You have to love James McLean.
Not only is he an excellent footballer, and a kid who’s tale is a genuine example of rags to riches, taking him from the streets of Free Derry to the English Premier League, but he’s got guts. He is fearless. He wears who he is out there on his sleeve where everyone, friend and foe alike, can see it clearly.
He doesn’t rattle under pressure.
I admire him hugely.
I also like the way he plays.
I can’t be alone in thinking that James McLean is one of those players who was simply born to play for Celtic; we’ve missed him a few times in the past, but I think there’s a certain, steady, inevitability about it. I do believe we’ll one day see him in the colours of our club.
James carries himself well.
He’s faced Neil Lennon style pressures; death threats, massive waves of online criticism, hatred the likes of which we can only imagine.
Apart from being very unselfconsciously from one of the tinder dry areas of the Six Counties, James doesn’t pretend not to have been affected by that upbringing.
He steadfastly refuses to wear the Poppy, for example, which has brought him into enormous conflict with sections of the English media, a lot of fans, and even some of his own, more intolerant, team mates who simply can’t see things from his point of view, because they don’t come from where he does.
He doesn’t let it affect him.
Yesterday, I highlighted the story of Alan Judge, who was asked a bizarre series of questions about Sevco whilst on international duty with the Republic of Ireland, and said that although he admires Mark Warburton he couldn’t play for him again whilst he’s manager at Ibrox.
That sparked the usual media and anti-social media hue and cry, and forced Judge to apologise and backtrack like crazy. I said, although it pained me to do it, that I thought that was a little cowardly.
James McLean has no such issues, and yesterday he was online giving Alan Judge a bit of a hazing over his reversal. I gotta say, even reading it makes me beam with absolute pleasure because McLean will have suffered the same level of abuse for jumping into this, and he knew it and he embraced it and he didn’t give a monkeys.
He is saying to the haters straight up; “You can’t silence me.”
I wish Alan Judge had taken that on board, and gave these people the answer they deserved which is some version of this:
“Your behaviour right now only reinforces my view that I could never play for the club you support, and that the club itself would be better if it got rid of the hillbilly hick, trailer trash element that you and those like you clearly represent.”
McClean jumped into the debate with a tweet that read “Its alright Judgy lad you were just telling me how much you hate them.”
He followed it up with a request for Judge to “throw that Wolfetones CD up to my room.”
I laughed my ass off reading those tweets.
Too many people in this country and elsewhere have been forced into ludicrous retreat when faced with the anger of semi-literate, irrational goons who have no sense of humour, perspective or the least tolerance for anything they don’t like.
McLean won’t be. He treats them with the utter contempt they deserve.
We all should. I wish more did.