James McClean turned up for training at Derry City on Tuesday morning despite a report that his hometown club is trying to rip up his contract. The 37-year-old arrived in a black Range Rover, days after the Irish Independent reported that Derry want to cancel his deal over his supposed lack of "physical capacity."
Asked by reporters whether he was still a player with the club, McClean simply replied: "Clearly."
McClean signed for his hometown club at the start of the 2026 season and has two years left on his deal, but has started only 12 of Derry's 27 league games since leaving Wrexham. The club reportedly claim he is unable to fulfil his contract's terms because he is not fit enough to play or train.
McClean is expected to insist that a contract cannot be cancelled unilaterally and that an independent physician must determine his fitness.
Derry sit sixth out of 10 teams in the League of Ireland Premier Division, a disappointing campaign after the club finished runners-up in 2023 and 2025. In June, McClean hinted at his unhappiness after returning home following a 15-year spell in English football.
"Family (are) enjoying being home, probably not so much myself, if I'm being honest," McClean said during a punditry appearance on RTE. "You know, you have a lot of conversations on the phone, and then you come home and you quickly realise that what you hear on the phone is not what you see in reality. There's a lot of factors that's contributed to that, but we'll leave them for another day."
His stance on the poppy
McClean first refused to wear a poppy while playing for Sunderland in 2012 and maintained that position throughout his career in England, despite being regularly targeted with abuse. In 2024 he explained his reasoning.
"The poppy which originally stood for World War 1 and 2 has now been adopted into honouring and remembering British soldiers that have served in all conflicts throughout the world including those who opened fire and murdered 14 innocent civilians on Bloody Sunday Jan 1972, in my home city, as well many other brutal crimes throughout Ireland," McClean said. "That is why I never have and never will wear a poppy. If the poppy's sole purpose was to honour World War 1 and 2 then I would have no issue wearing it, but that's not the case."
"I respect those who do as I am fully aware we have different beliefs and upbringings, I would never force my beliefs on others," he continued. "I'm not naive or stupid enough to expect the matter to be reciprocated, especially as the poppy is forced now on everyone in the UK and god forbid someone doesn't wear it, the abuse they have to endure... One thing I never have and never will do, is bend the knee to compromise my convictions."
Death threats over his refusal
McClean, who has won 103 caps for the Republic of Ireland since choosing to play for them rather than Northern Ireland, whom he represented at Under 21 level, said he had received "death threats" for his stance over the poppy. Speaking last October on Virgin Media's Living with Lucy, he told presenter Lucy Kennedy that his family had feared he would be shot while on international duty after he first refused to wear a poppy on his shirt in 2012.
"I was getting death threats, people were saying I should be shot," he said. "I was getting bullets in the post, bullets sent to the club. That night, I met up with Ireland. The club had received threats that basically I was going to be shot. The game was on TV... (My wife, Erin) is back up in Newcastle, she's panicking, she's s*****g herself. They had to put security outside my hotel room door the whole night."
"Then, obviously, we're playing the game, Erin's watching the game, she's panicking, she's thinking, 'He's going to be shot on TV.' Thankfully, nothing happened or nothing ever has happened," he said, adding that people had also said he "should be shot and dragged across the Cenotaph."
"I could have easily just said, 'I'll wear a poppy,' and sold myself out and be known for my football or 'I'll not wear a poppy' and be known as that but I've stayed true to myself," McClean said. "Six or seven people from the Creggan estate died on Bloody Sunday that day so for me to wear a poppy in support of the people who carried out those atrocities... It frustrates me how people can't see that. How is it even a debate of why I should wear the poppy?"
