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21st October 2025
05:25pm BST
James McClean has given a revealing interview to the BBC, with the Wrexham and former Ireland winger detailing life growing up in the Creggan estate in Derry, and the abuse he has received over the years for not wearing a poppy.
He told host Lucy Kennedy: "I was getting death threats, it was getting into that.
"People were saying 'he should be shot'… I was getting bullets in the post, bullets sent to the club."
He also explained that he had learned how to make petrol bombs by the age of 11.
On social media, the BBC used this quote to sell the article, but were accused of trying to start a pile-on and bringing further abuse on McClean.
Horrendous headline to use considering he was discussing why he knew how to use them and why many felt it necessary
— Albufeira Celt (@Naka1888c) October 20, 2025
Good old BBC looking to stoke the flames so James McClean will get even more unwarranted abuse. Good job lads
— ItsJustJames (@ItsJustJames85) October 20, 2025
McClean went on to use Bloody Sunday as an example of why he cannot wear the poppy.
He added: "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 don't, can't see that… how there is even a debate of why I should wear a poppy.
"Home is home, you don't forget where you grew up… I am going to come back here one day, who am I to betray the people who basically raised me?
"I have played in two major championships but I am known as somebody who doesn't wear a poppy rather than what I have achieved in my career,"
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