Wrexham missed a chance to go top of League One on Thursday when they lost a derby 2-1 to strugglers Shrewsbury Town. Both during and after the match, former Ireland international James McClean was on the receiving end of a torrent of abuse from Shrewsbury supporters.
McClean was subject to the usual invective from the home support on Thursday, amid constant singing of 'F*** the IRA'
In the clip below you can see a projecticle flung at McClean and a supporter being escorted out of the ground as McClean waits to take a throw-in.
Now James McClean.
First half he was swaggering around and tried to smash someone. He was arrogant. Then the fans got involved.
Second half he became star of the show again and it went off with someone being carried out.
He gets stick but he doesn’t help himself e.g first half pic.twitter.com/QSHnxCbfXg— Shropshire and Midlands Jacks🦢 (@ShropshireJacks) January 16, 2025
One particular flashpoint came in the 98th minute when McClean was on the receiving end of a strong tackle from Shrewsbury centreback Toto Nsiala.
Now this is a tackle we can all celebrate. James McClean getting sent into orbit last night before losing the head. Shrewsbury have gained an admirer.
pic.twitter.com/icVKkoMIue— GM🇬🇧 (@GM1872_) January 17, 2025
The clip went viral on Friday and galvanised the usual anti-McClean brigade on social media.
Tweets like this for example:
Block 18, I'm so proud of you. You kept McClean's head off the pitch, and you can tell you really got to him. Any of you lot constantly hounding him abuse deserve my praise 👏👏👏
— Ben (@benjenkers) January 16, 2025
McClean replied on instagram on Saturday morning with some choice words for Shrewsbury supporters, calling the Shropshire town "an absolute cesspit full of inbreds".
He wisely deleted the post a few hours later.
Shrewsbury Town meanwhile tweeted a photo of Nsiala this morning.
— Shrewsbury Town FC (@shrewsburytown) January 18, 2025
Manager Phil Parkinson was asked by Sky Sports after the match on Thursday how McClean had coped with the abuse.
He's fine. James is used to it wherever he goes. Fans get on his back home and away and sometimes it can be tough and spill over but he is used to it."
He also said his team deserved criticism for the poor performance.
We’ve had a lot of good times and had a lot of praise but tonight we deserve to get criticism because the level of our performance wasn’t where it needed to be but we will take that criticism together as a group and come out and respond next week."
Wrexham host Birmingham City next Thursday in a fixture that will bring more spotlight both on the club and McClean.
After those teams met in September, McClean had a cup of coffee hurled at him by home fans at St Andrew's.
After that match, he quoted Bobby Sands saying:
"They have nothing in their whole imperial arsenal that can break the spirit of an Irishman who doesn't want to be broken."
P.S. fair play to the one old steward that held them all back from getting over the 2ft advertising hoardings.