John McGinn is the master of irony after swerving his Celtic destiny with only fate keeping them apart – Hugh Keevins

There was no added satisfaction for John McGinn after overtaking Ally McCoist in Scotland’s scoring charts.

His goal against Poland last Monday meant the grandson of a former Celtic chairman moved on to 20 goals – one ahead of the former Rangers manager and Ibrox icon. The McGinn family’s respect for Coisty is too long established, and too firmly held, for any parochial consideration like that to be a cause for celebration.

The admiration for Ally dates back, in fact, to May 27 2019 when Aston Villa beat Derby County 2-1 in the play-off final at Wembley that took the Midlands club into the Premier League. Inevitably, John scored one of Villa’s goals that day in front of a family group reputedly numbering 53 people. Ally had been a working member of the media at the game and made his way to the place inside the stadium where the McGinn deputation were enjoying the events of the day.

After congratulating John on his achievement, Ally singled out his grandfather Jack and spent the next half hour in his company, politely ignoring all others. Jack and Ally had formed a friendship when McGinn senior was an administrator at the SFA and Coisty was paying his respects to him while forgetting all about club allegiances, which were irrelevant in any case on such a momentous day.

The gesture has never been forgotten by John and his family. Now that McGinn has moved to within 10 goals of the all-time scoring record for Scotland, I can think of no better incentive for Celtic to win their home tie against Club Brugge in the Champions League on Wednesday night.

It would be the height of irony, leading to the possibility of visiting the depths of despair, if Brendan Rodgers’ chances of reaching the second phase of the competition