Originally Posted by
Aaron Gallagher
...
But controversy will always follow McClean wherever he goes because of who he is and where he comes from, all the while looming a shadow over what has in the last 12 months been a blooming and rejuvenated playing career, at the very least in the green jersey of Martin O’Neill’s international side.
McClean has become an integral member of O’Neill’s starting line-up, scoring three times in Ireland’s six World Cup qualifiers this year, including what could prove to be a decisive 1-0 victory away to Austria, on top of stamina-fuelled performances of grit and determination at Euro 2016 against Italy and France having been benched for O’Neill’s opening two group games.
Indeed it was O’Neill, a Derry man, who gave McClean his Premier League debut at Sunderland, and O’Neill’s possible future successor in Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny who plotted his rise from vicarious and bony Derry City winger to Premier League regular, from 2008 to 2011 in the League of Ireland. “I’ve always said how much I hold Stephen in a high regard,” said McClean. “At the end of the day he’s the guy who gave me my break in football. I was a skinny, raw 18-year-old when he gave me my debut. He showed that he had that faith and that trust in me. I’ve always felt that I needed to repay that faith and I think I have. In football terms, he is like a father-figure. Some players need to be verbally abused to get fired-up but Stephen’s man-management is the one thing about him.”
McClean’s playing career began with an unnerving sense of expectation alongside promise when he was included in Giovanni Trapattoni’s squad for Euro 2012, the Italian bringing the young player on for his tournament debut when 3-0 down to champions Spain in the 76th minute in a desperate response to public pleas to utilise the winger’s evident talent, the 22-year-old having gone unused versus Croatia in their opening-day defeat in an aging squad in desperate need of fresh legs, new ideas and young tenacity.
Later making his disapproval of Trapattoni’s decision public, McClean has since been one of the foremost rising stars of O’Neill’s new-look Irish setup who have now risen to 23rd in the FIFA world rankings alongside an extremely strong chance of qualifying for a first World Cup since 2002, sitting atop Group D with 10 points from a possible 12 after four games.
It appears now, at last, heading towards the latter stages of his 20s, that the roughness of youth and political upheaval that moulded what we defined James McClean to be is now being replaced by a more measured, astute and capable football player who could, having represented Northern Ireland at underage level, be the first man from Derry to represent the Republic at a World Cup.
...
Once a promising 22-year-old starlet, his political viewpoints against English football’s established conventions means his legacy will not be forged on the field of play as he nears closer to reaching his 30s.
While the expectation pinned to his future promise following an explosive start at Derry and Sunderland may have petered low in recent seasons, a rejuvenation in the green jersey throughout 2016 means McClean’s legacy to Irish football could be representing a respected, football-playing Martin O’Neill side at two major tournaments as well as an unprecedented duty towards his community of Creggan and maintaining the beliefs and dignity of his people.
Forever bringing us back to a lingering memory of that skinny, brash 18-year-old piling down wings in the empty vastness of the Brandywell in Derry City, the engravement on McLean’s gravestone after he has passed won’t read his Premier League appearances or goal tally, but rather those words which he wrote to Dave Whelan two years ago: “In life, if you’re a man you should stand up for what you believe in.”
Bookmarks