REPUBLIC OF IRELAND international Aiden McGeady was feared by his team-mates at Sunderland, according to one man who played alongside the Scottish-born winger at the Stadium of Light.
Lewis Morgan was on loan at the League One club from Celtic during the 2018-19 season, which was documented in the second series of the Netflix programme Sunderland ‘Til I Die. The campaign ended with McGeady being named the club’s Player of the Year.
Reflecting on a season that saw the Black Cats narrowly miss out on promotion back to the Championship, Morgan told the Open Goal podcast that McGeady wasn’t reluctant to cut loose in the dressing room.
“He [McGeady] is ruthless. I’ve never seen anyone that ruthless,” said the 23-year-old winger who now plays for Inter Miami, the Major League Soccer club that is partly owned by David Beckham.
“I think after we drew at Burton Albion, he comes into the changing room and he’s like: ‘You can’t play in front of that? Burton Albion? Wednesday night? 1-1? You will never play any higher than this level.’
“No one would say anything to him. He’d single someone out and no one would say anything. Everyone was scared of him.
“For the Scottish boys, he was good because there was a few boys down there. I got on well with him. He still had loads of ability. He was their best player by a mile.
“He’s got a temper. Like in training, if things aren’t going his way, he’ll boot all the balls out of the drill, just stupid things like that. At that point, he’s winning games by himself so you’ve got to kind of let him do what he wants.”
With a year to run on his contract, McGeady is still a Sunderland player but the 34-year-old doesn’t appear to have a future at the club after falling out with manager Phil Parkinson.
He was subsequently sent out on loan to Charlton Athletic last January and made 10 appearances for the Addicks but was unable to help prevent their relegation from the Championship.
McGeady has won 93 senior caps for Ireland but hasn’t featured since the World Cup play-off defeat to Denmark in November 2017.
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