Stoke City manager Gary Rowett has revealed that abusive packages have been sent to the club addressed to winger James McClean.
McClean was abused by a section of fans following the Potters goalless draw with Middlesbrough last weekend for his refusal to wear the poppy and the Derry native sounded off on the FA for what he perceived was an inadequate attitude in dealing with sectarian abuse.
Rowett told the BBC on Thursday that abusive packages had been sent to the club and that he can understand McClean’s frustrations in some parts.
“He’s been sent stuff which I’ve seen,” Rowett said. “You can understand in a way why he reacts. He’s only human.
“When you have those beliefs you appreciate that it’s going to be a big situation at the weekend like that.
“We spoke to James about it and I think his response was out of frustration, probably ill-judged.
“Certainly criticising a minority of our fans is not the way to go and we spoke to him about that. We can’t condone that but I think when you understand the background to his beliefs and you see that his family have had death threats, you see that his wife and kids have had abuse constantly, you see that he’s been sent stuff in the post, which I’ve seen recently from fans and you can understand, in a way, why he reacts.
“We can’t condone certain parts of those actions but we can understand some parts of it because the abuse is pretty pretty bad. We will try to move forward. The club have spoken to James about it. It’s certainly not something that we want to condone.”
Erin McClean, partner of Republic of Ireland and Stoke winger James McClean, has revealed some of the abuse that her husband has received on social media.
McClean has been a subject of abuse for his entire career in England and wife Erin revealed just a sample of some of the messages he’s received in a recent post on her Instagram account.
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