James McClean is Derry and Derry is James McClean, nothing is ever going to change that
Time for his football to do all the talking at the Brandywell, on and off the pitch
Cathal Dervan, Editor
The great thing about James McClean is that he wears his heart on his sleeve. The not so great thing about James McClean is that he wears that heart on his sleeve and is never afraid to publicly air the views that are inspired by said heart - whether you like them or not and whether you want to hear them or not.
A friend did ask me yesterday if I had heard the inevitable news that Tiernan Lynch is no longer the manager at Derry City. As someone with the League of Ireland close to my own heart, of course I had.
The same person, another LOI devotee, asked me if I thought James had driven Tiernan out of the club. That’s an easy question if you think that those who own League of Ireland clubs pay attention to social media.
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Eyes on the prize…
I’m not so sure they do. If they did read every word that’s said about them in the poisoned word of social media, there would be precious few owners around the self proclaimed greatest league in the world.
Indeed, if the managers in our league paid any attention to X, TikTok, Instagram or Facebook, managerial jobs would be available every week of every season.
That’s why I wasn’t in the least surprised when Derry City owner Philip Doherty announced, as part of the statement outlining Tiernan Lynch’s departure from the Brandywell, that he pays little or no attention to social media or football pundits. The Lynch decision was based on results and recent results decreed it was time for a parting of the ways.
That’s it in a nutshell. Results haven’t been right at Derry City and the manager, as is always the case in professional football, paid the price. Not the owner and certainly not the players.
So James McClean, for all his recent outbursts, had little or no impact on the actual decision by Doherty to sack Lynch. What he did influence was the atmosphere around the club and, in all probability, around the city.
Derry City FC is a unique case in football. The city revolves around the club and the club revolves around the city. The two communities, sporting and public, are one and the same. When Derry suffers, Derry City FC suffers. When Derry City FC suffers, Derry suffers.
You can add James McClean to that theory. He is as Derry as anyone I have ever met, as committed to his town and his people as anyone who has ever stepped foot inside the city walls.
There are times when that obsession borders on the ridiculous but he shouldn’t be blamed for that. It’s his way and you are never going to change his way.
Instead you need to understand them before you are ever going to accept them. You need to understand that Derry - and Derry FC by association - matters to James McClean as much as his family does. Simply because everything connected with Derry is family to him.
What James may need to understand is that not everyone feels the same way and not everyone needs to share his feelings for the town he clearly loves so well. The world bleeds red but only some of it bleeds red and white like he does.
What James really needs to understand though is the power of silence. How many times has he quit social media only to return within days with new targets on his timelines? How many times has he laboured a point to score cheap points against those he clearly believes to be enemies of Derry and, therefore, his enemies?
James McClean doesn’t need anyone’s approval to voice his opinion, nor will he ever seek it.
But my advice to him now, and he will never seek that either, is to shut up. Get fit, play your football and enjoy your return home to Ireland James.
You’ve come back home with a career to be celebrated, not one to be continually thrown open to scorn by some self inflicted words on social media.
Let your feet do the talking again for a while and leave the worries of the world to the world. That’s where they belong.
AROUND THE HEADLINES
Lynch exit ‘pretty much a snap decision’ - O’Doherty - BBC Sport
Shamrock Rovers manager’s ‘moanbag’ quip amid frustration despite big Europa League win - Irish Mirror
Bohemians fans urged to bring the noise against ‘heavy metal’ Midtjylland - Irish Times
Mason Melia joins Lincoln City on season-long loan from Spurs as Jack Moylan joins Cardiff City - RTE Sport
‘Full support’ for Infantino may spark ‘open warfare’ in world football politics - The42.ie
Celtic legend linked with vacant Derry City role as hunt for Tiernan Lynch successor begins - Irish Mirror
Six of the best... the summer buys that will look to shake up the Irish Premiership this season - Belfast Telegraph
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It's another big story week in the League of Ireland and our LOI correspondent Darryl Geraghty joins editor Cathal Dervan again to discuss the Tiernan Lynch sacking at Derry City and the James McClean effect along with the European latest for Shamrock Rovers, Shelbourne and Bohemians...
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