CULTURE CLUB
Aiden thrilled to see Scots follow in his footsteps overseas and tells them to embrace new life, not pine for fish and chips
He was a pioneer for Scots going abroad with a £ 9.5million move from Celtic to Spartak Moscow.
Now, more than a decade later, Aiden McGeady is delighted to see more young players head for Europe.
Following on from the likes of Barry Douglas, Ryan Gauld, Liam Henderson, Lawrence Shankland and Aaron Hickey, two of our top talents left for Italy this summer.
Aberdeen and Scotland midfielder Lewis Ferguson signed for Bologna before Hibs star Josh Doig joined him in Serie A by securing a £3m deal at Verona.
And McGeady is convinced that, by taking the plunge, it will make them better players.
The new Hibs winger has encouraged Ferguson, Doig and the rest to embrace it and never pine for home.
McGeady said: “My advice would be to enjoy it and be open-minded. You can’t go abroad thinking: ‘ This is so different to Scotland’ or ‘ I miss my mum’s cooking and my fish and chips.’
“You’ve got to embrace the culture, a different lifestyle and the physical changes in terms of the type of football.
“Everything from your diet to the way you train abroad is different. So it’s a case of almost becoming a local.
“Josh has gone to Verona so he has to become Italian now and take on board the things they do well over there.
“He has to implement that into his own lifestyle. It’s about opening your mind which I’m sure he will do.
“Were there moments in Russia when I realised it was different to home? About a thousand, from day one!
“I lived in the centre of
Moscow and the training ground was on the outskirts.
“It was 20km away but the traffic was so bad it took us two hours. That was an eye opener. In Glasgow I’d be in the city centre in 15 minutes.
“There was loads of stuff like that I had to get used to.”
McGeady believes interest in Scottish players from foreign clubs shows the strength of our top f light – even if his old team-mates in England don’t agree.
He feels that he developed as a player and as a person in Russia and hopes Doig and Ferguson do likewise in Italy.
The 36-year-old said: “It’s a compliment to the Scottish game that players are being plucked from here to go to Serie A, the Premier League, the Bundesliga, wherever.
“People down south still think: ‘Oh, it’s just Scotland.’
“If you say to people in England that Rangers and Celtic would be competing with the big clubs down there after five years because of the revenue they’d turn over everyone would laugh at you.
“They think Celtic would be Championship and mid-table. It’s just the way it is, you’re fighting a losing battle.
“But there are a lot of players now being taken from Scottish teams.
“I spoke to Josh a couple of times before he left. One of my mates f rom Spar tak (Salvatore Bocchetti) is now the B team coach at Verona.
“Josh had it in his mind that it was something he wanted to do anyway. He’s headstrong and wants to embrace it.
“Going abroad definitely helped my game and I had to grow up quickly.
“I’d just turned 24 and back here I was living at home. So I had to grow up over there and it was good.
“I learned a di f ferent lifestyle, language, I got to know new people with different ways of thinking.
“It was great for me, I really enjoyed it. Of course, there were parts I didn’t like but other parts were very good.” McGeady is now a veteran at Easter Road and will be a key player for Lee Johnson’s side this season.
But he’s already trying to prepare for life after football.
The former Ever ton, Sunderland and Ireland wide man said: “I was prepared to retire or drop down the leagues if nothing happened for me in the simmer.
“Retirement could be a while off but you just never know in football. I’ve done a bit of coaching and completed some of my badges.
“I’m also doing a course just now for sporting directorship, which I’m halfway through.
“It’s a masters degree but I haven’t written an essay since I was at school!
“It’s tough but it’s good. I’m doing it because if I finish playing and there’s an opportunity, I might fancy it.
“I’m doing a bit more media stuff as well. I’m trying a bit of everything to see if I want to stay in football or not.”