A short story about a footballer you've probably never heard of
I want to tell you a story about a footballer.
If you're not a football fan, you probably don't know his name.
The footballer's name is John McGinn.
John McGinn is a regular starter in the English Premier League.
In fact, he's captain of his team in the English Premier League, Aston Villa.
And in March 2025 he captained Aston Villa in the last 16 of the Champions League.
Captain of one of the top 16 teams in Europe? He must be a superstar!
But John McGinn would probably be the first to say he's no superstar.
There might be a hundred Premier League footballers with more talent, more flair, more ball skills.
I'm not sure there's one with as much perseverance, or grit, or leadership ability.
When McGinn led his team out against Club Brugge, it was the next big step in a series of big steps on his lifelong journey.
He started his career at St Mirren in Scotland, where he had his leg speared by a training ground pole in a teammate's prank that went wrong, and medics said he was millimetres away from losing his career before he had reached his 21st birthday.
He left St Mirren for Hibernian in 2015, who were then in the second tier of the Scottish league.
Now Hibs are a little bigger than St Mirren, but they're probably no-one's definition of a big club.
Two years later, having helped Hibs first to the Scottish Cup (a fine achievement for a second tier club) and then promotion back to the Scottish Premier League, John McGinn got a move to England's Aston Villa.
Now Aston Villa is a bigger club than Hibernian or St Mirren — they have a 42,000-capacity stadium, have spent more than 100 seasons in the top division of the English league, and have won the European Cup.
But that was more than 40 years ago and when McGinn joined Villa, they were, like Hibs before them, also in the second tier of their league.
In his first season, he helped Villa get promoted back to the Premier League.
Not only that, he was the man who got them there (scoring the winning goal in the play-off final) and the man who marked their return (scoring their first goal back in the Premier League).
[Another thing you should know about John McGinn. He's not really a goalscorer. He plays in midfield, and his game is about marshalling his troops and annoying the hell out of talented opponents. He's scored less than one goal for every 10 games he's played for Aston Villa. But he was the one who was there to score two of their most important goals of the last 40 years.]
John McGinn is an inspiration to his teammates.
He's an inspiration to Aston Villa fans everywhere.
And he should be an inspiration to all of us too.
Find something.
Find something you're good at.
Find something you're good at but can get even better.
Even if you're not the best in the world, even if you're not even close to being the best in the world, your diligence to your craft will bring you places that people with more obvious talents or advantages can only dream of.
John McGinn is 30 now.
It's taken him a decade of dedication to get to where he is.
Earning about £6 million a year.
Captain of a Champions League contender.
Hero to a generation of Aston Villa supporters.
Life can be hard. Wars and injustice rage. Days might seem short, sunlight scarce.
So we should take inspiration wherever we can get it.
And you'll get plenty just watching John McGinn do his thing.
No fuss. No frills. Nothing fancy.
Just dedication for a decade and see what happens.