly pass on their findings to their young charges.

At 21, McGeady remains an innovator. One of his former youth coaches bristled at The Herald’s suggestion that he had had a significant role to play in McGeady’s development. “The only one who coached Aiden McGeady was God,” he smiled.

As a teenager, McGeady used to coach the coaches, showing them the latest tricks he had added to his repertoire every week. Now, those same coaches are seeking to pass on the same skills to the next generation.

Every month, they run a Sunday Skills School, where the young players are further encouraged to express themselves. The monthly newsletter has a keepy-up league table, with the leading under-12 player holding the record at 1098.

Youngsters in the junior academy (under-12 downwards) now run through 23 different skills practices at every training session and there are five variations on the McGeady turn.

His most identifiable version is a variation on the Cruyff turn, as seen on the left touchline against Rangers last season. Another is when he touches the ball repeatedly with the laces before flipping it with the outside and then inside of the boot in one fluid motion. Celtic’s youth coaches also encourage their players to execute them in the same areas as McGeady, most notably the inside-left channel.

“There will always be an emphasis on skills at Celtic,” insisted Tommy Burns, who combines his job as first team coach with head of youth development. “The philosophy of the club is based on technique. That is combined with the physical side of the game which has been taken on greatly by Gregory Dupont, the club’s head of sports science, who works with the club’s youngsters too. McGeady has taken both aspects on and is the perfect example for every youth player at the club who is striving to reach the first team.”

But it is not only McGeady’s skills which are replicated and passed on. There are also manoeuvres perfected by former players such as Jimmy Johnstone, Shaun Maloney, Stilian Petrov, and Mark Fotheringham.

The latter was an audacious piece of skill executed by the ex-Celtic youngster in a reserve match, when he famously flicked the ball over his own and an opponent’s head before catching it on the other side. The club now have 11-year-olds who can execute it better than Fotheringham.

Other less elaborate tricks have been inspired by players such as Neil Lennon and Paul Lambert who, although not lavishly-skilled, were experts at creating a yard for themselves in a congested midfield. When a youngster excels at any of the aforementioned techniques, they receive the accolade of the skill then being named after them.

The club’s approach is part of a growing acknowledgement that skills-based coaching has more to offer than mere entertainment value. Modern football has moved beyond the era of the athlete. Players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldinho are proof that an emphasis on skills need not come at the expense of an end-product. Indeed, Celtic’s youth coaches will emphasise that McGeady’s moment of magic was followed by a pin-point cross which led to a goal.

Significantly Manchester United recently employed a skills development coach, Dutchman Rene Meulensteen, to foster a more individualistic approach.

The global success of the chain of Brazilian Soccer Schools founded by Simon Clifford, which produced the England defender Micah Richards, is another reflection of the trend.

Meanwhile, Parkhead’s Pied Piper has an army of mini-mes trailing in his wake.

http://www3.elmundodeportivo.es/mundo2007/publica/publicamd2?COMPID=53436278899&ID_PAGINA=200702&ID_FORMATO=9114&PARTICION=2007&SUBORDRE=3

McGeady, an ‘M’ with Maradona and Messi

Aiden McGeady is a blonde version of the imperial Diego and Leo, but - for now - without the media exposure of the Barcelona and ex-Barcelona cracks that he admires.

Scots attacker himself, who nevertheless defended the colours of Ireland, explains, "I was just three months old when Maradona won the World Cup-86, but he always fascinated me. I studied him and I spent hours on the tapes that I had collected. I went out and practised with a golf ball and a tennis ball, and it is fantastic, because then you control the ball better. " He says quietly with no sign of bigheadedness that he has been able to have 500 touches with the tennis ball followed by 200 with golf, alternating also both feet.

McGeady loves the way that Maradona had to get past his opponents, as now does Messi. The way he likes to play, his technique is much more than just trickery. Slipping in that apart from him only Ronaldinho is fully capable of do something well (indicating Aiden) his father John, (ex- Sheffield United), using a little wit and enjoyment, to paraphrase the man himself, Johan Cruyff.

McGeady has been compared with Cristiano Ronaldo (ManU) for his explosiveness and months after appearing on the scene with Celtic, in a match against Milan in Champions dating back to April 2004, a portion of the fans dubbed him ‘Aidendinho’ an allusion to '10 ', Barcelona.

From small matches combined with the team at his school, of course Catholic, with the club, “always playing on Saturday and Sunday, so I became hardened.” And now, according to his coach Gordon Strachan, a professional of physical preparation, particularly strengthening his upper body.

At 15 he wanted to join the Celtic first team, but they said wait a little bit, and at 16 he said ‘no’ to Arsenal to avoid a ‘one-on-one’ with nostalgia for Glasgow. On the other hand, he went with Eire in the under-15 category, to debut with the full team in 2004. Being Irish his paternal grandfather ‘defected’ to his native Scotland, which made him stick to defend those colors in the lower teams.

Aiden has always had things very clear. If Messi, who because of his involvement in the Copa America enjoyed holidays, had participated in the Scottish stage last summer, he would have gone to see him live. And when he emphasized that with cuts and supersonic football is not enough to succeed, and perfected his touch style to put his incredible technique in the service of the team.

For example last Sunday, when McGeady made a ‘roulette’ in the opposition area with three defenders around him, and as if a string was attached to the ball crossed it to top scorer McDonald. A marvel of action, without nerve-Aiden not knowing how brilliant this was - and making it clear that Messi or ‘El Kun’ are not the only heirs of Diego Armando Maradona.

The article below references the goal Aiden scored as an 8-year old for Govanhill Cubs. It’s 1-minute into this video:

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=RSS61Deu8t8

“In the name of the father”

By TOM ENGLISH

THIS is a tale of father and son and it begins at the McGeady family home on the southside of Glasgow and with a video tape that in 10 minutes tells you so much about the making of Aiden McGeady.

It was filmed in the early 1990s when he was eight, when he sat before the camera of aspiring film-maker and friend of his dad’s, Malcolm McKissock, and spoke about his life’s dream, how he would like to play for Celtic (and then for Liverpool), how he loves John Collins and Pierre van Hooijdonk (because they take great free-kicks) and how great his dad is (because he’s there all the time and watches him play).

There is glorious footage of the boy performing on a red dirt track in the Gorbals, a slow motion film of him weaving his way through the traffic of a seven-a-side game for the Govanhill Cubs, a slaloming run and a thing of beauty that finishes with him rolling his foot over the top of the ball to deceive the goalkeeper before calmly passing into an empty goal.

Then there is John, the father. John is on the film, too. But he’s not looking to the promise of tomorrow like Aiden. He’s thinking about the what-might-have-beens of his past. He’s talking about his own time in football, his departure to Sheffield United at 16, his terrible homesickness, his five years as a winger and his injuries that left him with a busted knee-cap and a broken career in his mid-20s. Mostly, he is talking about his father, about the problems they had, about the lack of interest he displayed in John’s own football life. When you connect it to the close bond between himself and Aiden, the poignancy and relevance of it is obvious.

From a distance John might appear as another example of a man trying to live his life through the glory of his son’s success. No doubt people have said that at some stage but that is not the case. All he’s tried to do is steer his boy clear of the problems he himself encountered.

John switches off the video tape and talks about his old man. “Until about five years before his death I never really spent much time with him,” he says. “Himself and my mum were raised within a few minutes of each other in Gweedore in County Donegal and my father was a typical product of his generation. He was a tough boy, not given to sentiment. He didn’t really take an interest in my football, didn’t really understand the game to be honest. Years later I found out that when he was down the pub having a few pints with his mates he’d talk about me, he’d tell the lads how I was getting on. I never knew this. He’d talk about me rather than to me. He was probably no different to many other fathers in those days.”

Is it any wonder that John has been there every step of the way for his own boy? Hardly.

The sense of pride in his son’s career is huge. Last weekend John visited his mother in Donegal. The family went down to the local hotel to watch Celtic play Aberdeen and they smiled their way through Aiden’s performance. He has never played better, Gordon Strachan said as much. This week he will face a bigger and better challenge when Barcelona arrive in Glasgow. Word has it that Aiden is more than a little excited at the prospect.

John tells you they’ve had some right barneys in this very room we’re sitting in. "I’m very honest in assessing his performances. Always have been.

“We go through it after every game and I don’t go easy on him because I don’t think that’s the right thing to do. He’s not going to do everything right in every game so what’s the point in pretending. Oh, we’ve had some discussions, put it that way.”

Theirs has been a hell of a journey. He tells you all about the interest from down south, the expeditions to the top clubs in England for trial matches, Liam Brady’s pursuit of his signature for Arsenal and the disbelieving words of other youth team coaches. There was one time at Everton when a development officer from Goodison Park invited McGeady down for a game, prefacing the invite with some caution. ‘Your boy will have to be very good to get a look-in because we’ve got the best here’.

The guy started talking about an 11-year-old on Everton’s books. This kid was special. That day at the trial McGeady played in the same side with a young man that John feels sure was Wayne Rooney. And McGeady excelled, just as he did pretty much everywhere he went.

These were promising days in the young life of John and Elaine McGeady’s son but domestically things were tough. A little while before John had hit the wall as regards working on the buildings, the allure of digging holes and laying slabs and pouring concrete having worn off after seven or eight years of that hard life; John was a restless spirit. ‘What do you want to do?’ Elaine asked. ‘I’d love to teach,’ John replied. So he did. He went to university and became an English teacher.

"I’m 49 now and I’ve been teaching for 10 years and I love it. But in the beginning it was hard going financially. We were living in this house and we had a substantial mortgage and kids. Some nights I’d be sitting here with my head in my hands worrying about how we’d survive the following week. A former teammate of mine, Gary Hamson, who is now Aiden’s agent, rang me one day and said, 'look, you’re entitled to a retraining grant from the PFA, and sure enough I got a cheque in the post for 2,500 and that made a hell of a difference.

"Around this time loads of clubs wanted Aiden but I was determined that he wasn’t going to England. I remember what I was like down there at the start and Aiden would have been the same. At such a young age he’d have missed home as much as I had.

“Clubs made offers, not overtly, not a promise of a briefcase full of money but overtures were made from certain places that would have sorted out our financial plight at the time. But that was never going to happen. Just as long as we got by and kept the house we were fine. Aiden was always going to stay in Scotland.”

The crunch came on an afternoon in Blackburn. Another day, another trial, another pressure game for the young man. This time McGeady failed to live up to expectation.

‘How did I do, dad?’ he asked

‘Well, you didn’t cover yourself in glory, son. You didn’t get much of the ball but when you got it you didn’t do a lot with it.’

‘Oh.’

The conversation developed. Decision time was at hand. ‘Are you happy going to these trials, Aiden?’

'Well, I feel under pressure all the time… ’

‘I don’t think it’s fair on you. I think it’s too much. Do you know what you want to do.’

‘Yes, dad, I want to sign for Celtic.’

The deal was done in a day. Celtic had the player they coveted for years and McGeady had a stable footballing environment he could flourish in. And how he has flourished. It hasn’t been a bed of roses for him but he’s worked his way through it. There was a time, pretty early in Strachan’s new era, when you thought that McGeady was going to be one of his victims, one of those faces that just didn’t fit. He was dropped, there was talk of him leaving, there was even more talk of Strachan being especially hard on him and now there is just sweetness and light and glowing tributes from the manager about performances so good that Strachan feels McGeady will be showing the DVDs to his grandchildren in time.

There’s been worshipping at Celtic Park but abuse away from it. This is the downside, much of it traced back to his decision to declare his international allegiance to the Republic of Ireland. John remembers a friend phoning and warning him about the possible ramifications.

"Aiden was only 15 at the time but we knew there’d be stick down the line. We just didn’t realise how much stick. I mean, to hear your son being called a traitor is a little hard to take.

“To be fair, it was a lot harder a year ago than it is now but those people who abused him that way didn’t know the family history. Look at the video again. He’s eight and look at the top he’s wearing. It’s an Ireland top. He absolutely loves Scotland but this thing goes deep. It wasn’t him being opportunistic but some people won’t believe me when I say that.”

Has it bothered Aiden? A little, for sure. But he’s got broad shoulders for a young man and has an amount of inner-confidence, “much, much more than I had when I was player,” says John. "I got very nervous before games. He doesn’t.

“He just revels in it, the same as he did when he was out on the road there doing keepy-uppy with tennis balls and golf balls and annoying the neighbours.”

John says he used to go to an upstairs bedroom to see how his boy was doing. Now the view is shared by 60,000 others, all hoping and praying that a little more McGeady magic on Wednesday will lead to another one of those heady, heady Parkhead nights.

Cracking article Bandage - that from the Sunday Times?

It’s from Scotland on Sunday - 'tis an excellent read alright.

McGeady’s performance against Aberdeen didn’t merit an appearance on showboat on Soccer AM this week. They had him and Scott Brown on the teamates bit and all.

Sky don’t have the rights to show any Setanta Sports footage. Any time they’re quoting a Celtic story on Sky Sports News they intersperse it with clips from Celtic Scottish Cup or Champions League games as they have the rights to these. McGeady would be on Showboat every week but for this.

Thank you Bandage, a prompt and informative response.

The attitude of these inbred pricks waiting outside Love Street yesterday is typical of what Aiden McGeady is subjected to at away grounds around Scotland. I love the way he’s shoving it right up their grotesque and pathetic little clubs every single week:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uQsprR3HMQk

What about the rumours of McGeady to Newcastle. Terry McDermott and someone else from the Toon were up to take a look at the Irish winger.