The Thistle Archive

This left-sided defender started out with his hometown club, Middlesbrough, as a 9-year-old kid, and it was there he signed his first professional contract in his teenage years. As a result of winning the U-18 Development League in 2014-15, Boro qualified for the UEFA Youth League in 2015-16 and Nathan was part of the U-19 side which defeated Reims, Torino and Dynamo Kiev, before a 1-0 loss to eventual finalists PSG in the last 16. In January 2018, the 21-year-old finally made his competitive debut in the senior game, whilst a loanee at Wycombe Wanderers. It was a winning start - a 3-1 victory at home to Colchester United in League Two. He returned to Boro after 5 months at Wycombe, and made his senior competitive debut for the club on 14 August 2018, in a 3–3 draw with Notts County in the EFL Cup, with Middlesbrough advancing via a penalty shoot-out.

Shortly after that, McGinley joined Forest Green Rovers on loan until January 2019, with an option to sign permanently on an 18 month contract after the fact. On 4 January 2019, he did sign permanently for Rovers after proving himself a key part of the team during his initial loan. He made 40 League appearances at Rovers during his 18 month spell, before making the move to Motherwell in the summer of 2020. He made 53 competitive appearances in his first two seasons at Fir Park, but 2022-23 was a complete write-off, an injury sustained in February 2022 proving to be disastrous, eventually requiring an operation. He was 16 months out of the game, and returned to feature 4 times for 'Well in the first three months of 2023-24, albeit only registering 37 minutes of total game time from the bench.

In the autumn of 2023, with Kris Doolan in the market for a left-sided centre-back, Nathan was drafted into Firhill on a 3 month loan deal. Unfortunately, his bad luck with injuries continued, and he spent several weeks in rehabilitation. Was never trusted to come off the bench.