Off the PitchDaily Mail FootballUnverified source· 27 Aug 2026
McGinn reveals training pole injury was millimetre from death
A freak training accident at St Mirren left John McGinn just a millimetre from a fatal injury.
J. McGinn
player
Who
John McGinn
What
Impaled by training pole, nearly hit femoral artery
When
April 2015
Where
St Mirren training ground
What happened. John McGinn revealed on The Overlap podcast that a training pole stabbed his leg 7.7cm deep, missing his femoral artery by a millimetre.
- The pole hit the bone and came back out.
- McGinn was 31, now captain of Aston Villa.
- He bears no grudge against Steven Thompson, calling it a freak accident.
“If it hit that, you were dead, basically. You would have bled out in minutes.”
— The surgeon
McGinn recovered and moved to Hibs, later earning 89 Scotland caps.
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ST Mirren
