JOHN McGinn believes Steve Clarke’s new-look Scotland are ready to kick on because so many of his squad are now plying their trade in the English Premier League.
The former Hibernian midfielder was man of the match and netted the winning goal last week – worth no less than £170m to his club – as he helped Aston Villa win the Championship play-off against Derby County and win promotion to the riches of English top flight.
And he will be joined by Scotland stars Norwich City’s Kenny McLean and Sheffield United’s John Fleck, although the Blades midfielder will miss the Euro 2020 double-header with Cyprus and Belgium because of his wedding.
McGinn has spent the week on the stag do of his brother - St Mirren defender Stephen. But he’s determined to make an impact under the new manager in the Hampden dug-out.
McGinn said: “There’s a few of us now playing in the Premier League - myself, John Fleck and Kenny McLean all got promoted this season and we’ve also got Andy Robertson and Ryan Fraser. It’s looking positive for the country - hopefully we can deliver the way Villa did against Derby.
“Playing in the Premier League next season will lift our games.
I know I can still improve. There’s still a rawness to my game. But playing against the best players in the world in some of the most famous stadiums in the world can only enhance my game and make me grow as a player.
“But I feel I am different to everyone and hopefully I can show that in the Premier League, and show it with Scotland too. Every young kid growing up playing football dreams of playing in those big famous football stadiums.
“Now, for me, those dreams are going to become a reality next season. I just hope the club don’t change things too much. I hope they stick with the group that we have got. Hopefully they don’t go Spanish or I may need to change my name!”
With a wave of optimism surrounding the Birmingham club, McGinn is hopeful that Clarke can bring a similar sense of positivity to the national team.
“Scotland have got a couple of big games coming up now against Cyprus and Belgium,” he said. “They are going to be tough matches after a long, hard season but I think everyone is excited about them after the appointment of Steve Clarke.
“I am certainly looking forward to joining up with his squad. I can’t wait to see what he can do. I really believe Scotland has a talented bunch of players and Steve will have his own ideas to get the best out of us.”
And McGinn is hoping he will soon be joined by his team mate, with Villa keeper Jed Steer eligible to play for Scotland because of a grandparent. Steer didn’t make it as one of the four keepers called up by Clarke for his first squad, but McGinn believes he could soon force his way in.
He added: “I felt our goalkeeper was brilliant at Wembley. He qualifies for Scotland, too. I’ve been trying to talk him into playing for Scotland.
“I’m been bringing him some ice creams from Milngavie! He came up with some big saves in the play off final. He came up with some big saves and big catches towards the end. He had to be brave because he’s there’s 85,000 in the stadium and he stood up to be counted when it mattered.”
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel