McClean 'struggling' with current Derry City situation

Former Republic of Ireland international James McClean says he is "struggling" as he remains out of favour with Derry City.

McClean returned to his hometown club from Wrexham last January, but hasn't been part of a matchday squad since early July, hitting out at what he claims were the Candystripes' "incomprehensible" attempt to terminate his contract.

The 37-year-old subsequently apologised for some of his stinging criticism of the club, though he has not featured under interim manager Mark Connolly.

McClean, who amassed 103 international caps for his country, has released his new book 'The Walls’, where he outlined his growing passion for boxing with his footballing career coming to an end.

In the book McClean revealed he only learned the identity of his biological father when he was around 10, a man with alcohol issues that he only ever met on one occasion.

McClean came in for stinging criticism for an interview with the Sunday Independent to promote the book, where he outlined why he would never seek out therapy.

"As a man, I see that as weakness. I don’t need to open up," he said. "I see it as a weakness that I’d have to speak to someone about my feelings; my emotions."

Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1’s The Brendan O’Connor Show, McClean clarified his position on mental health, while also admitting his own struggles.

"Maybe more so now after the backlash of the last few days," he responded when asked if he was reluctant to drag his past up when putting together the book with ghostwriter Dan McDonnell.

"It has probably made me more reluctant to do so going forward because I opened up on stuff that I never really spoke about privately, never mind publicly.

"What has happened over the last few days has made it really tough."

Derry City and McClean remain at an impasse, with the club distancing themselves from McClean’s comments last week, insisting they "do not reflect" the core values or beliefs of the club.

His wife Erin also addressed the controversial comments, claiming her husband has been "struggling" during what has become "a daily battle" this year.

McClean insists that while he respects anyone that tackles their mental health with professional help, he says it isn’t a road he has ever been willing to travel, with fitness/gym work his preferred outlet.

"That (the comment about seeking counselling as a weakness) was a screengrab, it was put out there and people jumped on it," he says.

"My own club (Derry City) put out a statement that didn’t help in the slightest, but not one person reached out to me to say, ‘James, can you clarify what you meant?’

"I’m pretty sure nobody actually read the context of the article. If they had, they would have seen that I was solely speaking on my own personal experience. When you are going through difficult situations, people have their own ways and means of coping with that.

"My biggest problem has always been social media. In the moment, when I feel attacked, it’s almost like auto-pilot, I go on the offensive to show nothing bothers me.

"Erin has said I probably have trauma from my childhood that I have probably blocked out. Any man or woman that needs to go to therapy to help themselves, I couldn’t commend them any higher.

"That’s not to say me going to the gym is wrong either because that works for me. I was solely speaking about me.

"Me saying the word weakness, was probably my weakness in saying that, but I’m not going to apologise that I’m in a place where I feel I don’t need to go to therapy.

"That’s in a way what I’m getting bashed for."

Asked whether he agreed with his wife’s claim that he is struggling, he said: "I am struggling.

"I’m struggling in my current situation because you go home expecting and being told one thing, and for that not to work out, and then to be cast aside and then made to feel like a leper in a place where you thought they would never do that to you…for that to happen is very tough.

"The one thing I have always loved doing, and all I have known, is playing football. For a power to take that away from me wrongly, and unfairly, has been difficult.

"She (Erin) always says to me that she thinks it (therapy) will help. She is saying that that based on situation surrounding my biological dad."

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