John McGeady (born 17 April 1958) is a Scottish former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a winger in Scotland, England and the United States. He is the father of

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

international player

Aiden McGeady Aiden John McGeady (born 4 April 1986) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for Scottish Premiership club Hibernian. Born in Scotland, he represented the Republic of Ireland national team from 2004 until 2017. He started his c ...

Early life

McGeady was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

to parents originally from

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...

, and educated at

Holyrood Secondary School ("By this conquer!") , established = 1936 , closed = , type = Comprehensive , religious_affiliation = Roman Catholic , president = , head_name = , head ...

. Residing in

Govanhill Govanhill ( gd, Cnoc a' Ghobhainn) is an area of Glasgow, Scotland, situated south of the River Clyde between Pollokshields, the Gorbals, Strathbungo, Crosshill, Polmadie and Queen's Park. Historically part of Renfrewshire, Govanhill had the st ...

, with his father and younger brother Pat he attended matches of

Third Lanark Third Lanark Athletic Club was a Scottish football club based in Glasgow. Founded in 1872 as an offshoot of the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers, the club was a founder member of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) in 1872 and the Scottish ...

, whose ground was located a few blocks from their home, until the club folded in 1967.

Playing career

Beginning as an amateur in Scotland with Third Lanark (the juvenile team having continued after the demise of the professional arm), McGeady signed professional terms with

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

in 1975, making 16 league appearances. He was briefly a teammate of the famous former

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

winger

Jimmy Johnstone James Connolly Johnstone (30 September 1944 – 13 March 2006) was a Scottish footballer who played as an outside right. Known as "Jinky" for his elusive dribbling style, Johnstone played for Celtic for 13 years, and was part of the 'Lisbon ...

, but suffered a serious injury to his knee aged 19. McGeady then spent time in the American Soccer League with the Southern California Lazers, before going to play with Newport County, where he made two league appearances between 1978 and 1979 before retiring aged 23.

Career after football

After the end of his footballing career McGeady worked in the construction industry before becoming an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

teacher'Mac' for the future
Irish Independent, 14 November 2004 at Holyrood Secondary, where he had been a pupil.

References

1958 births Living people Scottish footballers Footballers from Glasgow Scottish expatriate footballers Third Lanark A.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Southern California Lazers players Newport County A.F.C. players English Football League players American Soccer League (1933–1983) players Scottish people of Irish descent People educated at Holyrood Secondary School Scottish schoolteachers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States Association football wingers People from Govanhill and Crosshill {{Scotland-footy-midfielder-1950s-stub