Aiden McGeady has opened up about the incident under Phil Parkinson while the pair were at Sunderland

Aiden McGeady has revealed all regarding the infamous McDonald’s incident while the club were in League One.

At the time, Sunderland manager Phil Parkinson questioned the professionalism of Chris Maguire and McGeady back in December 2020 after the duo were pictured in club tracksuits eating at a McDonald’s on the way home after the 1-0 defeat to Gillingham.

McGeady would eventually leave on loan to Charlton Athletic in the January transfer window, though the manager insisted that incident wasn’t the reason behind his departure, with Parkinson keen to improve the dressing room unity at the club. Maguire remained a key player under Parkinson, who was eventually sacked and replaced with Lee Johnson, who brought McGeady back into the fold.

McGeady, however, has revealed all about the incident during a recent podcast appearance on What The Falk, with the winger expressing his confusion to this day regarding Parkinson’s decision to axe him from Sunderland’s squad.

“See, honestly, it didn't really bother me, like, everybody can have their opinion, and listen, non-football people don't know football,” McGeady said when asked about the incident. “Everybody thinks they do, but nobody really does, unless you're actually a footballer unless you're inside a dressing room, you don't know.

“That was what we did, everybody on the team did it, do you know what I mean? I'll get onto it, right, but the maddest thing for me, and the most maddening thing for me, was me and him sat down because we were the first to sit down.There was eight other players there, who literally sat down two minutes later, 30 seconds later.

“John McLaughlin, Denver Hume, Charlie Wyke, everybody sat down and then it was just me and Chris. The guy, I could tell, because I'm quite, I think I'm quite perceptive, but I could tell there was a guy hanging about, this kind of young boy hanging about, kind of looking over, kind of by the McDonald's machine, you know where you order.

“He was hanging about in a bit of a cagey way, and I thought, that's a bit weird. And then, he kind of got his stuff and then left. I said, did you see that guy there? So it was a bit weird. And then obviously half an hour later, whatever it is, the picture came out, and I was like, that was that guy taking a picture. I was like, he was obviously taking a picture, like slyly.

“But to be honest, it didn't bother me. The only thing that bothered me is, see, after that on the Monday, that was when I came in and Phil Parkinson told me that I wasn't going to play anymore. And then everybody starts putting that with that as well. And I wasn't allowed to have my say back either. I wasn't allowed to talk it out, because if I spoke out, I'm getting fined.

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“I'm getting fined a week's wages or two weeks’ wages and then Phil Parkinson bins me off. Everybody then tied that, tied rumours, attitude, whatever they wanted to say, because there wasn't actually any story. No one knew what had happened with me and Phil Parkinson. So everybody put that to it. Obviously, when I got binned off, Chris started playing again and Chris started doing well.

“And I was like, how come it's only me who gets to play with the McDonald's stuff? I went, how did you get away with it? For the next six months or whatever. When I went on loan to Charlton and came back, for those six months, it was like, anytime I would see my name mentioned anywhere, you would then have everybody writing, oh, he's probably at McDonald's again.

“Saying stuff like that. That's football, right? I wasn't the only one there. There was ten other players there. But yeah, that's the way football is. We stopped, because every away game at Sunderland is a minimum of two and a half hours unless you're playing Middlesbrough or Newcastle. So for us, we had lots and lots of long bus journeys. Especially that League One season, because they stopped flying and stuff like that.

“So we had a lot of long bus journeys, but it was a bus driver. Again, you might not know, maybe you do know this, but the coach driver can't drive for any more than three hours without taking a break.So, every away game, we would have to take a break and jump into services. And then most people would go off the bus and go and get a coffee or go and get a sandwich or go and get a McDonald's or go and get a Burger King.

“That happened every game. So there was a big mess made of it and a big song and dance made of it when there's absolutely nothing. And it had nothing to do with me either, getting binned off either, I don't think. But everybody tied it to that.”