James McClean and controversy have been comfortable bedfellows since he emerged onto the scene little over two years ago. The former Derry City star made quite a few enemies up North after his well documented about turn to join up with the Republic of Ireland squad. This idea of him needing a minder immediately makes one think that his safety may be at risk from some reckless lunatics keen to return to a Northern Ireland of old but alas it's not, its bloody twitter and gallivanting.
McClean's former teammate at Derry City Eugene Ferry has decided to pack up his gloves(which he wears sparingly as Derry City's 2nd choice) and move over to the North east of England to act as McClean's minder. This comes on the back of run ins with Trap and Martin O'Neill over his behaviour off the field and especially on social networks like twitter. So Ferry across the Irish Sea, Mersey and Tyne to a strangely intriguing setup where McClean and his girlfriend have a live in minder.. modern football eh?
“He wasn’t really settling down and there was all that stuff in the media,” said Ferry. “His agent wanted him to settle down as he was going off the rails a wee bit.
“I was over in Sunderland yesterday and had a meeting with one of the club’s player liason officers and it went well.
“James agreed that it would help him settle down if one of his mates moved over and lived with him. I’ll keep him on the straight and narrow by getting him to keep his head and stop writing those stupid comments.”
This is a curious development in the career of a hugely promising winger who has failed to hit the heights of his debut season in England in which he won the club's young player of the year.
