Aiden McGeady on Hibs veteran status as Celtic experience helps midfielder push Easter Road rising stars 'potential'
The midfielder is looking to secure a massive Scottish Cup victory in the Edinburgh derby.
Aiden McGeady knows a thing or two about mentality. Let’s face it, if he didn’t have a strong mindset and an inner resilience – to go with his undoubted talent – he wouldn’t have been an elite footballer.
Aged 18, he was thrown into Celtic’s first-team with no prior warning by Martin O’Neill at Tynecastle. To play off Henrik Larsson. It was sink or swim time. An 18-year career in the UK and Russia, trophies at Parkhead, Premier League and Champions League experience, 93 caps for Republic of Ireland – and a torrent of abuse followed. Yet he’s still got his head above water.
So McGeady knows what it takes – not just to survive, but to succeed at the top. His upbringing at Celtic was key to that, being beside experienced pros like Neil Lennon, Chris Sutton and Larsson. He’s that guy in the Hibs dressing-room now. And this afternoon, he’ll be up against the team who it all began against in Hearts.
He still remembers that Celtic debut like it was yesterday. “Martin had a system where he just read the names out from a sheet of paper,” he said. "So I actually had to figure out where I was playing.
“I asked the coach Steve Walford and he said: ‘You’re playing behind Henrik. Just do what you’ve been doing.’ I was totally shocked. But after 18 minutes, I scored. It was an amazing day.”
His experience means today’s Edinburgh derby clash in the Scottish Cup won’t faze McGeady. But being mentally strong was a prerequisite for a young player in that Celtic dressing-room under O’Neill two decades ago.
McGeady says: “We’re in a different time now. It was full of big characters at Celtic. The way they spoke to you, you probably wouldn’t be able to do it nowadays.
“A lot of players probably couldn’t handle it but that was their way of sussing you out and seeing if you had what it took to be a first-team player. It was quite a tough school I was in but it was good for me.
“That sets you up for having to play in front of 60,000 fans and the crowd groaning and shouting at you if you give away the ball. So it comes with the upbringing I had there. We used to play old v young games at training – and it was quite tasty at times.”
McGeady is now a veteran playing alongside two of Scotland’s biggest talents in Ryan Porteous and Kevin Nisbet at Easter Road. Both are Scotland internationals and currently being touted for big moves away from Leith.
So will they make the grade in England or abroad? Will they fulfil their potential? McGeady has been impressed with them at Hibs, particularly Nisbet and the way he’s come back from a serious knee injury to score seven goals in six games.
But ultimately, he says we will only know whether the pair of them can hack it at the top level when they’re confronted with it. He said: “It’s the million dollar question, isn’t it? You will never know until they try it and they’re in that environment.
“They have the potential of course – but will they do it? I don’t want to talk about them being away from Hibs. But they have potential, yes.
“What does it take? A mixture of everything. Mentality, work ethic, technical ability, positional awareness.
“In Nizzy’s case, it’s goals. In Porto’s case, it’s clean sheets and defending well. And also, they have to keep their feet on the ground.
“It happens a lot now. People burst on the scene, get all the praise and start believing it. I think it’s best to just try and stay in the middle.
“I’ve seen it my whole life – players who are destined for the top but don’t make it. With Nizzy there would have been apprehension coming back from injury and questions about if he was going to be the same player.
“That’s natural. But he has maybe come back even better. He’s got the attributes, the work ethic and the mentality to play at the top level.
“He’s impressed me, the way he plays. But you can only really judge it (when they go). The likes of John McGinn and Scott McKenna have moved to England and people wondered if they’d be able to adapt. They did and proved people wrong.”
For now, Hibs, their players and gaffer Lee Johnson need to instigate a mentality shift when it comes to Edinburgh derbies. They haven’t beaten their city rivals since Boxing Day 2019 – and McGeady is desperate to change that.
An air of negativity has surrounded the club and Johnson all season. While Hearts are flying high, third top of the Premiership – and fresh from a 5-0 hiding of Aberdeen – Hibs have been languishing in the bottom half.
But throughout his career, McGeady has become used to blanking out the flak. And he’s convinced they CAN win at Easter Road today, which will mean they’re in the hat for the last-16 of the cup.
He said: “Outside noise is always going to happen at a club. We live in a negative society so people would rather see you fail than do well. It’s important not to get too engrossed in it.
“Football can change in one or two games. It would be nice to win this one because it’s in the Scottish Cup and you don’t want to be going out.
“It’s a trophy that you want to play for so we’ll be doing everything we can to win the game and go through. I can’t speak for previous regimes or teams.
“But we’ve shown that if we can get everything right on the pitch, we can beat teams. Hearts are a good side – they’re in third place for a reason.
“But if you play well on the day you’ve always got a chance. No-one in here is saying we won’t beat Hearts. Everyone believes we can. When you start not believing that? You’re in the wrong job.”
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