McNair Enjoys The Big Stage

Manchester United defender Paddy McNair is hoping for more opportunities to play at Barclays Premier League grounds after games at Old Trafford and Anfield so far this season.

The Northern Ireland Under-21 international, who was on the first team's bench for the Capital One Cup tie at MK Dons and is in the senior squad again for Saturday's West Ham game, discusses life with the Reds in this interview, first published in the current issue of Inside United...

Have you enjoyed the start to the season?
It’s good to kick off in a successful way and we’ve played well. It’s always nice to beat Manchester City, particularly when it’s for a bit of silverware.

How enjoyable is it playing at some of the senior stadiums?
It’s a good experience playing at Old Trafford. It’s a bigger pitch and a big stadium but I think it suits our [Under-21] team because we pass the ball well. It’s always good to play at grounds like Anfield too. Everybody wants to play there at some point in their career.

What are you views of the Under-21 league in general?
It’s a good league but there are quite a few breaks, which do allow us to learn more from Warren [Joyce] on the training ground. I think we’d like to play more games ideally as there are only 22 fixtures this season.

Talk us through your dramatic winner at Reading last season that took us into the semi-finals of the competition…
It was nice to make up for the week before that when I deflected a shot [for Norwich’s late equaliser at Old Trafford]. I think Louis Rowley came back because he was tired so I said: ‘You sit and I’ll go up’. Guillermo Varela passed it to me and I arrived at the right time and just smacked it in.

Moving further forward was nothing new to you…
I used to be a no.10 and then I played out wide as well – mainly because I was so small. I was smaller than everyone else and wasn’t strong enough when I joined Paul McGuinness’ squad. I think we played Burnley in pre-season and I’d grown a lot that summer and played in a kind of Barcelona-style false no.9. Virtually the whole team were midfielders! But then I moved back and did alright. I played there more and more and kept playing there.

Do you class yourself as a defender now?
I think I will mainly play in defence for the rest of my career but I still think I can play in midfield. So it is a case of either or. I don’t mind as long as I’m playing.

Does being part of a three-man central defence suit your game?
I hadn’t played it much before until we used it in the second half against Manchester City. It’s normally been 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 but we’re starting to play it with Northern Ireland Under-21s as well.

Where did you spend the early part of your career?
I started at Ballyclare Colts when I was 10 and stayed there for four seasons. I was captain but we had a few good players. There was another lad who played against me at Barnsley in our friendly and a couple of boys went to England on trial with Liverpool and other teams. It was a good local team and we all went to the same school. We won most things we entered.

When did you join United?
I came here when I was 14. I attended Ashton-on-Mersey school for two years and obviously came in full time then with Paul McGuinness’ team. I was a scholar for two years and finished my education. I’m the second-youngest for my age group – James Weir is the youngest.

What are your hopes for 2014/15?
Just to try to win every game and be successful. We came close last year so hopefully we can win the league trophy this time around. We were runners-up even though we used 40-something players and it was hard to get the same team every week. It was only in the last 10 games or so that we had the same consistent side. I’m happy. I’m enjoying my football. I had a bad injury for a while in the Academy so I think I am over that now and can push on.