James McClean:

Fs you could've at least signed your card @Senna s1979

 

* * all that abuse and not a single crayon used whoever it was musta had a few practice runs to get that done ..

 

Jonathan Walters‏Verified account @JonWalters19

Jonathan Walters Retweeted James McClean

An absolute disgrace to have to receive the death threats and racial abuse that @JamesMcC_14 does. Not one race or religion is superior to another!! Where are your voices now @FA @EFL @kickitout? Or does this not apply to him? #EqualGame

 

Cramp after aw that writing.

 

You got to admire the effort to fill up every bit of space with script.
Staunch determination.

 

I was thinking the loyalists wouldn’t be happy with the way he uses the term away win

 

Thats almost too staunch to be real

 

That’s not me.

 

James McClean has launched a fresh attack on the FA and ‘Kick It Out’, branding both ‘a bunch of hypocrites and cowards’.

The Republic of Ireland star claims they supported Raheem Sterling during his bold fight against racist abuse, but ignored his own plight after a string of incidents

McClean recently posted social media pictures of a 30th birthday card he received laced with vile anti-Irish messages and taunts.

Nothing will ever be done. I'm a white Irishman, to put it bluntly. That's not high on the agenda in England," he said.

“The only reason I highlighted (the card) was to prove a point and I proved it right - that ‘Kick It Out’ and the FA are a bunch of hypocrites, a bunch of cowards.


“Look at the Sterling case, previously. He's been lauded as this kind of hero for speaking out. Getting awards and this and that.

“What he got is nothing compared to what I've got for the past seven or eight years. And there hasn't been a peep, a single word or contact."



McClean continued: “The same thing happened this year, with the Middlesbrough game, where I clearly got abused.

“People were trying to come on the pitch and I called them ‘uneducated cavemen’, which they were. I got a warning from the FA.

“It's only when I fire back at the FA publicly that they kind of back off and just give me a warning rather than taking any action.”

Asked what sanctions Sterling might have faced had he branded Boro fans ‘uneducated cavemen’, McClean joked: “He'd probably have got another award."

But McClean, who insists he doesn’t want people's sympathy but rather consistency from the FA, does not accept he brought abuse on himself.

His stand against wearing a poppy on his club jersey every November is well documented, for instance.


“I like to think I'm a principled guy and I'm not going to sell myself out for something I don't believe in,” he continued.

“I’d rather be true to myself and be perceived by the people that mattered, the people of Derry, my own people, for staying true to myself.

“I’d rather that than bow down and sell myself out for just an easy life. I don't think I deserve it at all.”

McClean added: “The FA has never contacted me for starters. Do you watch Sky Sports News? Have you ever seen a story about me being discriminated against?

“There wasn't a peep about the birthday card. So just be consistent. The reason I was doing it was to simply highlight what a bunch of hypocrites they are.”

The Derryman claims some of his fellow players have supported him privately, but not publicly.

“People want an easy life, don't they? Fair play, it's not nice getting the abuse. If they want to avoid that, I've got no issue with it.”

And McClean also blasted online trolls, insisting the abuse he gets on social media rarely manifests in real life.

“Everyone’s a keyboard warrior, aren't they. Maybe it's the boxing videos online, maybe. People are 10ft tall behind the computer and 2ft tall in real life.”

 

The FA have shat the bed over this.

 

The FA and "Kick it Out" follow the media and public opinion, rather than it being the other way round. It isn't that long ago Sterling was getting pilloried in the press. The moment public opinion and the press change their attitudes and take an honest, heartfelt look at Irish history then the attitudes towards James McLean will change.

I won't hold my breath.

 

I am sure it wasn't intentional, but McClean comes across terribly there. It comes across as if he is having a go at Sterling.

 

Aye that's it mccleans a racist

 

No it's not.

It's comparing racism and saying if your black and racially abused then the worl is queuing up to sycophantically fawn at your feet.

Happen to be born a white Irishman and suffer racism? * up Paddy, and get on with it...

 

But the comparison is completely unnecessary and his remark about Sterling 'getting another award' is just crass. I know McClean didn't mean it to come across that way but it does. He is 100% right to speak out, but belittling the racism another person has suffered just undermines his own argument.