OUT IN FRONT

McClean opens up on Kenny, the search for a new manager and the highs experienced on duty for Ireland

THE third series of Welcome To Wrexham is kicking off on Disney+ on May 2 with James McClean set to star, as the Republic of Ireland centurion is a lightning rod for lights, cameras and action.

Deciphering McClean’s distinctive Derry accent might be the tricky part for American viewers but no one will mistake his passion for the cause of the Red Dragons of north Wales.

On call yesterday to support As I Am, the Irish autism charity close to his heart through his dynamic daughter, Willow, whose bubbly personality lit up the Dylan Hotel, McClean didn’t baulk in the line of media fire.

Why would he? Over the course of 103 caps, McClean stood firm in the trenches, especially away from home. Chisinau. Lille. Gelsenkirchen. Vienna. Cardiff. The bigger the bear-pit, the more he growled.

Over half an hour, McClean covered enough topics for his own documentary as he spoke movingly about Willow, who ‘runs the house’, and how his own diagnosis of autism has shaped his life. ‘It’s why I’ve blown the lid at times,’ he said.

Our chat was more about lifting the lid than blowing it and McClean had his say on Stephen Kenny, the Republic of Ireland, and the ‘shambles’ of the FAI’s managerial ‘circus’.

I didn’t expect McClean to run the studs down the shins of Kenny, the manager who shaped him at Derry City for a front-line career that is still going strong — he will play his 596th club game on Saturday, two days before his 35th birthday.

Yet, the way Kenny cut him adrift for the second half of the Euro 2024 campaign clearly left a scar.

McClean felt Kenny displayed a lack of respect towards him, his new club, and the standard of play in League Two, after he informed the Ireland manager of his intentions last summer.

According to McClean, Kenny ‘couldn’t wait to get off the ‘phone’. Axed from the squad for the first time in 12 years, the Derry native then felt his farewell at home to New Zealand was botched by Kenny.

Being overlooked for the captaincy on the night was a slight, he felt, as was his withdrawal as part of a double substitution by the manager, who was also exiting the stage that night.

McClean sensed the pull of the green jersey last month when the new international season began.

‘I was serving a two-game suspension for Wrexham so I watched my club at 3pm and Ireland at 5pm. I was sitting there thinking I’m useless, not playing for one or the other.

‘It was not enjoyable but all good things come to an end.’

Is it the end? If a rash of withdrawals surfaced in the summer friendlies, I wouldn’t bet against his return.

By then, Ireland may have a permanent manager, or perhaps not, as the FAI dawdles over replacing Kenny.

‘Nobody seems to want it. It is leaving them with egg on their faces. From the outside, it’s embarrassing. It’s a circus,’ he said.

‘I think it’s been shambolic from the FAI how they’ve went with the process.’

McClean, like Damien Duff of Shelbourne, and others, reckons John O’Shea, the interim manager last month, should be allowed get on with it.

‘Ireland is a big job but I think John is more than capable. He’s been in the set-up the past year with the current squad so he knows the players.

‘It could be an unbelievable job. I feel like we’ve got a young talented squad that just need the right direction, and the right person to lead them, because the quality is there.’

McClean was a bolter into the Irish squad selected for the Euro 2012 finals, where he played against Spain, and he featured prominently four years later when Ireland rattled the French cage in Lyon. He finds it hard to fathom that Ireland are not part of the 24-team finals in Germany this summer.

McClean’s assessment of where Ireland find themselves smacked of criticism of the style Kenny tried to implement as manager.

‘All this talk about lovely football, and the way to play football.

‘Football is about winning. I remember the tournaments, I don’t remember the football we played to get there,’ he said.

‘I remember the night in Lille, I remember running France close, I remember coming on against Spain in Euro 2012.

‘I remember the occasion and being there. And that’s all that matters.’ Something perhaps for the new manager to consider.

McClean will keep playing for as long as he can, with Wrexham next season, if not longer, before a possible send-off for Derry City, his hometown club.

After a season of ‘justification’, he will enjoy a special moment on Saturday.

‘We play Crewe and my son, Junior (James) who is eight, signed a two-year academy contract with them the other day.

‘They do the presentation on the pitch beforehand. Then they are walking out with the Crewe players. I’ll give him a little bit in the tunnel. It’ll be a good day,’ he said.

And when McClean gets home and Willow gives him a smile, his day will get even better.