Top 70 John McGinn Quotes

Alan Hutton and I are always fighting the corner for Scottish football. It’s a really tough league down here with a lot of quality players trying to get into the Premier League.

No matter where it is or who it’s against, I will always be available for Scotland as long as I am fit.

When a Scottish player goes down the road you’re always going to get doubters. You always get people saying you’re from a pub league.

You learn more from defeats and it makes you hungry to go and improve the next time. That’s the way I have dealt with things during my whole career.

That is what all the top players do and if you want to be the best you know you are going to get marked.

We need to go into every game believing we are going to win.

It’s always nice to be getting personal recognition, but I wouldn’t be getting it if it wasn’t for the help of my team-mates and the backroom staff.

In football you can take the praise when it comes, but you’ve got to be ready to take the criticism as well.

A lot of players and pundits can be talking the Scottish league down and it’s not until players and coaches actually experience it they start respecting it.

When you experience lows like I have it just makes you hungry to go and succeed even more, and make sure days like that don’t happen as much as they have done.

I’ve worked under a lot of managers, whether it’s the national team or at St Mirren and everyone has their moments. I think it is important, you can’t just let things pass if they are not good enough.

When I broke into the St Mirren team thing went pretty well for me and I managed to hit the ground running.

You just want to prove people wrong and, over time, people start believing in you.

The refs try their best. Sometimes they get it right. Sometimes they get it wrong.

I remember when I was at St Mirren someone called me the ugliest thing they had seen at Tynecastle, and two minutes later I scored – it was brilliant. I just laugh it off – I agree with them most of the time!

If you are a player wanting to improve then Hibs will be a club you want to go to.

I was fortunate to be able to go to the Scotland games with my grandad and it’s scary to think I could now be playing in one.

I think everyone will agree that it doesn’t matter how we get to an international tournament. We are going to do whatever it takes.

We don’t want to have to rely on last-minute goals every time!

You need to be brave to able to stand up to tough atmospheres and against top players.

The Villa boys will not be shy in telling me that I talk about Hibs all the time. I loved my time here, it was a special three seasons so I have a lot to be thankful for from my time here.

To be honest, I had a brilliant group of players at Hibs and the support were very fair with me. They didn’t make it difficult.

You will always have people to prove wrong. I always have done and I always will. I use that to spur me on and stay hungry and that’s the big aim.

You always need to be on your toes.

Sometimes in football you have to take risks.

Sometimes you just need a wee bit time away from football to freshen things up.

If you’ve not got the doubts to go and prove people wrong, that’s when you get into that comfort zone and stop progressing.

There’s something special about big midweek games at Easter Road, under the lights, that makes us have that little bit extra about us.

Well I’m still a massive Celtic supporter. And I always will be. That will never leave you.

I’m not your normal central midfielder.

It doesn’t matter the level whether it is League Two or anywhere, you want to win games.

People do like to talk us down, it’s a Scottish thing. We are pessimistic, we look for the negatives all the time.

I’ve always said the same thing – I’m learning, I’m getting better and I’m loving playing in front of sell-out crowds.

I remember when I was training with St Mirren as a young boy Ralston was my Hampden and my Wembley.

You work so hard to get to a level and you need to grab your chance with both hands.

There are always challenges that come your way and I’m probably better prepared to deal with them now I’ve been at Hibs.

The benefit of coming to a place like Greece and winning is priceless for your development.

You’re always looking to go one step further and I’m an ambitious boy.

I think you’re always fighting a losing battle when you’re Scottish and I don’t think that’s right. I think the way that people look at Scottish football is wrong, but at the same time, we have to start proving it on the park and start showing it again.

Two-footed players always get a lot more recognition, so I always practised as a kid with my right foot.

Every time I’ve come away with Scotland I’ve learned and improved.

It’s an amazing feeling playing at a packed-out Villa Park.

Football is a great place to get away from things, and going over to Greece was amazing and I’ve loved it – it is basically getting away from all the talk.

I think people maybe had a perception of me that I was just a hard working player, just a runner. Don’t get me wrong, I think I am that but I’ve got a lot more to my game than that.

In Scotland you can enter a comfort zone. I felt I had already developed a reputation there and felt it was important to prove I can play elsewhere.

I’m going from Somerset Park one week to Wembley the next. It’s crazy but that’s football. You don’t get to where you want to be without going through all these different places.

You are professional so you want to win every game you play.

If you get too high it comes back to bite you on the backside so I was always aware in spells before when I’ve done well in a season, eventually there was a wee dip.

If you try too hard to fit in you become something you are not.

Going to places like Tynecastle, where you’re so close to the crowd, you get reminded how ugly you are and stuff like that!

I’m the kind of guy who always gives 100 per cent.

I’ve got confidence in my ability.

I’d been with Saints for 13 years, so it was always going to be a bit strange going back for the first time.

I’m ambitious, which is why I chose Villa.

I’m grateful for what this club has done for me and I love playing for Hibs – I never take that for granted.

There’s always going to be that question going up a division. Can you do it? Are you only good against the players in a lower division?

It’s one of the reasons you play football, to make people happy.

I feel loved at Hibs and I’ve loved my time here.

It’s never nice looking over your shoulder and needing other results but sometimes that happens in football. It’s a lot better to know your future is in your own hands.

You dream as a player of having fans chanting your name.

We can take these things for granted, when we have everything on a plate.

If you are going to be successful in football you have to make sacrifices and that’s something I am happy to do.

You always have to get your head down, work hard and things fall into place.

When you have a good relationship with a manager, and he leaves, it is disappointing.

I think it’s really hard to replace what Scott Brown brought to Scotland. He was one of a kind and there aren’t too many players like Broony. But for me, the more you try and replicate him, the more difficult it becomes.

Scoring at the big stadiums in Glasgow is something I have dreamed about doing since I was a wee boy and now I have managed to do that.

We do our best to keep our feet on the ground and that’s how it will remain.

That’s football. Sometimes luck swings your way and sometimes it doesn’t.

I like to win the ball back for the team and I can contribute going forward.

You have to beat the best if you want to win tournaments.