Fans divided as James McClean lets football do talking

[team1]Nottingham Forest[/team1][score1]0[/score1][team2]Stoke City[/team2][score2]0[/score2][/score]

By Tim Nash

When the Stoke team coach reversed into its parking bay inside the City Ground, there was no welcome party for James McClean.

There was no security in operation, bar the two hi-vis-jacketed men on duty who normally watch the visiting and home team buses in.

A few dozen yards away, the Forest club shop was advertising a match at the City Ground between the British Army and the German Bundeswehr, (Germany’s united armed forces team). Outside there was a Royal British Legion stall selling poppies.

A veteran ex-serviceman with the group, who didn’t want to be named, said the freedom gained from those who fought for Queen and country gave James McClean the right to express his opinions.

Stoke wore their kit of all purple and white trim save for the red poppy, but McClean, one of three visiting players to wear luminous yellow-green boots, is no shrinking violent.

His jersey was devoid of the Remembrance Day emblem, as it has been at each of his previous English clubs: Sunderland, Wigan and West Brom.

If McClean was going to be a target, then it was a low-key start. The minute’s silence was immaculately observed by both sets of fans.

The abuse wasn’t long in starting however. In the brief seconds after a lone trumpeter had finished playing The Last Post to conclude the tribute and before kick-off, Forest supporters in the Main Stand sung “James McClean, you’re a wanker, you’re a wanker”.

Before the game, Stoke supporters wearing poppies were happy for McClean not to wear the Remembrance Day symbol even if they don’t agree with his views.

But the majority view was that his decision to call fans “uneducated cavemen” in an Instagram post to his 150,000 followers in response to being abused by both sets of supporters at the end of last week’s match against Middlesbrough, for which he was fined by the club and warned by the Football Association, didn’t help.

They also felt a statement in which McClean apologised to ‘most’ Stoke fans merely fanned the flames.

After coming on as a substitute in that game, he started at Forest. Some believed he shouldn’t have been playing.

Billy Thompson, originally from Belfast but now living in Stoke said: “It’s a total disgrace. I respect him for not wearing a poppy, but he doesn’t have to make it so public.

“The best thing that could have happened was for him not to be in the squad.

“I think he brings a lot of it on himself. He goads people by being public about it.”

Fellow Stoke fan Steve Allen, 52, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, added: “The fans I have spoken to say similar to me, that he should have kept a low profile and not gone on social media and slagged people off. If he had a problem he should have spoken to the English and Irish FAs.”

Trisha Bould, from Meir, Stoke, added: “I don’t think he should play, because of the trouble (it causes).

“I don’t agree with his views, but I support him as a Stoke player. Some Stoke fans were bang out of order; the abuse his family have had is disgusting — death threats, threats to rape his wife.

“My dad was in the army and he delivers poppies. He’s the first to say: ‘People died for the right for others to express their own opinions, and they’re entitled to them’. You don’t have to agree with them.”

Chris Malbon, 40, from Basford, Stoke, added: “He’s been quite free with his words with what he’s said and that has got fans’ backs up.

“I respect his decision not to wear the poppy but I don’t know whether I agree or not with what he is doing.”

Stoke manager Gary Rowett was happy with McClean’s performance and the courage he showed in coping with the abuse.

He said: “He performed with bravery. That doesn’t mean to say I believe the same thing — I certainly don’t — and it doesn’t mean fans have to.

“It doesn’t also mean that James can criticise his own fans, which is not the most sensible thing to do.

“But he came out in a difficult situation and performed very well. I also hope people accept his beliefs.”

McClean’s former Sunderland team-mate Jack Colback, now on loan at Forest from Newcastle, embraced him at the final whistle.

He said: “He’s a great lad who doesn’t mean bad to anyone or disrespect anyone, but he’s got his beliefs from where he was born. Fair play to him for standing up for those.

“He didn’t hide. The stuff that gets said to him is disgraceful. In any other walk of life, people would be getting arrested.”

Angela Smith is chairperson of Stoke City’s Fans Council. She received over 300 emails from Stoke fans after the Boro game, with views split 50-50 on McClean.

She said after the Forest game: “I admire him because it can’t be easy when you’ve got everybody (against you), but at this time of year, it’s much worse for him. When you start criticising your own fans, you’ve got a problem.”

McClean’s first touch, after 30 seconds, was greeted by a chorus of boos. But his next proved to be the only on target effort of the first half, a shot palmed away by Costel Pantilimon, the Forest goalkeeper. It sparked more wanker chants, which returned sporadically.

He flashed a shot into the side-netting in the 40th minute and went on to be one of the major influences in the game, the abuse getting particularly noticeable when he went to take two corners in the second half.

At the final whistle, McClean kept a low profile, having a quiet word with the officials while his team-mates applauded the travelling support, save for a cursory clap in their direction from the halfway line.

Thankfully, he had let his football do the talking.

FOREST (4-2-3-1): Pantilimon; Darikwa, Dawson, Figueiredo, Robinson; Colback, Guedioura (Yacob 76); Cash, Lolley, Carvalho (Dias 86); Grabban.

STOKE (4-3-3): Butland; Edwards, Shawcross, Williams, Martins Indi; Woods, Allen, Etebo (Clucas 76); McClean, Afobe (Crouch 80), Diouf (Berahino 70).

Referee: Oliver Langford.