Aiden McGeady

Aiden McGeady

Personal information
Full name	Aiden McGeady
Date of birth	(1986-04-04) 4 April 1986 (age 26)
Place of birth	Glasgow, Scotland
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position	Winger
Club information
Current club	Spartak Moscow
Number	8
Youth career
2000–2001	Queen's Park
2001–2004	Celtic
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2004–2010	Celtic	185	(31)
2010–	Spartak Moscow	42	(5)
National team‡
2004–	Republic of Ireland	48	(2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18 May 2012. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 26 May 2012

Aiden McGeady playing for Celtic against Dinamo Moscow

Aiden McGeady opening Gweedore Celtic's new pitch

Aiden McGeady (born 4 April 1986) is a footballer who currently plays as a winger for Russian club Spartak Moscow and the Republic of Ireland national football team. He started his career at Scottish Premier League club Celtic before moving to Russia in 2010 for £9.5 million. This made him the most expensive player to be sold by a Scottish club.

McGeady was born in Scotland but chose to play internationally for Ireland. He qualifies to play for them through his grandparents. He helped his country qualify for UEFA Euro 2012 and manager Giovanni Trapattoni named him in his squad for the tournament. His father John McGeady was also a professional footballer.

Club career

Celtic

McGeady ascended through the ranks of the youth and reserve teams of Scottish Premier League club Celtic. He was handed his senior debut on 24 April 2004 aged 18 in a league game against Hearts at Tynecastle late in the 2003–04 season. He started the match and marked it with a goal after 17 minutes. He made his UEFA Champions League debut the next season in a game against Italian side AC Milan and made the breakthrough into the first-team that same season, with 27 appearances in the league as Celtic finished runners up in Martin O'Neill's final season with the club.

McGeady's 2005–06 season was hampered by a persistent knee injury and he struggled to secure a starting place ahead of Shaun Maloney and Shunsuke Nakamura, but still managed to make 19 appearances over the course of the season as Celtic easily won the league title.

The 2006–07 season saw Maloney leave Celtic for Aston Villa in January 2007, giving McGeady an opportunity, and the player blossomed. He was a mainstay in the Celtic team that again won the SPL championship and also qualified for the knockout stage of the Champions League for the first time in club history, defeating Manchester United, Benfica and Copenhagen in the group stage before losing 1–0 to eventual champions AC Milan in extra time.

The 2007–08 season was McGeady's annus mirabilis, earning him praise from the media, fans and fellow players.^[1] One of his most memorable performances came against Aberdeen, scoring a goal and setting up three, including a second goal for striker Scott McDonald with a 360-degree turn and cross. He continued to provide goals for his team, most importantly Scott McDonald's equalising goal against rivals Rangers, a match that Celtic went on to win 3–2 which proved to be crucial in Celtic's successful defence of their title. Throughout the season, he contributed a total of eight goals and 24 assists and was awarded the SPFA Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year on 20 April 2008, only the second player ever to receive both awards in the same season (the first was Shaun Maloney in 2006), as voted by his fellow players. The club reached the knockout stages of the Champions League for a second consecutive season and won the league title for the third year in a row, overhauling Rangers with one week left and winning at Dundee United on the final day of the season to clinch the trophy.

McGeady entered in 2008–09 as Celtic's star player but his performances suffered as Celtic endured a poor second half to the season. On 16 December 2008, after a much-publicised dressing room row with manager Gordon Strachan, McGeady was fined two weeks' wages and suspended for two matches,^[2] although Strachan later denied any fall-out between him and McGeady.^[3] Celtic finished runners up to Rangers on the final day of the season and Strachan resigned soon after.

2009–10 began well for McGeady as he scored two goals against Aberdeen on the opening day of the season. Under new manager Tony Mowbray, the team's form was poor for much of the season, which led to Mowbray being sacked in March. McGeady enjoyed an improved season, staying injury-free while contributing seven goals and 16 assists in 34 appearances. Former teammate Neil Lennon took over as interim manager after Mowbray's departure. Ross County knocked Celtic out of the Scottish Cup and Celtic ended the season trophyless for the first time since 2003, having finished in second place in the SPL.

Spartak Moscow

In early August 2010, Celtic accepted an offer of around £9.5 million from Russian side Spartak Moscow and McGeady travelled to Moscow for talks.^[4] On 13 August, McGeady completed his move to Spartak, signing a four-and-half-year contract.^[5] The move made McGeady the most expensive export in the history of Scottish football.^[5] On 11 September, McGeady made his league debut against Saturn in a 2–1 win.^[6] On 24 September, he scored his first goal for Spartak in a 2–2 draw at home to Amkar.^[7] In the last game of the season, McGeady was sent off for a late challenge on Marcin Kowalczyk in the derby against Dynamo Moscow.^[8] On 9 December 2010, the Russian Football Union named its list of 33 top players, placing McGeady as second best right winger^[9] despite joining the club mid-season.

International career

McGeady played for Scotland Schools while at Queen's Park. He played in an under-13 World Cup tournament in Paris.^[10] After Queen's Park he joined Celtic, who had a policy of not permitting their youths to play for their school teams due to conflicting kick off times. Scotland had a rule which would not permit a player who did not play for their school team to be considered for a call-up to Scotland Schools selects.^[11]

The Republic of Ireland had no such rule preventing a player from being selected and instructed former Celtic player Packie Bonner, who knew of McGeady's Irish heritage, to invite McGeady to play for the Republic of Ireland Under-15 Schoolboys team. McGeady qualifies for Ireland through his paternal grandparents, who hail from the Gaeltacht area of Gweedore, County Donegal.^[12][13] McGeady accepted the offer and joined the Irish youth setup. McGeady was later named in a Scotland under-16 squad, but declined, citing his experience of the Irish set up, despite attempts to persuade him to do so by Scotland head coach Berti Vogts.^[10][12]

McGeady made his full debut for the Republic of Ireland in July 2004 against Jamaica.^[14] He has made over 40 appearances for Ireland, being called up by manager Giovanni Trapattoni in each of his squads and featuring often. However, he lost his place in the starting line-up during the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.^[15]

On 26 March 2011, McGeady scored his first goal for Ireland in the Aviva Stadium against Macedonia in Euro 2012 qualifier, with Ireland winning 2-1.^[16] On the 7 October 2011, McGeady scored his second international goal against Andorra thanks to a defletion off the Andorra defender to make the game 2–0.^[17] In the first leg of the UEFA Euro 2012 play-off against Estonia, McGeady provided the assist for the first goal when his cross found the head of Keith Andrews who scored. The game finished 4–0 to Ireland. ^[18]

McGeady was named in Trapattoni's 23 man squad for the 2012 European Championships in Poland and Ukraine.^[19] McGeady came off the bench at a half time in a warm-up match against Bosnia and Herzegovina on 26 May 2012, hitting the post with his first touch and later provided the assist for Shane Long's winning goal.^[20]

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	26 March 2011	Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland	Macedonia	1–0	2–1	Euro 2012 qualifying
2	7 October 2011	Estadi Comunal d'Aixovall, Andorra	Andorra	2–0	2–0	Euro 2012 qualifying

Career statistics

As of 18 May 2012

Honours

Club

Celtic

• Scottish Premier League (3): 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08
• Scottish League Cup (2): 2005–06, 2008–09
• Scottish Cup (2): 2004–05, 2006–07

Minor

• Reserve Scottish Premier League (3): 2002, 2003, 2004
• Under 19 Scottish Premier League (2): 2003, 2004
• Scottish Youth Cup (1): 2003

Individual

• Celtic FC Young Player of the Year (3): 2005, 2006, 2007
• Celtic FC Fans Player of the Year (1): 2008
• Celtic FC Players' Player of the Year (2): 2008, 2010
• SPFA Players' Player of the Year (1): 2008
• SPFA Young Player of the Year (1): 2008
• BBC Sportsound Player of the Year (1): 2008
• Clydesdale Bank Young Player of the Year (1): 2008
• Scottish Premier League Player of the Month (3): December 2004, November 2007, February 2008
• Scottish Premier League Young Player of the Month (4): March 2005, November 2005, August 2006, September 2006
• Eircom Republic of Ireland Young Player of the Year (1): 2009

References

External links

• Aiden McGeady career stats at Soccerbase

v t e Republic of Ireland squad – UEFA Euro 2012 1 Given 2 St Ledger 3 Ward 4 O'Shea 5 Dunne 6 Whelan 7 McGeady 8 Andrews 9 Doyle 10 Keane (c) 11 Duff 12 Kelly 13 McShane 14 Walters 15 Gibson 16 Westwood 17 Hunt 18 O'Dea 19 Long 20 Cox 21 Green 22 McClean 23 Forde Coach: Trapattoni