It's reasonable to say that James McClean's decision to wear a poppy-free jersey each November has received almost universal support from the media in Ireland.
The same is not quite true of his decision to turn his face away from the British national anthem last Saturday. Ken Early yesterday endorsed the sentiments of Luke Edwards in the Daily Telegraph and last night on Soccer Republic Damien Richardson more or less echoed this stance.
It was a predicament McClean did not think he would be in when he signed for West Brom but the American custom of playing the national anthem before club games and their politeness in extending the courtesy to their visitors has dropped him into another controversy.
Soccer Republic teased it out. Richardson said he liked McClean and said he completely respected his views. But he said that if McClean feels so strongly as to turn away from the flag, then he might possibly consider playing elsewhere in Europe.
If he doesn't like what England stands for, then why play in England? Why not go to France, or go to Spain, or go to Holland, or go to Norway? If he has principles, stand by those principles by all means, but don't go to a country where your principles are almost in direct confrontation to the vast majority of that population. And I would prefer James, if he feels like that, that he would go elsewhere to play football.
