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John McGinn is the master of irony after swerving his Celtic destiny with only fate keeping them apart – Hugh Keevins
There was no added satisfaction for John McGinn after overtaking Ally McCoist in Scotland’s scoring charts.
His goal against Poland last Monday meant the grandson of a former Celtic chairman moved on to 20 goals – one ahead of the former Rangers manager and Ibrox icon. The McGinn family’s respect for Coisty is too long established, and too firmly held, for any parochial consideration like that to be a cause for celebration.
The admiration for Ally dates back, in fact, to May 27 2019 when Aston Villa beat Derby County 2-1 in the play-off final at Wembley that took the Midlands club into the Premier League. Inevitably, John scored one of Villa’s goals that day in front of a family group reputedly numbering 53 people. Ally had been a working member of the media at the game and made his way to the place inside the stadium where the McGinn deputation were enjoying the events of the day.
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After congratulating John on his achievement, Ally singled out his grandfather Jack and spent the next half hour in his company, politely ignoring all others. Jack and Ally had formed a friendship when McGinn senior was an administrator at the SFA and Coisty was paying his respects to him while forgetting all about club allegiances, which were irrelevant in any case on such a momentous day.
The gesture has never been forgotten by John and his family. Now that McGinn has moved to within 10 goals of the all-time scoring record for Scotland, I can think of no better incentive for Celtic to win their home tie against Club Brugge in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
It would be the height of irony, leading to the possibility of visiting the depths of despair, if Brendan Rodgers’ chances of reaching the second phase of the competition hinged on the outcome of their final match away to Aston Villa in January.
Because respect will also be at the core of what John does that night against the club he has supported since boyhood. Playing for Celtic looked to be his destiny but fate and circumstance kept them apart.
Old habits, nevertheless, die hard and on a radio programme last weekend members of the Scotland squad were asked to choose their most inspirational pieces of music on match days. McGinn picked the Celtic supporters’ anthem You’ll Never Walk Alone.
But his regard for Aston Villa, the club who employ him and have looked after his welfare for the last six years, is such that John will attend to his professional responsibilities and close out human emotion when, or if, he is required to do so.
Even if some family members might fervently hope Villa have cemented their place in the second phase of the Champions League by then and Unai Emery, their manager, gives McGinn the night off as a form of compassionate leave. But, if push does come to shove, John will acknowledge what he has to do on the park and not let sentiment, or any other form of distraction, get in the way of pride in his personal performance.
Just like he overlooked having to sit out the start of the game against Croatia at Hampden on the bench earlier this month and came on to eventually score the winning goal that set up the even more vital win in Warsaw.
There might have been a time in his childhood when McGinn would leave games early so that he could be first in the queue outside Celtic Park to get Henrik Larsson’s autograph. But, in adulthood, business is business.
If Larsson is, pound for pound, the best bit of transfer business Celtic have ever conducted then McGinn will forever be the one who got away. Quite how Celtic failed to sign a former season ticket holder whose grandad was a past chairman of the club will remain shrouded in mystery into the mists of time.
But history will note Rodgers wanted him brought to the club from Hibs during his first stint as manager. And Brendan will now have a trained eye on Celtic’s progress in Europe to ensure John doesn’t become an ironic impediment to their direction of travel.
On current form, as evidenced by the Nations League goals for Scotland against Croatia and Poland, you wouldn’t want to be troubled by his presence if access to the remainder of the tournament went down to the wire. I can’t think of a bigger incentive for Rodgers’ team to be belligerent against the Belgians in midweek to help them avoid that consideration and its possible consequences.
