Summary
Overview
James McClean opens up about his extraordinary football career, from growing up during the Troubles in Derry to playing in the Premier League. He discusses the poppy controversy that defined much of his career, his best relationships with managers like Martin O'Neill, and his current difficult situation at Derry City. McClean's candid reflections reveal a fiercely principled player who has faced death threats and abuse but refuses to compromise his beliefs, while also sharing the joy he found at Wrexham and his concerns about life after football.
Growing Up in Derry During the Troubles
McClean provides vivid insight into his upbringing in Derry during the Troubles, describing how learning to make petrol bombs and living with political violence was simply "the norm" for his generation. He reflects on how being a product of that environment shaped him into a tougher person who had to work things out for himself. Now that he has children of his own, he's grateful they don't have to experience that upbringing and doesn't feel the need to educate them on politics the way he was educated.
- Learning to make petrol bombs at a young age was normal in his environment - it was just the way of life in Derry
- You are a product of your environment, and that generation had to be tougher and more streetwise
- His children are growing up in a different time without bloodshed on the streets, so he doesn't educate them on politics
- Street life meant leaving in the morning and being gone all day - when street lights came on, you knew it was time to go home
" You are a product of your environment so I know it does sound you know it has crazy stuff when you speak about it like learning to make a petrol bomb and all at that age but you know that's your upbringing you don't know any difference "
" It's not crazy it's not this is just the way of life here back home so obviously now as you're older and you're reading the book and you're reflecting back and you're thinking yeah it's it's it's it's not the norm "
Early Career and Relationship with Martin O'Neill
McClean credits Martin O'Neill as the biggest influence on his career, describing how the manager made him feel like the best player in the world even when he wasn't. He struggled initially with moving to England, living alone in an apartment where he didn't know how to work the heating or use basic appliances because his mother had always taken care of everything. The timing of his move and his relationship with O'Neill were crucial to him staying in England and developing as a player.
- Martin O'Neill has been the biggest influence in McClean's career - his best football came under O'Neill's leadership
- O'Neill simplified the game and made McClean feel like the best player in the world
- McClean lived alone in a flat where he didn't know how to work heating, moved around with his duvet, and put washing-up liquid in the dishwasher
- Irish mothers spoil their sons by doing everything for them, so McClean didn't know how to do things for himself
- Had tremendous respect for Roy Keane at international level, describing him as really funny but with bad days
" He just makes you he simplifies the game for you and then in terms of just speaking to Martin as a person, it just made you feel like you were, like I was far from the best player in the world but he made you feel like you were the best player in the world "
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