Aiden McGeady

Aiden John McGeady (born 4 April 1986) is a professional football player who plays as a right winger for Ayr United.

He progressed through the academy alongside Charlie Mulgrew, playing with the youth and reserve teams, and won the Scottish Youth Cup in 2003.

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.

Born in Scotland, he represented the Republic of Ireland national team from 2004 until 2017.

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 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.

McGeady also started the 2007 Scottish Cup Final victory over Dunfermline Athletic.

The 2007–08 season was McGeady's annus mirabilis, earning him praise from the media, fans, and fellow players.

One of his most memorable performances came against Aberdeen: he scored a goal and set 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 important was McDonald's equalising goal against rivals Rangers in a match that Celtic went on to win 3–2 and 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 (by vote of his fellow players) the SPFA Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year on 20 April 2008, only the second player ever (after Shaun Maloney in 2006) to receive both awards in the same season.

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 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, although Strachan later denied any fallout between him and McGeady.

Although they won the 2009 Scottish League Cup Final,

with McGeady one of the scorers, Celtic finished runners-up to Rangers on the final day of the season.

2009–10 began well for McGeady as he scored two goals against Aberdeen on the opening day of the season.

McGeady's form improved: he stayed injury-free while contributing seven goals and 16 assists in 35 league appearances.

McGeady started his career at the Scottish Premier League club Celtic, with whom he won four league titles, two Scottish Cups, and one Scottish League Cup before moving to Russian club Spartak Moscow in 2010.

In Russia, McGeady was a runner-up in the Russian Premier League.

In August 2010, McGeady joined Russian side Spartak Moscow, signing a four-and-half-year contract.

The fee of £9.5 million made McGeady the most expensive player from Scottish football.

He made his league debut in September, a 2–1 win against Saturn.

He scored his first goal for Spartak in a 2–2 draw at home to Amkar later the same month.

In the last game of the season, McGeady was sent off for a late challenge on Marcin Kowalczyk in the derby against Dynamo Moscow.

He was included in the Russian Football Union's list of 33 top players, published in December 2010, which named McGeady the second-best right winger.

He was included in the Irish squads at UEFA Euro 2012 and UEFA Euro 2016 and made 93 full international appearances between 2004 and 2017.

McGeady was born in Rutherglen, Scotland.

He attended Trinity High School (Rutherglen) for a short period of time before attending St Ninian's High School, Giffnock.

His father, John McGeady, was also a professional football player for Sheffield United.

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 moved to English football with Everton in January 2014, being loaned to Sheffield Wednesday and Preston North End before joining Sunderland in the summer of 2017.

After five years with Sunderland, McGeady signed for Hibernian in June 2022.

McGeady was born and brought up in Scotland, but chose to play for the Republic of Ireland national team, qualifying by way of his Irish grandparents.