The chance conversation in a Glasgow cafe that transformed my career
THE website of Coia’s Cafe in Glasgow asks diners to get in touch to share any famous faces they may have seen on their visit to the popular Italian restaurant.
Last summer, patrons may have spotted Aston Villa and Scotland international Robert Snodgrass breaking bread with Hibs midfielder Dylan McGeouch.
But perhaps not even the duo in question could have predicted the spectacular impact that meeting in Dennistoun would have on McGeouch’s season.
Hugely gifted but infuriatingly prone to pelvic, groin, hamstring and ankle problems, the 25-year-old’s record appearances for a season with Hibs sat at just 24 games before this current campaign.
He was duly urged by Snodgrass to visit the same low-key London specialist who had helped him back after his left knee ‘exploded’ on his Hull City debut back in 2014.
The lunch date would propel McGeouch from a frustrating stop-start star at Easter Road to a virtual ever-present in Neil Lennon’s side.
Tonight, against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park, he will make his 36th appearance of the campaign; exactly double his 18 total as Hibs won the Championship last season.
So imperious has his form been, most notably in last Friday’s 2-0 Edinburgh derby win over Hearts at Easter Road, that on Monday he won his first-ever senior Scotland call-up from Alex McLeish.
‘What has changed with me physically? I spoke to Robert Snodgrass in a restaurant in Glasgow called Coia’s at the start of the season,’ smiled McGeouch.
‘Robert’s from up my way in Glasgow and we knew a bit about each other and we eat in the same restaurants. He’s a great guy.
‘That day, he spoke to me about his setbacks at Hull City, with his hip and his knee, and he recommended I go and see a guy down in London called Ronan.
‘I put it off and put it off but Robert kind of forced me to go down and see him.
‘He was getting frustrated at seeing me playing two games for Hibs and then missing the next game.
‘So I went down to see Ronan at the start of the season and I’ve been on and off the phone to him and flying down to see him every couple of months.
‘We speak all the time and he gives me exercises to do.
‘He takes pride in the players he sees and he’s always texting me after games to see how I got on.
‘I owe everything to him and to the backroom staff at Hibs, who have been great with me as well.
‘I’ve been available for every game this season with Hibs and that’s not happened to me for a long time.
‘And when the Scotland squad was announced the other day and I was in it, I phoned Ronan and he was delighted for me.
‘He’s a quiet guy, who just does his business and doesn’t put things on social media.
‘He doesn’t really want attention and he won’t be happy to hear me talking about him.
‘But I’m stronger and robust now and I’m glad I listened to Robert Snodgrass.’
Snodgrass and the mysterious Ronan definitely deserve credit for their role in the midfielder’s rise into one of the Scottish Premiership’s finest midfielders.
But nobody has had more influence on McGeouch’s career as a whole than Lennon.
As manager of Celtic, he turned up at a young McGeouch’s door to persuade him to return to Parkhead after quitting for Rangers in 2008. Lennon then gave the midfielder his Celtic first-team debut against Motherwell in 2011. The midfielder’s Hibs deal expires in the summer. But talks are ongoing over a new three-and-a-half-year contract for a player Lennon believes can become one of the finest midfielders in the country. ‘The manager’s been huge for me,’ said McGeouch. ‘He and (Lennon’s Hibs assistant) Garry Parker saw me a lot when I was a youth player and they wanted me back at Celtic when I was a kid. ‘He saw something in me as a boy and it’s great to finally get the rewards of being part of the national side.
‘I’m sure the gaffer will take a lot of pleasure in that, too, since he was the one that first saw me as a young boy.’
One of six new faces in the squad to face Costa Rica next Friday and Hungary three days later, McGeouch learned of his Scotland call-up via a cousin.
A deluge of messages followed from former Under-21 boss Billy Stark and team-mates past and present.
‘People have asked me if I had an insight about getting a call-up but I never knew anything at all,’ he smiled.
‘I found out when my cousin, who is daft into his Twitter, sent me a message saying: “Well done”.
‘Then (Hibs team-mate) John McGinn texted me to say we were both in the squad and then I got email confirmation later on.
‘It was a surreal moment but also an excellent feeling. I was delighted.
‘It means everything to me. Having grown up a Scotland fan it’s great to get the call-up and it would be a huge honour to play for my country.
‘Hopefully, I will get the opportunity to play but even just to get recognition by being named in the squad is great.’ As a barometer of Scotland’s footballing decline, McGeouch is a quarter of a century old but cannot recall his country being at a major finals.
He would dearly love that to change at Euro 2020, with some games being hosted in his native Glasgow.
‘I was too young to remember France 98,’ he said. ‘I was only five at the time.
‘I was speaking to Danny Swanson (who is 31) and he can remember watching it.
‘But people still talk about the game against Brazil and about the penalty by John Collins.
‘As a Scotland fan, I remember watching the big games against France (in 2006 and 2007), the (James) McFadden winning goal in Paris (in 2007), the play-offs (against Holland in 2004) and the heartache against Italy (in 2008).
‘But, hopefully, in this coming campaign we can make our own memories and young fans watching will see Scotland get to a major tournament again.
‘It would be huge if we could do that. The whole country is rooting for us to get to a major tournament again. We all want the same thing.
‘It’s just important we get to a major finals again. But I would be honoured to be a part of it.’