James McClean M Wrexham b.1989

[DannyInvincible]

Funnily enough, I can't remember what social media outlet it was but McClean posted a picture of himself and the young players at the time.

Instagram appears to be his preferred social media platform these days. He still uses Facebook too.

I do love the way McClean realises what a privileged position he is in though and how he relishes transforming people's lives with such gestures.

He has always remained grounded and very much in tune with his roots and community. It's a great quality, and one that is becoming increasingly rare amongst modern players given the huge sums of money in the game now and the detached lives players lead.

[DeLorean]

Instagram appears to be his preferred social media platform these days. He still uses Facebook too.

I assumed it was Instagram as that's where I came across the unfortunate 'dump truck' comment, but I don't see it there now. Can't even find his official Facebook page so doubt it was there.

'Congrats' on your 10,000th post btw

[DannyInvincible]

I assumed it was Instagram as that's where I came across the unfortunate 'dump truck' comment, but I don't see it there now. Can't even find his official Facebook page so doubt it was there.

It seems Kevin Morrison, the team's manager, put the video out via his Facebook actually: https://www.facebook.com/kevin.morri...12949528392060

'Congrats' on your 10,000th post btw

Cheers, Del. I dread to think how long the line would come to if I printed each post out and lined them up one after the other!

[geysir]

Cheers, Del. I dread to think how long the line would come to if I printed each post out and lined them up one after the other!

Well, if you trimmed out all the newspaper article quoted content from your posts, the length of that line would be considerably shortened

(shortened, being a relative term of course)

[DannyInvincible]

James enjoys a bit of boxing too: http://www.derryjournal.com/sport/wa...ford-1-7920915

The West Brom and Ireland midfielder, a big boxing fan, stepped into the ring to spar with Birmingham fighter Langford ahead of his WBO interim world middleweight championship bout against Avtandil Khurtsidze at Leicester Arena this weekend.

[DannyInvincible]

The Oxford Bulls Down's syndrome team played their first game last night against the Sion Sonics from Sion Mills: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-...-west-39703053

The Oxford Bulls took on Sion Sonics on Monday night - another local team featuring players with Down's syndrome.

The friendly game - Oxford Bulls' first - was organised after the team featured in a video with winger James McClean that went viral.

Manger Kevin Morrison said it was "a night to remember".

[DeLorean]

Interview with McClean on Football Focus tomorrow. Sounds interesting.

https://twitter.com/mrdanwalker/stat...99819629101056

[thischarmingman]

On 5 Live right now giving a good account of himself.

[DannyInvincible]

Do you know if the interview on 5 Live features the same audio as the interview on Football Focus? I'll get a chance to watch Football Focus later on iPlayer here, but I'm wondering is the former worth checking out as well?

[DannyInvincible]

Still no sign of today's episode of Football Focus on iPlayer, but here are a few articles on the interview, which seems to have gone down very well generally.

'James McClean reveals two sickening incidents that led to Sunderland departure as fans sing his praises for powerful interview': http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-35665519.html

I was coming back from one of the last games of the season, and like I usually do, I always take my home jersey home, because you never know who needs one or will ask for one. I gave it to a kid outside the stadium, and his father took it off him and threw it back at me. And then, on the way home, my car was stopped at traffic lights. So my car's here, and there's another car there [beside him]. The guy rolled down the window, and he spat at me, and drove off.

My missus was in the car with me, and she was pregnant at the time. I was thinking, 'I'm about to bring a baby into the world, I don't need all this hassle'. I went to see Paolo [Di Canio] the next day, and said 'look, I think it's time I moved on', and I explained the situation.

'James McClean reveals death threats over Republic decision': http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2017/...death-threats/

West Brom midfielder James McClean revealed he has received death threats – and insists he is not anti-British.

...

"I've had a lot of death threats which started when I declared myself for the Republic. I played for Northern Ireland for the youth system - I never hid from the fact that I took advantage of that system to better myself but I never had aspirations to play for Northern Ireland. I was getting death threats for declaring for my country."

I'd also completely forgotten he nearly signed for New York Red Bulls back in 2015. Thank God that never transpired!

[DannyInvincible]

Video of the full interview here: https://vid.me/u93v

[DannyInvincible]

James started tonight for West Brom at home against Chelsea (live on Sky Sports 1). It's half-time at the minute and the score remains 0-0.

James has been doing OK; he maybe could have passed the ball off slightly better during two separate West Brom counter-attacks as he brought the ball forward into space but his passes - one straight at his team-mate rather than into the space in front of him and the other with not enough weight - unfortunately slowed things up a bit when West Brom could have really threatened the Chelsea goal.

He has also fouled the nippy Victor Moses twice as Moses has tried to skip around him out wide and so he needs to be careful on the defensive front. He received a booking for the first foul but got away with the second.

Chelsea fans, whose club will win the league tonight with a win, haven't been letting impending glory distract them, of course, and have instead been focused on chanting, "F*ck the IRA, f*ck the IRA, f*ck the IRA"...

Edit: James was subbed off on 58 minutes (with the score still at 0-0) and replaced by Chadli.

[DeLorean]

James has been doing OK; he maybe could have passed the ball off slightly better during two separate West Brom counter-attacks

Yeah, no maybe about it I'm afraid. Really lacks a bit of quality in those kind of situations to complement his pace and endeavor.

[DannyInvincible]

Judging by Roy Keane's words (which may well have been delivered with a hint of jest), it seems James insisted on heading to the US with the squad in spite of the fact he may not see game-time: http://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/socc...leans-10501754

James has not played loads of games over the last month or two. He seems to love being involved and feels there’s a benefit to him in going to America. What he doesn’t know yet is he probably won’t get a game over there!

Whilst Roy was very complimentary of James' commitment, he did also suggest James needs to start more regularly for his club in order to improve, for which Roy believes there is still room:

James has never let us down. What goes on at club level, listen, we don’t dip into the clubs’ business. It’s no concern of ours. But James has matured nicely over the last year or two and has started adding a few important goals to his game. But James McClean still has a long way to go. There’s plenty of [room for] improvement. He’s very passionate about playing for Ireland and very enthusiastic but we also hope that James will improve as a player. And he’ll improve a lot more when he’s playing regularly in the Premiership. He’s probably not quite at that stage yet for one reason or another.

[DannyInvincible]

James takes the "How well do you know James McClean?" quiz:

[DannyInvincible]

An interesting take on James' comments about unnamed players not being fit for some Ireland games but then playing for their clubs at the weekend: http://www.the42.ie/ireland-mexico-t...18889-Jun2017/

But whether it is wise to sacrifice yourself in this manner and play in crucial matches despite not being 100% is certainly questionable in many cases. The debate is brought up and elaborated upon in an interesting fashion within the pages of Roy Keane’s autobiography, The Second Half. Keane recalls his frustration at Ruud van Nistelrooy ruling himself out of a 2004 FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal: “I was, like, it’s the Cup semi-final for ****’s sake. He said: ‘Well I’ve only got one body, I’ve got to look after it.’”

The individuals that McClean was criticising could come back with a similar quip and his assistant boss might agree with them. “I was thinking he was the fool, but I think now that I probably was,” Keane later said of the Van Nistelrooy debate. “I played, and my hamstring was ****ing killing me. I think I actually had a torn hamstring. Ruud ended up playing in Spain till he was 39, and he still looks 21. And I thought he was the idiot.” Keane subsequently added: “What we see as heroic, I think now is probably weakness.”

[tetsujin1979]

Some facts and figures from James McClean 50 Caps, and the other members of the 50 Cap Club: http://irish-abroad.appspot.com/Blog...01725204119369

[DannyInvincible]

James' interview with Tony O'Donogue after his goal helped with the win over Uruguay: http://www.rte.ie/player/ie/show/int...3423/10734753/

[DannyInvincible]

The Derry public have voted for James' image to appear on Translink's Foyle "Bus of Legends" alongside images of Phil Coulter and Roma Downey: http://www.derryjournal.com/news/thr...-bus-1-7993260

Translink operate the local bus service.

I was completely overwhelmed with pride when I was told I was chosen by the people of my home town to receive this honour. I am so proud of where I come from and I truly believe Derry is the best place in the world. I am delighted to be considered in the same company as Roma Downey and Phil Coulter who I have great admiration for.

As a kid growing up in Derry, one of the most common insults was ‘You have a face like the back of a bus’. Little did I think that one day my face would be on a bus! 


I am genuinely thrilled and grateful that my own people have voted for me as a legend and I’m happy to be sharing the honour with a Hollywood star and a soccer hero. Does this mean that I get to travel on the bus for free?

[SwanVsDalton]

I am genuinely thrilled and grateful that my own people have voted for me as a legend and I’m happy to be sharing the honour with a Hollywood star and a soccer hero. Does this mean that I get to travel on the bus for free?

Derry should whip the accolade off this sell out for letting slip he's never used his free bus pass.