I was in with the McGinn crowd
New Jag was fans hero at Chesterfield before injury struck
WHEN a player has played only 10 games for a new club and the fans already have a song for him then he’s cracked it.
But when said would-be terracing hero cracks his hamstring, rushes back too soon meaning he can’t kick a ball in anger for a whole half of the season, it really doesn’t matter how much the fans love you.
That for a footballer is hell on earth. Paul McGinn, younger brother of Stephen, older of John, joined Partick Thistle yesterday after what could charitably be described as the most testing season of his career.
The 26-year-old, formerly of St Mirren and Dundee, joined Chesterfield, then of League One, 12 months ago and it was all going so well until, as football tends to do, the defender suffered a right sore one.
“I played the first 10 games at Chesterfield and was doing quite well,” said McGinn. “The fans had this terrible Scottish song for me, something about me liking haggis and whisky.
“But I then got a bad injury and was out for five months. I came back too early from a hamstring injury and caused myself all sorts of problems. I saw a specialist and he eventually sorted me out.
“But before that I kept breaking down, we couldn’t work out what it was, and then the specialist worked out what it was after a while.
“Whose fault was it? A bit of both, myself andnd the manager (Danny Wilson). n). We had started well and were mid-table and then we dipped. pped. We had a thin squad and so there was a bit of pressure ssure on me.
“The physio said I would okay so I saidd I’d play when probbably shouldd have said that I’d save myself a few weeks instead of being out for five months.”
McGINN turned out not be a great patient. If anything, he was an even worse spectator. “The mental side of it is difficult,” he admitted. “What I hated the most was going to the games. I had to report on a Saturday and watch when I would rather have been anywhere else. It was a nightmare and every week it got worse and worse.
“My girlfriend was down a lot but not playing was hard. I was twiddling my thumbs.
“What happened then was Chesterfield were relegated, a director of football came in and all the players there were allowed to go and that made my decision for me. I was happy when Thistle came calling.”
Thistle currently sit bottom of the Premiership, does that worry the new boy?
“No,” he said firmly. “They have played a few of the bigger teams and John said that for half an hour against Hibs they were brilliant but fell away a bit. I watched them against Celtic and they should have had a penalty in the last minute. We are not far away.
“I’ve joined a good team. I could see that even in training by the way they pass the ball, the way they move, and I like the style of play. This suits me right down to the ground.”
Thistle travel to Ross County this weekend, never an easy fixture. McGinn, who was linked with a move to Motherwell, is Thistle’s eighth signing of the season.
“Everybody raved about the club,” he said. “I know Ian Maxwell (general manager) who runs things, so I’m not surprised they’ve got themselves into good shape.”