John McGinn has just cemented his status as an Aston Villa legend.
His brace in their 4-0 win over Nottingham Forest on Thursday evening secured their place in the Europa League final in Istanbul.
He captains the club, and has made over 300 appearances. But, as is now common knowledge, things could’ve been very different.
A diehard Celtic supporter, McGinn could’ve been playing in Hoops. No one tells the story of his sliding doors moment better than him.
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John McGinn: ‘In my head, I wanted to play for Celtic’
Reflecting on the transfer saga on The Big Interview with Graham Hunter in 2021, McGinn said: “It was by the far the toughest choice of my life.
“I spent 15 years as a season ticket holder at Celtic with my dad and my brothers.
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“I always dreamed about playing for Celtic, and that’s probably something that never, ever leaves you… in fact, it doesn’t.
“So the summer before, I was really, really close to going to Nottingham Forest on Deadline Day. Ironically, it was Mark Warburton and Davie Weir in charge at the time.
“It was tough, because you have to balance… you need to weigh up, ‘is this opportunity going to come around?’ — because I was loving my time at Hibs, I didn’t want to leave.
“But I wanted to test myself at a higher level, and I wanted to go and see if I could do that. But full credit to my agent at the time, which is why we’ve got such a close relationship. Me and him are very close mates.
“It would’ve been very easy for him to do what I was getting pressurised from Forest to do, they wanted to push through with the move.. that’s not my nature. It’s not what I wanted to do…
“He said, ‘A Villa might come up next season’… but I wasn’t thinking of Villa. I was like, ‘aye, good one’. But he actually said that 12 months before I ended up at Villa.
“But in my head, I’m thinking: ‘Celtic might come in’. That’s what I was thinking at the time!
Will John McGinn ever play for Celtic in his career?
“So I managed to have a good season. You read the reports that Celtic are interested here and there, but you never actually believe it.
“So then it gets to the end of the season. Celtic put in an offer, it was way below what Hibs wanted. But when that first offer comes in, you start thinking: ‘Right, it’s done. It’s going to happen’.
“So it’s just a waiting game. The longest waiting game ever, it ended up being! So I’ve ended up back for pre-season, and ironically again, it was Neil Lennon that was Hibs manager at the time.
“Hibs were amazing. It’s not a popular decision if you go from Hibs to Celtic, but I think everyone: the supporters, the board… we all had a kind of understanding that it was what I wanted.
“I respect that, I wouldn’t kick the door down, I wouldn’t want to ruin what I’d built at Hibs. I wouldn’t want to go and do that. I thought it had to work both ways.
“So initially it wasn’t happening like that, but we ended up getting a bit more guarantees that things were going to progress.
“A funny story: I ended up driving to a European qualifier in the Faroe Islands with Hibs. I’d been told: ‘Celtic are going to make an offer today’, and not to play in the game, because I’d then be cup tied for the European games coming up for Celtic.
“So I’m waiting all day… nothing happens. So I’m going down these winding roads in the Faroe Islands, not knowing if I’m actually playing in the game or not.
“I think, at the time, my agent was waiting… I’d told my mum and dad, of course, they were waiting. Nobody had a scooby. The players didn’t know what was going through my head, I’m sitting staring at the windy roads.
“But to be fair to Leanne [Dempster] and everyone at Hibs, they were waiting as well. They didn’t know what was going on.
“So I’m out, checking the pitch — I don’t know why I was checking the pitch, it was astro-turf — the gaffer came out, Neil Lennon, and we were speaking at the time.
“And he was so good at that, one of the best man-managers I’ve had So relatable, he knew what I was going through, he knew what I wanted at the time.
“But the offer didn’t come, for whatever reason. So I remember speaking to the manager, then I phoned my dad and my agent. A three-way call. And I just thought: ‘Nah, do you know what? I’m playing. I’m playing in the game. Nothing’s happened, I’m playing in the game’…
Just? Maswanhise? Mulligan? Someone else?
“I believed in myself as a player, so I thought ‘Right, well, if someone wants me, they’re going to try harder to get me.’ So the doubt started getting into my head, and I started thinking, ‘Is this the right thing?’
“And then it started becoming a wee bit of a sit-com, it was getting more and more publicity. Offers eventually came in, so then you start thinking…
“You’re from the west of Scotland, you’d be naïve not to switch on Superscoreboard every now and again. You’ve got Jimmy from Bargeddie phoning in and saying ‘He’s no gonnae get a game!’
“That was quite a popular opinion at the time! So then you start to think, ‘Am I making a decision with my heart here? Am I going to go and sit on the bench?’
“At that time, Celtic had an unbelievable midfield who had gelled together. I think Stuart Armstrong was still there, Christie, Scott Brown, Ntcham… all of them playing at the top of their game, bearing in mind.
“So there’s no doubt that I had belief that I was going to go and play, but then, I had to weigh up everything. I still, in my head, wanted to play for Celtic. No doubt about that.
“But then, eventually, time went on. And believe it or not, I think this was August. So I don’t know how it managed to get to August. I have no idea.
“But I started to become quite good at just playing. And, do you know what, it probably spurred me on to play better. So that spell was probably some of the best football of my career. We managed to win in Greece in Europe, we had a good start to the season…
“And I ended up being content with just playing football, and I just managed to block out the noise. That’s all it was, there wasn’t really a resolution.
“Then Villa got a takeover, so I kind of knew there was a bit of interest. Villa got a takeover, and the next thing you know, I’m walking around the edge of a festival, and my agent phones and says, ‘Do you want to go and have a look at Villa?’
“And at that point I’m like: ‘Aye, aye, I’ll go and have a look’… and I didn’t end up coming back.
“I went to the training ground, the stadium, and I felt like the way I was treated was just perfect. And that was a hard moment, because I remember speaking to my mum and dad making a resigned defeat to the Celtic one.
“Mum and dad grew up etched in Celtic, I wanted to play for Celtic… but it just wasn’t right.
If so, who would you have in mind?
“Maybe in the future, you never know. But that is something I can’t affect now. it’s went past, and at that point, I had something to prove to a number of people.
“English people didn’t have a clue who I was, first and foremost, which I quite liked. I thought ‘Right, fresh start’.
“People up the road that thought I couldn’t play for Celtic… you’re lying if you say you don’t think, ‘Ah right, well, I’ll show you’.
“But I’m proud of the way that I dealt with it. Because it would’ve been very easy to do the wrong thing.
“But I felt, at that time, we dealt with it magically. There was just something surreal about the night I went to Villa Park. They were quite clever in the way they done it.
“They left the floodlights on, they knew I loved number seven, so the number seven shirt was there, they walked me into box seven… everything about it was just class.
“I think my dad knew, at that point, that I had made my mind up. And it wasn’t even a choice, it never even got to a stage where it was an A or B. The A was just there.”
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