For 21 years, McGlinchey has wondered what life is like in his country of birth after he was born in Wellington while his father was playing professionally for Lower Hutt.

But McGlinchey was still just a baby when his Scottish parents returned home from their short stint in the country and young Michael grew up as a Scot, worshipping football, and dreaming of playing for Celtic. He has never returned to his homeland, until now.
 
Flying through the winds that cause a notoriously bumpy landing into Wellington, McGlinchey is sure to be going through a range of emotions as he returns for the first time to a country he has already represented at senior level.
 
"I'm looking forward to going back," said McGlinchey. "I've never been back before and when the whole situation (moving from Scotland to the Hyundai A-League) came up, that was the first fixture we looked at, the Wellington away game, so I'm looking forward to returning."
 
But sentiment aside, McGlinchey agrees this is no time for reminiscing. After a 3-0 thrashing of competition heavyweights Gold Coast United in round seven, this trip is more about three points than tourist photos.
 
"We want to build on the performance against the Gold Coast," he said.  "We had a good win and hopefully we can get another three points against Wellington away, it would be a good three points.
 
"They're similar to us, they have a good defence, but we are playing well now, and we know if we can create chances we can put them away."
 
The Mariners have a poor recent record against  Phoenix.  After winning the first four meetings between the two sides, Lawrie McKinna's men have failed to score a goal and picked up just a solitary point in their four most recent meetings.
 
McGlinchey has already got one up on one of his New Zealand international teammates after the 3-0 win over Shane Smeltz's Gold Coast, and hopes that trend continues.
 
He added: "I'll have a bit of banter with him, but hopefully I'll be able to have more banter with more New Zealand boys, there's more in that team (Wellington) so I'd like to beat them as well!"