It’s rare you get anything from a footballer these days, let alone honesty.
James McClean has always been an oasis of staying true to his feelings and not being afraid of telling you what those feelings are if you ask. He’s a man to front up and he’s a man to stick to his principles and, generally, what happens to people like that in the public eye is that they polarise opinion.
But, in his latest interview with the Express & Star, McClean’s comments proved important for every footballer and fan facing relegation.
In the book, The Secret Footballer, a story was told about fans spitting at players and hurling abuse at them because they refused to take a paycut when the club was in financial difficulty. But, as it went, the players were living lives according to the salary – they had mortgages, direct debits, expenses and they would’ve been in trouble if they suddenly weren’t getting the same amount of money in, however big that amount seems.
James McClean touched on that too – that players have families to think of.
“Everyone wants to play Premier League football so I do think there will obviously be a lot of people looking at their next move or their future come the summer if the inevitable happens and we do go down,” the Derry man said.
“The fans just see it as if you do go down and players leave then you’re a snake, or you’ve taken the club for a ride and this and that.
“But we’ve got families as well, we need to look after them. We’ve also got a career to look after as well, we want to be the best we can be. You have to look after yourself first and foremost.”
Another win on Saturday has delayed the inevitable for West Brom though.
Their upturn under Darren Moore has been unprecedented if too late. Alan Pardew told the players to go out and play – let the boys play, that sort of thing. McClean explains why that wasn’t that smart.
“We were told to play with more freedom, but you’ve got a group of players who, under our previous manager Tony, were more defensive and a lot more drilled.
“We were told to go out and play a different way without really working on that.”
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