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“Aiden’s such a good guy but he would cause a fight anywhere”
THE old ‘good-cop, bad-cop’ routine has been an integral part of football since rattles and rosettes were commonplace on the terraces.
While the increasingly delicate specimen that is the modern-day player makes such an approach somewhat anachronistic, it seems the occasional public flaying followed by a theatrical kiss-and-make-up will always have its place while managerial duos like Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane still exist. Just ask Aiden McGeady.
Last week, clearly still a little peeved by Ireland’s display in the home defeat to Belarus, Keane, the Republic’s assistant manager, took a verbal flamethrower to his Euro-bound players by insisting he ‘wanted to kill’ some of them.
It was McGeady, however, who was singled out for special treatment by his former Celtic team-mate.
‘Would Aiden find himself lucky to be on the flight? Well, he’ll need to play better than he did last night to force his way into the starting XI,’ said Keane.
‘Aiden has had good moments for Ireland, if you go back to the start of the group. Generally speaking, without overreacting, the players that have made it have all played their part in helping us get there.
‘If you want my reaction to Aiden’s performance last night, he can do a lot better but maybe that’s the story of his career.’
O’Neill may have welcomed the prospect of his ‘bad-cop’ getting to work after a lamentable display but having seen Keane lurch into the coaching equivalent of Harvey Keitel in The Bad Lieutenant, the Ireland manager was later forced to admit the characteristically caustic comments were ‘a little on the strong side’.
Not wrong or off the mark. A little on the strong side. In other words, while Keane may have hopped, skipped and jumped across the mark, O’Neill had no quibble with his basic sentiment. Over to you, Aiden. McGeady was subsequently named in the 23-man party which will face Sweden, Belgium and Italy but the 30-yearold travels to France with a flea in his ear, his credibility on the line and with a major point to prove to many.
Put bluntly, for all he went about the task with the subtlety of a Rottweiler in a butcher’s shop, Keane was simply articulating what an increasing number of Ireland and Everton fans have been saying about the Glaswegian for some time now. Because, for all the winger unquestionably played a part in getting Ireland to France — most notably by scoring a double in Georgia — such displays have become increasingly sporadic. Having seen Sheffield Wednesday — where he spent the latter part of last season on loan from Everton — omit McGeady from their Championship Play-Off Final squad against Hull City, there are many now asking why he’s on the flight to France at all. It’s an argument that’s not without merit. It could be said that the player has been in decline for two years now — from the very moment he joined Everton from Spartak Moscow — but it has to be stated that neither O’Neill nor his firebrand sidekick have survived in the game for so long purely by indulging sentiment. Last week’s carefully choreographed routine was put together to press McGeady’s buttons. For all he has frustrated through his decision-making and imperfect crossing down the years, those who have never rated him simply do not know football. O’Neill and Keane evidently still see a player who can make an impact in France. That shrewdest of judges, Sir Alex Ferguson, famously coveted the young McGeady as word of his ability spread through the land and the former Manchester United manager seemed to have half the clubs in England for company at that stage. Headstrong from an early age, though, McGeady only wanted to realise his ambition of playing for his beloved Celtic and, after making his debut against Hearts 12 years ago, it was clear what all the fuss was about. When AC Milan left Parkhead with a goalless draw in the Champions League the following season, Italian full-back Paolo Maldini liked what he saw, singling McGeady out as a ‘rare player’ who could ‘alter the course of matches’. Two years later, Benfica found to their cost that the player was developing at pace in the Champions League. His scintillating scoring performance against the Portuguese — described by Gordon Strachan as ‘awesome’ — edged Celtic towards qualification for the last 16. As is the lot of any winger, McGeady was dogged by inconsistency. Self-assured and forthright in his opinions, he was often at loggerheads with his manager when his levels dipped.
Speaking to Sportsmail last year, McGeady’s former Celtic team-mate Mark Wilson recalled a dressingroom fall-out between the pair after Strachan singled the player out for criticism after a draw with Hearts in late 2008.
‘Gordon and Aiden didn’t get on too well. It was a clash of personalities,’ said Wilson. ‘Aiden’s a good guy and a likeable guy, but he’s also such a cheeky guy. He would cause a fight anywhere. I think he was probably like Gordon was when he was younger.
‘And after that game (against Hearts) it all kicked off and got a bit out of hand. It wasn’t a scuffle exactly but Aiden got up off his seat and there was a bit of a coming together. To be fair to Gordon, he handled it perfectly — the way any top manager would. He suspended Aiden for two weeks and he missed the Old Firm game.’
But when McGeady was hot, he needed to be handled with asbestos gloves.
His display against Rangers in the 2009 League Cup Final was one such occasion and, when he departed for Spartak Moscow for £9.5million in 2010 with four titles, two Scottish Cups and two League Cups to his name, no one could have accused him of failing to match the hype.
Contrary to public perception, for all he didn’t win anything in Russia, his three years there were far from a failure.
Notwithstanding a vast tax-free salary, he was regularly voted in the Russian Football Union’s list of top players playing in the country.
Even though he latterly fell out with Spartak coach Valeri Karpin, his departure for Goodison two years ago was very much seen as the Russians’ loss and Everton’s gain. For
a player who once could have his pick of Premiership clubs, though, the reality of life in England’s top flight has been pretty miserable.
He made just four starts in his first half-season and, just when he looked to be establishing himself in the side the following term, a knee injury coincided with the signing of Aaron Lennon.
He made just two substitute appearances at the end of that season and, by November of last year, had clocked up just one game in 2015-16 — a League Cup tie against Barnsley — in which he was subbed.
By the time he moved to Hillsborough in February, he had made three times as many international appearances as club ones this year.
But his hopes of a resurgence under Carlos Carvalhal in South Yorkshire were to be dashed. Of his 13 games in a Wednesday shirt — prior to being deemed surplus to requirements for Wembley — McGeady completed 90 minutes just once.
Hardly a riposte to the critics who have claimed he is over the hill and most certainly not the ideal build-up to a major international tournament.
In that regard, Keane’s verbal assault may well have had the same healing effect as treating an open wound with vinegar.
For Ireland, drawn again in the Group of Death alongside Sweden, Belgium and Italy, the fervent hope is that the kid who once had the world at his feet can somehow resurrect himself on one of the biggest stages of all.