John McGinn is a 91-cap veteran, third on Scotland’s all-time appearance list and fifth in the all-time scoring chart. And right now, he is too quiet for too long.
That is the verdict on McGinn’s current run with his country. The Scots are in Skopje for a fixture, and the man they call their most cherished son has not been delivering the game-defining moments that once defined him. The question is simple: can he recapture his best form for Scotland?
The Quiet Spell
The evidence is not hard to find. McGinn’s last Scotland goal came two years ago, and the standout moment since has been a double deflection in the World Cup match against Haiti. Beyond that, the performances have been steady rather than spectacular.
Fans still look to him. His name gets chanted in good times and in bad. But the game-defining moments have not been there, save for the odd glimpse.
Criticism of McGinn is treated as a near-sacred offence in Scottish football circles. Mention that he looks under pressure and you will hear about it. Being McGinn, he could dominate and score in Skopje, but a reminder of his talent is overdue.
What McGinn Says About Pressure
McGinn arrived to chat at the Todor Proeski Stadium in Skopje, and his answers were measured. He talked about the weight of expectation, the praise, and the criticism that follows it.
“The nature of the beast is, at club and country, you have a lot of responsibility, a lot of weight on your shoulders,” he said. “When you do something well, you’re the best thing since sliced bread. When you don’t have a great couple of games, or you’re not producing assists, or you make a poor pass in a pivotal moment of the game, you’re automatically not good enough.”
He added: “It’s the nature of being my age (he’ll be 32 later in the month). It’s the nature of competing with Scotland and with Aston Villa. I take the praise with a big smile. Any criticism that comes, it’s just part of it.”
Dropping the Undroppable
The conversation turned to whether he feels undroppable, given his 91 caps. His answer was firm.
“No, no. I’m certainly not undroppable,” he replied. “I remember Steve Clarke put me on the bench and I had absolutely no issue with that. I don’t think anyone in the squad is undroppable. It’s the challenge to anyone coming into the squad and I encourage that challenge.”
“The competition is always there, whether that’s someone who’s 20, 21 or in their 30s. The best players will play for Scotland. If the manager said to me, ‘You’re on the bench, I need you for five minutes, ten minutes, zero minutes or 90-plus’, we’re here to represent Scotland.”
“If that’s a team without me in it, I’ll be the biggest Scotland supporter on the bench.”
Why He Keeps Going
McGinn has history with St Mirren and Hibs, but his legend is now built on his time at Aston Villa. He helped get them out of the Championship in 2019, kept them in the Premier League in 2020, and dragged them from 17th to 11th to 14th to 7th to 4th in the English top flight.
He captained the side and scored when they won a European trophy last season. He broke their European goalscoring record. He was one of the ones who stayed when Jack Grealish, Douglas Luiz, Ollie Watkins, Emi Martinez and Youri Tielemans moved on.
Some call him the best Villa captain since Dennis Mortimer, who led the iconic league-winning team of 1981 and the European Cup-winning side of 1982.
The qualities that define a legend, he listed:
- Humility
- Determination
- Tenacity
- Leadership
- Longevity
- Success
One fan wrote that he ticks all of them, and another expects his infant son to ask him one day: “What was it like watching John McGinn?”
“He’s unquestionably ahead of any other player we’ve had this century and surpasses some of the legends from the last one, too,” one observer said.
Age and the Weight of Expectation
McGinn knows the numbers. After Saturday night he will be on 92 caps, third on the all-time appearance list while currently sitting in fifth in the all-time scoring chart, one behind the immortal Lawrie Reilly.
But he also knows the expectations that come with them. He is not too long in the tooth to be influenced by praise or flak, he said.
“If I was younger, I would have been straight on Instagram or straight on Twitter,” he added. “Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but at the end of the day, you keep your head down, you keep working hard.”
Scotland need him at his best. Whether he finds that form again is the question that hangs over his upcoming appearance.
Source material: “Too quiet for too long, can McGinn recapture best for Scotland?,” the BBC.
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