JOHN McGINN has revealed he will do his best to live up to the reputation of one of his great Celtic heroes – Stan Petrov.
The former Hoops target agreed a four-year deal with Aston Villa during the week, twelve years after the Bulgarian star joined the Midlands outfit from Parkhead.
Now McGinn, who cost £2.75million, is looking forward to continuing Scottish connections at Villa.
The 23-year-old Scotland international said: “I feel tremendous pride to be here.
“I’m also following in the footsteps of guys such as Stiliyan Petrov.
“He was one of my favourite players at Celtic and he enjoyed many successful years at Villa, as well as captaining the club.
“Stiliyan made an exceptional impact here – on and off the pitch – and I can only try to live up to the high standards set by him and others.
“There is also a strong Scottish connection, from Alan Hutton in the team to Colin Calderwood on the coaching staff.
“The Scotland manager, Alex McLeish, used to be the manager here, and Eric Black, Steve Clarke and Gary McAllister have all coached here in the past few seasons.
“Paul Lambert was also the manager.
“Going even further back, my dad tells me there was a Scottish influence when Aston Villa won the European Cup in 1982 when they beat Bayern Munich, and guys such as Allan Evans, Ken McNaught and Des Bremner were in the team.
“So I feel proud to be here and to be a part of such a special club.”
McGinn made his debut against Wigan yesterday and set up two goals in his new team’s last-gasp 3-2 triumph.
