“I think I have strengths in those departments — to be honest, I don’t think it’s hard to spot talent and potential in a player. As a senior pro who came through the Academy system at Celtic, I’ve also always tried to pass on my knowledge and experience to young players at the various clubs I’ve been at, and I enjoy that mentoring side of things. There’s also possibly more longevity in those roles. If you’re a coach or a manager, even if you do really well, the chances are you’ll get sacked at some point. That’s just the way it is in football.

“So I’m probably looking at those types of roles rather than coaching, but who knows? That may change a few months down the line if I find that I really enjoy coaching. The good thing is that the various qualifications I have, along with the experience from my playing career and the practical experience I’ll get in this role at Ayr, should give me options further down the road. It all adds to the CV.”

And an impressive CV it is too!

Breaking into the Celtic first team at 18, Aiden scored and was named man of the match in his debut against Hearts at Tynecastle — and never looked back. In the following six years, he won four league titles as well as Scottish Cup and League Cup winner’s medals, and was Scotland’s Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year in the 2007-2008 season. He gained Champions League experience against Euro giants like AC Milan, Manchester United and Barcelona and kicked off a glittering international career with the Republic of Ireland which would win him 93 caps and feature appearances in the 2012 and 2016 European Championships.

A bright, articulate and vocal young player, McGeady was keen to spread his wings and at just 24 years old he took the bold step of moving to Russia, signing for Spartak Moscow in a then record-breaking £9.6million deal. In the four seasons he spent in Moscow, the club finished runners-up in the Russian Championship and was a prominent force in the major European tournaments. He recalled:

“The whole Russian experience was great. We were in the Champions League, we’d a good team and the standard of the league was good. I really enjoyed my time there although it was hard getting used to all the travelling. I think learning to speak Russian was a bonus — that was appreciated by the supporters and the media. They weren’t used to foreign players making the effort to do press conferences and interviews in their own language.

“My eldest daughter was also born out there so I’ve got a lot of happy memories of my time in Moscow. I was offered a new contract at Spartak, and there were also offers from other clubs in Russia, but I’d always had an ambition to play in the English Premier League so after four years I made the move to Everton. To be honest, if I’d known then what Everton was going to be like, I’d have stayed in Russia!”

The spell at Goodison Park was not the happiest of McGeady’s career. After a bright start, he found himself frozen out of the first team and was placed on loan to Sheffield Wednesday and Preston North End before being transferred to Sunderland. He said:

“I thought Everton was going to be a good fit but it didn’t work out that way. The loan spells were enjoyable — I loved it at Preston — but I was glad to move on from Everton, and I had five good years at Sunderland despite all the turbulence behind the scenes with the club changing ownership three times and chopping and changing managers every season. I’m not even sure off the top of my head how many managers I had at Sunderland, but there were still plenty of highlights. Having said that, I’ve been lucky to have good memories throughout my career.

“Making my debut for Celtic, when I played alongside Henrik Larsson and scored at Tynecastle, was a special moment for me. Then there were the great Champions League nights at Celtic and Spartak, playing against guys like Messi, Ronaldo, Iniesta, Xavi and Kaka. I also had great times with Ireland and learned a lot from playing under some top-class managers as well as playing with top players like Robbie Keane and Roy Keane.

“It’s also been interesting seeing how all the different managers operate. Some, like Martin O’Neill, are just brilliant at managing a group of players, getting to know their personalities and getting the best out of them. Others are great on the training pitch but not so good at man-management. Then there are others — I probably shouldn’t name them — who seem to go out of their way to annoy players.

“But you learn something from all of them, even if in some cases it’s how not to treat players. These are all lessons I’ll take on board whatever route I go down in the future.”