 Niall McGinn is keen to encourage his fellow Celtic fans to return and back the side next season. Lifelong Hoops supporter McGinn was back for Tuesday's game against Motherwell and he could have been forgiven if he thought he was playing a reserve game. Parkhead had less than the announced attendance as fans voted with their feet following the poor showing against Ross County in the Active Nation Scottish Cup semi-final. That result - widely regarded as one of the worst in the club's history - proved to be final straw for many whom normally head through the turnstiles in a season which will go down as one of the most disappointing for years. Celtic have three home games in the post-split fixture list and they will have to show the fans that they can bounce back and be ready for next season. Today's visitors are Hibs who are suffering a dramatic loss of form and McGinn hopes for a bigger crowd, admitting he was alarmed by the empty seats on Tuesday. He said: "Obviously, it's not nice to see; we're used to playing in front of big crowds. But we've just got to keep playing, keep winning and hopefully win over the fans. Come the start of next season, the fans will get behind us again, hopefully, and we can improve on this year." Midfielder McGinn has been spared much of the fallout from Celtic's dismal start to 2010, with Tuesday being his first appearance for the club since January following a thigh injury. The 22-year-old Northern Ireland international said: "I've been sitting there watching and it hasn't been nice. Being a supporter of Celtic as well, it's not nice to see. Hopefully, being back, I can do my best to help the team. I'm more happy just to be back again, back training again. Obviously, being out for five weeks or so has been frustrating at times. But I'm glad I've come back and I've surprised myself that I started against Motherwell. Hopefully, I'll get the opportunity again tomorrow and go out and keep impressing." McGinn also defended the commitment of some of his Parkhead team-mates, which has been called into question of late. He said: "From my own point of view, just putting on that jersey every week, every opportunity I get, I give it my all. Looking at it from the rest of the players' point of view, they feel the same as well. I feel there are a lot of top-class players here - they've proved that over the years. I feel the players that are here are more than good enough to give it a crack next season." Failure to beat Hibs tomorrow will hand Rangers the chance to wrap up the title with victory over Hearts on Sunday. McGinn said: "We want to hold it off as long as we can. We've just got to keep winning and worry about ourselves more than Rangers. Obviously, we play Rangers at home as well so to get one over them before the end of the season would be nice." |