After six months in China with Beijing Sinobo Guoan, Jim McGuinness announced last week that he has departed the club. He had been working as assistant manager under former Bayer Leverkusen boss Roger Schmidt.
It appears the Donegal man's career trajectory will keep him in football, but not the Gaelic variation. In a statement, McGuinness alluded to the next step, "a new chapter in Europe".
McGuinness's friend Paul McGinley further cemented that likelihood while speaking at the GAA's Games Development Conference over the weekend. Quoted by GAA.ie, McGinley said that McGuinness will not be returning to Gaelic football.
I spoke to him last week. Jim's okay. He's on a plan. He's on a plan and a lot of things are confidential that I can't talk about but he's on a plan.
He's got one year to go before he's fully qualified and he's flying through his exams and doing great.
He's learning every word, he's going to conferences all around Europe.
A big connection obviously with Celtic and he's on a plan. Don't worry about Jim McGuinness. He's not coming back to the GAA, put it that way. The Dubs can take a big, deep breath!
McGinley added that McGuinness is progressing well in his goal to earn a UEFA A Licence.
I think he's a year away from that. He's been flying through his exams, he's on a good path. It's tough, he's basically going back to school and re-learning.
It's not easy and he has lots of kids, as you say, and family commitments. His family are living over in Glasgow now, so it's tough, it's not easy for him. But he's got a lot of ambition, a lot of determination.
Irish golfer and former Ryder Cup captain, Paul McGinley was at Croke Park at the weekend to discuss the importance of teamwork at the GAA Games Development Conference in partnership with Sky Sports. Paul’s attendance at the event is part of Sky Sports’ commitment in supporting the GAA at grassroots level. Throughout 2017 to 2021, Sky Sports will invest €3million over a five-year period into grassroots which will include leveraging its links to world-class elite sportspeople across three initiatives; the GAA Games Development Conference; the GAA Youth Forum and the GAA Super Games Centres.
Picture credit: SPORTSFILE
