Alan Hutton defends Aston Villa star John McGinn amid backlash over Archie Gray injury
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Alan Hutton has defended his former Aston Villa teammate John McGinn after the midfielder came in for backlash over a tackle that left Leeds starlet Archie Gray injured.
The former Villa hero asserted his belief that McGinn is not a nasty player or person, insisting that Gray’s injury was just “one of those things.”
McGinn and Gray clashed during Villa’s pre-season win over Leeds, with the Villa man turning and standing on the 16-year-old’s foot as he chased the ball, leaving him in tears and on a stretcher.
“I think there’ll always be backlash about tackles, especially during pre-season,” he exclusively told Villa News.
“I know John personally and there’s not a bad bone in him. He’s 100 percent in everything that he does, like when he’s trying to win the ball.
“The thing about pre-season is you’re not at 100 percent yet, so you can mistime things, you get things wrong, and a bit of tiredness can set in.
“Of course, you wish Gray the best. You never want to see anyone injured at any time during the season, especially during pre-season.
“John is an experienced player, he’ll move on from this. That’s football, it’s a contact sport. It’s not ideal, but it’s one of those things.”
Time to move on
There has been a loud backlash, with a Daily Mail article published on Tuesday morning (19 July) branding the tackle as “cowardly and barbaric” and “an act of butchery.”
However, these things happen in football, especially when tempers have already boiled over already in the match and the referee has failed to get a grip of it.
Branding McGinn as a nasty player is a step too far, we are talking about the same man who turned up to training dressed as a Christmas turkey.
It was an unfortunate incident and naturally, we are all glad that it seems like Gray’s injury is not severe, but it is time to calm down and move on.
In other Aston Villa news, we recalled the bizarre story of how Fabian Delph walked out on the club just days after promising not to.