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16th September 2023
01:51pm BST
James McClean of Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile)[/caption]
"It’s not going to change. I’m well used to it. I know how to handle it… if people want to go and take their week’s frustrations out at me, there’s nothing I can do about it."Erin, his wife, was in the crowd and spoke of having to tell her children - ‘You're going to hear not nice things about daddy but that’s because he’s in the other team'. She added that 'it can be tough'. Asked what the lowest point of such fan abuse was, McClean considered it before responding, "You get quite headstrong... but it's a different kettle of fish when your children get brought into it." Kielty brought up McClean's long-held stance not to wear the commemorative poppy each November, when he is playing club matches in England. He commented:
"I knew when I took the stance, there was going to be consequences… I grew up as a young lad in Derry with my beliefs, just because I became a footballer in England, doesn’t mean I’m going to change them. "It's quite funny, actually, because, there's two sides to that history but, over there [in England], there is an arrogance and ignorance, where they are taught one side of history. They speak about the I.R.A, and this and that, as terrorists. We look upon the British army as terrorists, as well, because of what they inflicted in my home city, and throughout the north of Ireland." "They see themselves as quite arrogant and superior to us," he added. "That has been the frustration for me. I understand their belief but I don’t go around trying to push my beliefs on them."Kielty and McClean then spoke about the footballer's six-year-old daughter, Willow-Ivy, who has autism. "Life has changed," he said, "but for the better… seeing the struggles she has to deal with, it has made us more patient and understanding." McClean himself underwent an autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) test, earlier this year, and it was found that he was on the spectrum. https://twitter.com/RTELateLateShow/status/1702807312455381280
"There's still four games left in this calendar year so it won't be before that... There’s a long gap in between that and the next campaign… I’ll be another year older, and we’ll see where I am after that."Moving on to the current Ireland boss, McClean said, "I see what he puts in, every day. For Stephen Kenny it is the ultimate job - managing his country." "In football, you are judged by your results," McClean mused. "We’re all disappointed this campaign hasn’t gone the way we wanted." This article originally appeared on Joe.ie. READ MORE:
