Aiden McGeady

Celtic

McGeady began his career with Queen's Park, having played as a child with a local youth team, Busby Boys Club. After several trials with clubs in England, including several visits to Arsenal, he joined Celtic while still in his early teens. He progressed through the academy alongside Charlie Mulgrew, playing with the youth and reserve teams, and won the Scottish Youth Cup in 2003. His senior debut, at age 18, came on 24 April 2004 in a league game against Hearts at Tynecastle late in the 2003–04 season. He started the match, scored a goal after 17 minutes, and finished that season with four league appearances as Celtic won the league. 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 campaign with the club. He also featured as a late substitute in the season's Scottish Cup Final in which Celtic defeated Dundee United 1–0. 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 won the league title. The 2006–07 season saw Maloney leave Celtic for Aston Villa in January 2007, giving McGeady an opportunity to secure a regular starting place. He played regularly from that point in the…

McGeady played for Scotland Schools while at Queen's Park. He played in an under-13 World Cup tournament in Paris. 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. The Republic of Ireland had no such rule preventing a player from being selected and instructed Donegal-born 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 qualified for Ireland through his paternal grandparents, who hail from the Gaeltacht area of Gweedore, County Donegal. McGeady accepted the offer and joined the Irish youth setup. McGeady was later named in a Scotland under-16 squad, and Scotland head coach Berti Vogts attempted to persuade him, but he declined the invitation, citing his experience in the Irish set-up. McGeady made his full debut for the Republic of Ireland in July 2004 against Jamaica. He has made over 90 appearances for Ireland and featured often under manager Giovanni Trapattoni, appearing in each of his squads. However, he lost his place in the starting line-up during the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.

On 26 March 2011, McGeady scored his first goal for Ireland in the Aviva Stadium against Macedonia in a Euro 2012 qualifier, with…

A two-footed player, McGeady is known for his speed, skill, and creativity with the ball on the wing, as well as his dribbling skills, technique, close control, ball playing ability, and use of feints and trickery in possession. He is known for using a turn which includes him dragging the ball with his foot behind his standing foot, in a similar manner to the Cruyff Turn, then using the outside of his boot to move the ball away from his defender. This move has come to be known as the McGeady Spin in his honour, and has been included in EA Sports' FIFA video game series.

McGeady was born in Rutherglen, Scotland. He attended Trinity High School (Rutherglen) for a short period before attending St Ninian's High School, Giffnock. His father, John McGeady, was also a professional football player for Sheffield United.