JAMES McClean has welcomed the ‘common sense’ EFL measure designed to protect him from fan abuse – while insisting ‘I didn’t ask for it’.
The Ireland legend is subjected to hateful jeering all year round from some opposition fans but it is heightened around November and Britain’s Remembrance Day commemorations.
McClean again stood away from his team-mates during this year’s Remembrance weekend minute’s silence before Wrexham’s fixture versus Mansfield on November 9[/caption]
On Tuesday a leaked EFL letter detailed how certain players will be granted exemptions to leave the pitch via the shortest route rather than having to walk the whole way around it[/caption]
The EFL move was devised in conjunction with PGMOL – the body of referees – as well as Wrexham[/caption]
Every year since moving across to England in 2011 he has eloquently outlined why wearing a poppy would, in his view, betray the memory of Irish citizens killed by the British Army – namely the 14 unarmed Bloody Sunday protesters in his native Derry in 1972.
In spite of this, the sustained abuse directed at him and his young family remains vitriolic.
In September one Birmingham City hooligan tossed a cup of Bovril at him as he made his way off the pitch after being substituted.
Thanks to the new EFL directive, he and any other player who is likely to face heat from rival fans, will now be allowed to exit the pitch as the crow flies rather than having to leave the playing surface and walk around its perimeter.
The 35-year-old appeared on talkSPORT to give his reaction to the new allowance which came as as much of a surprise to him as it did everyone else.
He admitted: “It’s not something I’ve asked for, so it was quite a shock to see it to be honest.
“It’s definitely welcome because, not just for me, but for anyone.
“I find that a very stupid rule anyway – leaving the pitch at the nearest exit – you’re putting yourself in a situation where players have to walk around the outside of the pitch, and, especially, players playing away…and you can get idiots.
“It’s very hard to control thousands of idiots if you’re a steward or police if people wanna throw things, if people wanna shout abuse – not everybody can be controlled.
“It just takes away the [off] anything stupid happening really, common sense has prevailed let’s say!”
The Wrexham captain went on to add that his manager Phil Parkinson had approached him after that September example to let him know that the club were looking to bring in some sort of change to reduce instances like it from continually occurring.
He added: “I didn’t know about it [the letter].
“A couple of weeks ago the manager pulled me after the Birmingham incident that they were looking into doing something.
“As weeks have gone by I didn’t hear anything, didn’t really pay attention, to be honest, and then yesterday when it broke I’ve seen it like everyone else and it’s welcome.
“That’s a credit to the manager and the club because they’ve seen what’s happened at Birmingham and they took action.
“Like I said, that’s not something I’ve asked for but it’s something that I welcome quite clearly.”
To close out the interview with Jim White, McClean was asked if his more than a decade-long stand will have ‘all been worth it’.
The Creggan man then proceeded to lay out his perspective and frustration for how much traction it gathers every November.
“I think you just don’t compromise your beliefs, regardless, so in that sense… I have a different upbringing.
“I have different views from other peoples. And like I touched on, I’m fed up repeating myself.
“But the reason I have to keep repeating myself is because every single year around November, the news outlets, they just recycle the same story over and over.
‘IT’S CLICKBAIT’
“And it just brings traction. It’s clickbait. It’s to bring attention to it and every year, every year they seemed shocked.
“I don’t know about you, I am and I’m sure a lot of people are, we’re still talking about this 12 years on. Give it a rest. No one cares.
“At the end of the day, someone wearing something, or somebody to believe in something else, see if it doesn’t affect my day to day business or affect my life, then I don’t care, so I don’t understand how me not wearing a poppy or me having different beliefs has an effect on someone else.
“So I’ll put it quite simple. You ask someone from Birmingham, you ask someone from Canary Wharf or Brighton would they wear a symbol that honours Ireland’s patriotic dead, let’s put it, of course they wouldn’t because they would see it as disrespectful.
“So, why am I expected to wear something because if I wore something that symbolised the British army… then it would be disrespectful for the people in my hometown.
“So it’s very simple in that regard.
“So I just don’t understand, I just can’t get my head around how it’s made out to be such a big deal year in year out.”
