James McClean hits out at fans after facing more abuse for refusing to wear a poppy

James McClean hits out at fans after facing more abuse for refusing to wear a poppy and sitting during a Remembrance Day tribute.

He responded to a tweet posted by Royal British Legion, who condemned the abuse towards McClean in February 2021.

@PoppyLegion wrote: “Wearing a poppy is a personal choice and we respect anyone’s right to choose not to. We condemn the abuse suffered by @macajw, for choosing not to wear a poppy. Targeting someone for exercising their right not to wear one is contrary to everything the poppy stands for.”

James McClean this week posted on his Instagram story: “Lest we forget the whole meaning of what it stands for, even if wee no surrender shouting Billy, Andrew and David who have 3 teeth and 3 braincells between them who hang flags on lamposts and blame fully qualified doctors o different ethnic backgrounds for taking their jobs forget 🤦‍♂️”

“Somehow it just keeps coming around,” McClean told Nicky Byrne HQ in his recent podcast. “People don’t seem to grasp what I’m saying. Maybe I’m speaking a language that no one understands because it just seems to go in one ear and out the other ear. How many times can you explain yourself?

“People say, ‘Oh, here we go again.’ Well, just let it go then. Trust me, there’s nothing I would want more than to put it to bed and let it go. I just think there are people that don’t want to understand. You can’t make people like that understand. It’s just sheer ignorance.

“A lot [of team-mates] have asked about it over the years, which I appreciate. When you explain it to them, you can see that they’re actually taken aback and they’re like, ‘Oh right, I understand.’ They’re open to learning, they’re open to listening and for an explanation.”

In 2023, he spoke on being flooded with death threats and ill wishes too atrocious to type out. His family have lived in fear, they’ve been traumatised. Read and watch more below…

James McClean reveals extent of abuse from fans and opens up on his autism diagnosis

McClean opened up about enduring over a decade of intense fan abuse, having sectarian chants and death threats aimed at him as well as attacks on his family, and felt he had minimal early support from authorities.

Speaking in an interview for Sky Sports, he said: I found out very, very quickly that you do this alone because there’s not going to be a lot of help coming. I’ve been quite vocal about that in the past. I’ve highlighted the lack of support and I stand by that. I have been quite critical to the FA for the lack of support over the years but twice in the past few months they have taken action against clubs (Blackpool and Millwall were both charged this year over abuse aimed at McClean from the stands. Blackpool were fined £35,000 in July).

So as much as I’ve been critical, I’ll also praise them when its due. At the minute it is due because they have taken action. It’s a start and hopefully it’ll stamp it out. But if it doesn’t, then I’ll just continue doing a lot of what I’ve always done and take the fight head on. It was like three charges in 11 years and then now two in the last few months. So like I said, it’s probably better late than never. I’m not going to hold my breath but we’ll see where we go with that.

On death threats: Yeah. I’m quite thick-skinned. And I’m a product of my environment and where I’ve come from, it’s a place that’s very headstrong, very stubborn, filled with resilient, proud people. And sure I’ll take that all day – you can abuse me, I’ll take it but when you start bringing my children and my family into it, then that’s crossed the line. That’s a whole different ballgame.

On dealing with getting pictures of bullets or people saying that they want to set your house on fire and other horrid things: Yeah, look, it’s a very unfair one because we’re in an environment where, you know, our hands are basically tied behind our back because we can’t do anything. If we retaliate, anything, in any way whatsoever, we’re the bad guys. You have these people out there, they just can stay, seem to do whatever they want and nine times out of ten they get away with it. We can’t do any form of retaliation because of the consequences that will come our way. It’s just not worth it. So that that’s kind of it, isn’t it?

On standing up for yourself, when suffering from abused, to being described as the most hated and abused footballer in Britain: Of course. I can’t change people’s perception of me; the perception and reality are two completely different things. The people that judge me don’t know me. Never spent time with me. You have two sides. You have someone with one set of values and someone with other values. I’m just asking for respect.

I wouldn’t say: “Oh, look at him wearing a poppy.” It doesn’t bother me that people have their views. I understand that people have different values from me and different beliefs. I respect that. Just because I don’t fall in line, that doesn’t mean I disrespect or I hate youse. All I’m asking for is to be respected for my beliefs in return. It’s as simple as that.

I think that I am standing up for myself. I don’t go out and, you know, ignite these little fires and wars and whatever. It’s like there’s a perception that I’m a troublemaker and ‘we don’t want him near our club because he just brings trouble’. But I don’t. I’ve only ever had one bad relationship with one manager and that was at Stoke before I left. If you speak to any other manager and player over the years and asked them what I’m really like, you’ll get a different picture to what is put out in public.

It’s exhausting when you have to keep explaining yourself over and over and over like that. That’s the tiring part. I’m no angel and, look, I’ve made mistakes like the lockdown Balaclava picture. I regret that. I regret it in one sense because it’s given people now an opportunity to say ‘well he brings it on himself.’ Every time my name gets brought up, they just attach that picture to it.

That was just bad judgement on my part. It was supposed to be a joke and it wasn’t a joke. And it turned out just to be an absolute disaster judgement call. It’s given people an opportunity to justify the abuse. But that picture happened in lockdown which is 2020, I’ve been getting abuse since 2012. You have eight years of abuse, where you get it from all angles. You mess up once and it’s labelled against you and it’s like the hate in those eight years, doesn’t matter anymore. It was like ‘you done this, you bring it on yourself.’

I made the stupid call to put it on social media and it annoys me because people actually believe out there that I sat and spoke to my children about the history. Come on. It was just a picture. I grew up straight after the conflict. So it was ingrained in me, I’d seen it first hand.

My kids know nothing about the past and what went on. Whereas it was different for me because I grew up straight in the aftermath. So the people who actually think that I sat there and educated my children on it… honestly, come on.

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You used a phrase there, which I think every single time I’ve ever mentioned your name, it’s been said to me. ‘He brings it upon himself.’ I don’t know how people use that as an explanation for abuse, because you were still young in 2012 when you decided not to wear the poppy. You were very respectful and you were very clear about your reasons. You weren’t allowed to articulate it publicly then, you only did that down the line…

Yeah, I explained my reason for not doing so. I haven’t made a a song and dance about it. I just bow my head, I do a silent protest. I don’t jeer, make noise, try and make a big spectacle about it so the whole ‘I brought it on myself’ is just based off that that one stupid judgement call. People don’t want to be educated. People have their views no matter what. Hate on James McClean and it’s popular.

They don’t know why they hate on me. They hate me because the person beside them hates me and they just think they well, that’s the way it goes. On a Saturday when I go to away ground or when away fans come and I’m getting abuse, I’ve used it for fuel, for motivation. It’s kept me going. If you’re abusing me, I’ll use it as motivation. And that’s just because there’s nothing else I can do. So for those 90 minutes, I might as well try and use it to my advantage.

On being alone in this and the only one who wants to correct course and say anti-Irish and anti-Catholic abuse does not belong in football, just like homophobic abuse doesn’t belong in football, racist abuse, or any kind of discrimination that he have had to be on the attack all the time?

Yeah, look, maybe I was a bit naive in thinking you know, with me being the one that took the stand first, it’ll pave way for young Irish lads coming through and it doesn’t seem to be the case. I speak to a lot of people and I’ve had players say that they don’t believe in wearing the poppy and they wouldn’t wear it, but they just don’t want to the hassle. So in a way, you know, I was I was kind of hoping by me doing it that would open a door for them to kind of do that themselves when they’re doing something that they don’t want to do. But probably they’re afraid of the backlash and that’s fine. You know what you don’t want because it’s horrific abuse and it can be quite taxing. So I understand why they don’t want that. But I’m always of the belief that if you don’t believe in something, then, you know, take a stand.

On seeing the FA taking action and how long it has taken to get to this point: It’s been a lot of dark days, it has been a struggle. But if I can be the one that paves the way for this to stop and for any young Irish player coming across and you know, if I ever stop them from getting abuse and they feel free to do what they believe and avoid the consequences that would be the ultimate goal. It will be all worth it then.

On dark days and the ‘I’m strong’ approach: You might have a bad game and a bad result and you’re off form or you might get taken off or whatever and then you get abuse and you’re already like frustrated, annoyed. And sometimes that can boil over and I probably act off of that and it might trigger a mood for longer than it should. Nobody’s perfect. I mean, like, of course if you were getting constant abuse day in, day out, you know…

Wrexham’s James McClean reveals why he punched Cardiff fan in pre-match car park row

On being human: In this whole footballing world, you have to be perfect. You have to just be this model professional and, you know, just fall in line with everybody else. And how dare you step out of line? If you step out of line here, you’re controversial. I’ve seen the article already a “controversial 100 cap international joins Phil Parkinson at Wrexham.”

So it’s just like no matter what articles there are about me, even the good ones, there’s always the paragraph about the poppy. It’s just like they recycle the same article over and over every year. Like nobody cares. I’m not going to ever wear a poppy. It shouldn’t be a surprise, let it go. But the media trying to sell papers, trying to get clickbait and trying to whatever.

Asked if he ever thought, I can’t deal with this anymore? If I ever thought that, you’re letting them win and I would never do that. I would never do that because I would never give them the satisfaction.

On his work for charities: I think it’s important if you’re in a position to be able to help people who are less fortunate, to do so. Sometimes you have to give a cause a bit of publicity because it can grow legs and it will give a wider range of kind of coverage, bringing in more money and awareness for it. If you want to help but you only do it for selfish reasons, to say, ‘well, look what I’m doing,’ I think that defeats the purpose. The person you’re doing it for will still be appreciative regardless but if you’re constantly making a song and dance about it, then it kind of defeats the purpose.

Final message to people: I respect your beliefs, even if I don’t honour them in the way you do, I respect them. All I’m asking for in return is for the same courtesy. Judge me if you spend time with me. Don’t judge me when you don’t know me, because then it just makes you ignorant.

Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson tells EFL to do more to protect James McClean from abuse