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15th July 2020
11:02am BST

James McClean celebrates after scoring against Charlton Athletic. (Credit: Getty Images)[/caption]
A major bone of contention with McClean is that the media, he feels, has widely ignored the abuse he receives before, during and after matches. It is his contention that many outlets have 'fuelled the fire' that sees him come in for flak at many of the grounds he plays at across England.
McClean says media has a big part to play in how he is perceived, but he admits he has, on occasion, not helped matters. He admitted that posting a picture of himself wearing a balaclava, on Instagram, with a message saying 'Today's history lesson is... ' was an error.
"On lockdown," he says, 'I did post the balaclava (picture)... Yeah, I do regret it. It was supposed to be aimed at how I'm supposed to be perceived anyway. I thought, 'Do you know what, people perceive me in this way, anyway, so I might as well try and have... ', look, it was supposed to be a joke but it didn't go down as a joke, and I understand the offence it might have caused some people. Like I said, I'm no angel."
"I have made mistakes," he adds. "I'm no angel, at the end of the day.
"People say, 'Well you've brought it on yourself', but all this abuse started well before. I'm only human. This all started well before I'd done anything. Sometimes I get annoyed... I am an emotional guy. Sometimes my emotions will get the better of me and I'll act out, but I'm acting out based on retaliation from all this abuse that I shouldn't be getting, and then the media jump on it.
"I've been getting horrendous abuse. I've had police at my door, taking fingerprints and taking fingerprints at (my club) because when I was at Sunderland there were bullets sent. This has come around to my family home. I've had police (there) early in the morning. I've had letters, birthday cards, which have all been very well highlighted and attention brought to it, by myself, and it always seems to fall on deaf ears."
McClean states that he is merely 'asking for equality' and would appreciate similar support as the likes of Sterling, McGoldrick and Zaha have, of late, received. He touched on a couple of particularly septic and hateful messages he has recently received.
"We're in the same profession here; we do the same job. No-one should be allowed to say and do as they want without repercussions. Up until now, that's just the way it has been.
"I've had messages that I've highlighted, where I've had people saying I hope your three young children contract Covid and die. And I'm thinking, 'This is my children. I shouldn't be receiving this. I shouldn't have to put up with this.'
"People scratch their head and wonder why I sometimes do react the way I do. At the end of the day, if I wasn't a footballer and I wasn't in the limelight... you're trying to tell me that any other father, in any normal profession, would accept that? And that's okay?!"
McClean, in his Facebook post on Monday, called out his teammates, at clubs (past and present) and country, for not publicly supporting him, but that point was not covered in the interview with White.
He ended the chat by saying he was pleased that the abuse of McGoldrick and Zaha was being highlighted, but his sense of fighting a battle of his own, on his own, was still burning deeply.
"Where is that passion and level of annoyance been, over the years, for my abuse?" he asked.Explore more on these topics: