“I remember Charlie Adam did an interview on my first day from Stoke’s training ground asking why there were Scottish Championship players getting called up, which wasn’t too helpful at the time,” McGinn said.
“I don’t think he was aiming it at me individually or personally. Just the timing of it was a bit of a disaster as I was already a bit nervous and star struck. So, at my first lunch at Mar Hall, all the experienced boys were getting right on me, like, ‘you shouldn’t be in the squad’.
“My session 30 minutes later wasn’t great. It was nerve wracking. Shaun Maloney made me feel that small, turning me inside out and I remember going back to my room and thinking to myself, ‘I can’t compete at this level, they were too good’.
“But, as the sessions go on, as you get more experience, you get more comfortable and you start to express yourself more.”
McGinn recalled that Adam was not the only one who thought a player from his club level should not be playing for Scotland.
“I will always be grateful to Gordon Strachan for giving me that opportunity and he flung me right in for my debut that week,” he said.
“There was a lot of pressure on me and I felt it a little bit, but I remember that first game next to Broony [Scott Brown]. Little nuggets of wisdom during the game, support before the game, and you start to feel at home.”
Indeed, McGinn played the full 90 minutes of that 1-0 friendly victory over Denmark, was named man of the match and has gone on to earn 73 caps.
Now he is looking forward to playing alongside a “confident” player he has watched develop in action alongside his brother, Paul McGinn, at Fir Park, as well as another 18-year-old squad debutant – Heart of Midlothian striker James Wilson.
“They are not here to make the numbers up,” McGinn added.
“They are here to take our places if they, eventually, are better than the ones who are here. He definitely has the ability to do so and so does James.”