DYLAN McGeouch hopes he is finally over his injury worries - with a little help from a mystery London medical expert. The Hibs midfielder has been dogged by groin issues in the last few seasons but is feeling fit again after taking up a recommendation from Scotland midfielder Robert Snodgrass. He is undergoing a new physio and stretching routine as he enters the final year of his current contract at Easter Road and so far the regime appears to be paying dividends.
“So far, it’s been good,” he said. “I’ve been fit and I’ve started the first few games. I hope that’s me over the injury issues. I went to see a guy in London at the start of the season and got a bit of treatment down there and it seems to be working. I’m feeling good and feeling fit so hopefully I can maintain that and keep doing the things the specialist and physios have told me to do and hopefully make sure I’m up for selection every week.
“It’s nothing major that I’ve been doing,” he added, “just wee things I’ve been working on, a few different techniques for soft tissue work that have been working so far.
“Robert Snodgrass had a few problems with his knee and he recommended the guy and told me to go and speak to him. So I got in touch with him, went to see him and it was probably the best thing I’ve done. Since I’ve seen him, he’s got me feeling good, as Robert told me he would. I’m working with the Hibs physio as well and he knows the different techniques to use, and it seems to be paying off. The specialist has worked with a few top players but he’s quite a quiet guy and he’s not one for publicising himself.
“The contract is not something I’m thinking about. Staying injury-free and getting a good run of games is the priority and then everything will take care of itself after that.
McGeouch goes way back with his club manager Neil Lennon - the Northern Irishman turned up out of the blue at his door in Milton to persuade him to rejoin Celtic from Rangers as a youngster - and Saturday’s match with St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park brings him into close contact with another echo of his past life in in-form Michael O’Halloran, just named Premiership player of the month for September. McGeouch was coached by O’Halloran’s father, also Michael, during his time in the Celtic youth ranks.
“Michael is a few years older than me but I remember him being there at youth level and his dad was there as well,” said McGeouch, speaking at the launch of the Match Attacx sticker range at Hampden. “He used to coach me when I was younger so I obviously know Michael well over the years and it is good to see him doing well. Michael was tipped to do good things, went down the road for a few years to develop then came back up the road.
“Obviously I have been watching the highlights of the games, and his goals, he has been doing really well,” he added. “He is obviously a player we will have our eye on but we have enough in our squad to go there and trouble St Johnstone and hopefully get the three points. We need to go to places like McDiarmid Park and put a marker down.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here