The making of John McGinn: The ‘powerhouse’ behind Scotland and Aston Villa’s rise

The Rear of the Year is no more. But if the competition was still an annual event, then all bets would be off.

In Birmingham, at least.

John McGinn, the owner of football’s most famous bumper, has been the driving force behind both Aston Villa’s unlikely title tilt and Scotland’s march to Euro 2024.

He has now emerged as one of the most complete midfielders in the Premier League under the guidance of Spanish coaching wizard Unai Emery.

Danny Lennon, the man who handed McGinn his senior debut for St Mirren as an 18-year-old back in October 2012, has watched on unsurprised but with an understandable sense of pride.

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And Lennon does not doubt that whatever happens next, the Villa talisman can handle it. Just as he has risen to every challenge throughout his career.

“We reached the Scottish League Cup final a few months after his debut and he was fantastic,” says Lennon. “But it was the semi-final that I remember most.

“It was billed as ‘The Battle of the two Arses’, up here – it was John against Victor Wanyama at Celtic. I spoke to him before that game but the pressure didn’t bother him.

“And we won!”

That victory over the Glaswegian giants, followed by a 3-2 win in the final against Hearts, delivered St Mirren’s first piece of major silverware since their1986-87 Scottish Cup win.

It also signalled McGinn’s arrival as a player of rare promise.

“The boy was destined to play on the biggest platform, absolutely no doubt,” says Lennon. “I’ve seen where he has come from and what he has achieved and every time I watch him play I just see the same determination and the same hunger – he’s just a player with fantastic ability.

“The hunger he has for the game and his desire to improve is still his biggest weapon.

“John wasn’t the biggest when he was coming through at St Mirren and there was a gap between the youth team and the first team. I bridged that gap and started bringing players through.

“John was playing away in the reserves one night and I was high up in the stands in the directors’ box. It’s great up there because you get a totally different view, a completely different perspective of the game.

“I was watching this kid play and at such a young age, he would be down there in the hustle and bustle of it and he would see things that no one else on the pitch had seen. In fact, he saw passes and had movement that I hadn’t even seen. It was incredible.

“We brought him over to the first-team environment and he’s the only kid I’ve ever had that I never sent back. That’s how special he is. He just handled everything.”

There’s no great mystery to what McGinn does so well. Even in the blood and thunder of a Premier League midfield battle he often appears to have more time on the ball than other players – an attribute that was immediately apparent to Lennon as the then teenager began his SPL career.

“He knows where the pressure is coming from, he’s got a picture of that pitch in his head,” says Lennon. “He’s so strong, he has such a strong core – just when a defender thinks they’ve got him, he’s gone. He can get himself out of so many tight situations. He’s a powerhouse.

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“What we’ve seen with John in this season is that he’s so good in that final third too.”

So far this season, McGinn has six goals for Villa in domestic and European competition. He also netted from the spot for Scotland in their 3-3 draw against Norway at Hampden Park last month.

Scotland had already ensured their qualification for Germany next summer, sparking mass celebrations in the country at large, and in a family steeped in Scottish sport.

“John is from a very sporty background,” says Lennon. “His grandfather was Jack McGinn, who was chairman at Celtic for a time. His mum and his twin sister played for Scotland at netball, his mum captained them. And his big brother Stephen, who also started at St Mirren, is at Falkirk and his other brother, Paul, is at Motherwell.

“It’s a fantastic family background and they’re just good, good boys. Off the pitch, John has a lovely way about him. Even in interviews and on TV, he’s just the same boy I remember.”

By the time next summer’s European Championships roll around, McGinn could have added to that Scottish League Cup winners’ medal. Just don’t mention the “title”, a word that the player himself revealed had been banned from the Villa training ground this week.

The Tartan Army, meanwhile, will be hoping that McGinn and his teammates will have left Germany, Hungary and Switzerland on their backsides and made it into the knockout phase of a major tournament for the first time.

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“I don’t think they’ve got anything to fear, I’m very optimistic,” says Lennon. “They found a system, they’ve found a way of playing and we’re knocking on that door. It’s a very good draw. Other than Germany, who are going through a rebuilding process, there’s nothing for us to be fearful of.

“Players like John and Scott McTominay are up against the best players in the world week in, week out. What happens for the rest of that [Premier League] season, we’ll have to wait and see.

“It’s a marathon and not a sprint but they’re challenging at this moment in time. The way John is playing at the moment, the games can’t come fast enough.

“Emery has done an incredible job, the transformation from this season to last season is amazing. Can they carry on? Why not.”