James McClean has divided opinion by refusing to face the English flag during the playing of God Save The Queen before a match against Charleston Battery on West Bromwich Albion’s US tour.
The Derry-born midfielder was previously involved in a controversy over his refusal to wear a Remembrance Day poppy on his jersey during his time at Sunderland and Wigan. McClean went to the lengths of writing an open letter to Wigan chairman Dave Whelan and the club's fans to explain his stance.
Is McClean right?
Soccer Republic analysts Damien Richardson and Alan Cawley present the case for and against the 26-year-old.
Damien Richardson: “My view is that everyone is entitled to their opinion, their beliefs, and we’re all a product of our circumstances, our development, our background, if you like. And I like James; he’s a lovely person, a lovely individual.
“But my opinion on this is, if he doesn’t like what England stands for, why play in England? Why not go to France, Spain, Holland or Norway? If you have principles, stand by your principles by all means. But don’t go to a country where your principles are almost in direct confrontation with the majority to the vast majority the population. I would prefer James, if he feels like that, to go somewhere else to play football.”
Alan Cawley: “It is unnecessary, but I would defend him. Going back to the poppy situation, we know what James stands for in terms of his background and where he comes from. Myself, living in Sligo, or in Dublin now, or any of us, will never understand what it was like for a Derry lad growing up, especially in Creggan where he is from. He obviously feels very strongly about that.
"This little situation at the weekend was slightly different to the poppy because I felt when he wrote that letter to the chairman of Wigan it was very eloquent and explained his situation perfectly, without ever needing to get in Twitter spats with fans or anything like that. It was excellent.
“Is this one unnecessary? Probably. But I would defend him defend him, I really would, for what he stands up for.”
