The Aiden McGeady interview on BBC Sportsound really set the cat amongst the pigeons the other day didn’t it?
It raised so many questions at how the former Celtic winger was treated because he chose to represent Ireland instead of Scotland at international level that this story kind of slipped under the radar.
McGeady recounts his stormy relationship with former gaffer Gordon Strachan and tells of how a ‘fight’ with Neil Lennon made Strachan take the Northern Irishman’s side even although Lennon was in the wrong.
Speaking to Kenny McIntyre, McGeady said, “We played Dunfermline away and I got man of the match.
“But I’d ended up having a fight with Lenny. He went for Artur [Boruc] on the pitch. They had a bust up. And then Lenny came for me.
“It was in 2005 maybe?
“So we were winning 2-0, and Strachan changed the shape and he went 4-3-3. So I was [on the] right and their winger has went down the line, beat Mark Wilson and scored at the near post.
“Lenny starts having a go at Artur, so he comes up to Artur and Artur pushes him.
“And then Lenny carries on and then he’s just looking around the pitch ready to go for someone.
“And he like ‘Where were you there? Where were you?’, I was like, ‘It’s no my fault Willo got beat. It’s no my job to tackle the winger.’
“And he was like, ‘Who are you talking to?‘ And I was like ‘Shut up you’ and he’s just went for me and we just pushed each other.
“It was nothing really. Just because it was on the pitch at end of the game.
“The game finished, in the dressing room and Strachan backed Lenny up. Strachan totally backed Lenny up even though he was in the wrong.
“And he was like. ‘Some guys have been doing it at this club for years and years. Seven years they’ve been doing it for. Not even missed a pass. And then you’ve got guys like him, (talking about me) and he was like, ‘Aiden, you might get some girls at the club because you’ve got some fancy flicks.’
“And I was always like, ‘What’s that got to do with anything?’
“But then just as he was finishing having a go at me, Ian in Jameson pops his head in and said, ‘Gaffer, Aiden got man of the match’ and he [Strachan] was like, ‘No, he’s not getting it.’
“He went, ‘Darren [O’Dea] you were man of the match. You go and get it.’
“Maybe that was him just cracking his whip on me.”
“Because at the end of the day, he wouldn’t have probably been so hard on me if he didn’t rate me.
“Maybe it’s a backhanded compliment how hard he was on me at times.”
McGeady eventually left the Hoops in 2010 for Russian side Spartak Moscow after six years at the club.
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Last season, maybe if we’d had a bit of that all round attitude about losing an inconsequential goal we’d be celebrating eleven in a row and they would be truly finished.