McGinn won’t take Brown’s lead for Celts, but he will for Scots
FOR a long time, the ascension of John McGinn as the natural successor to Scott Brown in the Celtic midfield seemed pre-ordained. Alas, a bumbling summer courtship ended with the 23-year-old opting to join Aston Villa instead of the club he had supported all of his days, and where his grandfather, Jack, had been chairman.
Their loss, according to his former St Mirren team-mate and manager Gary Teale, is very much Aston Villa’s gain. And what may make the pain of losing out on Brown’s heir apparent all the starker for the Scottish champions is that he will prove to be the man to fill the former Scotland captain’s boots in the dark blue of his country over the next decade or more.
They may differ in playing style, but Teale sees the same leadership qualities in McGinn that have served Brown so well throughout his career, that same desire to grab a game by the scruff of the neck and drag his teammates with him.
And while Andy Robertson may well be the man in possession of the armband for the national side, Teale believes that McGinn will be the one driving Scotland on from the engine room.
“He’s definitely the sort that could take up that leadership mantle now that Scott Brown has retired,” said Teale.
“From playing with him as a team-mate and then managing him for that short space of time, you could see what he was all about.
“He has certainly matured a hell of a lot since then in terms of his performances and what he does on the park, but he was always a leader and a winner.
“If things weren’t going his way at training or he wasn’t happy with certain things, he was always trying to cajole the rest of his team-mates on and lead by example.
He’s still a young boy, but I think he can get that personality over to the more experienced players in the team and show how good a leader he can be.”
As for Teale himself, his exit from St Mirren in early June 2015 still marks his last involvement in the professional game. He is proud of what he did in his short spell in charge of the club, despite not being able to save them from relegation having succeeded Tommy Craig in December, but is content to be out of the game for now.
“I’ve not even been to that many games,” he said. “You never say never. I finished my pro-licence at St Mirren, but in the short term, it’s not something I’m looking to get back into.
“I loved it at St Mirren, and when I look back on it and reflect on things like my win percentage compared to the managers that were there recently – in very difficult circumstances – it stacks up