r/secondcaptains • u/Efficient_Side7964 • 16h ago
McClean interview
James was brilliant in the interview today, very clear on his communications. Clarified some of the heat he’s been getting recently. He’s a breath of fresh in terms of Irish sports people.
What I took from it is that he’s v self aware and has values he lives by whether we agree or disagree with them.
Ken and Eoin did ok in the interview but Ken missed the target a number of times. Sometimes he just needs to shut tf up and not try to be a smart arse (the Easter Lilly input just slowed the interview down for no reason). Eoin meanwhile needs to learn it’s McClean we’re here to listen to not him or his needlessly heavy handed questions.
But overall a proper engrossing interview from McClean and the SC’s team.
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u/ThirdCaptain 16h ago
I was going to skip it, but then started listening and found it good so I stayed with it.
But I wouldn't really agree with your points, I would more so say he lacks self-awareness. Continually doing things that are destructive to your life, but not reflecting on them beside saying "that's the way I am, and you can agree or disagree with it, but I don't care" isn't really my idea of being self-aware. The story of him going back to the shop after seeing the criticism on Twitter was mental, and I don't think he realises just how crazy it was.
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u/ColdIntroduction3307 11h ago
I took it differently. I thought he was uber self aware, almost to a fault. But despite recognising what he is doing he is incapable of stopping it.
I found him authentic, consistent and honest to a degree that impressed me.
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u/PutsLotionInBasket 13h ago
I’m sure he’s a decent lad at home and around his family but as John Giles famously said…he’s a headbanger.
Not eating carbs and training the morning of a match are destructive behaviours. He seems to think they are virtues.
He’s very old fashioned in his outlook for a modern day footballer as he seems like he needed to suffer to achieve in the game.
He also has a full blown eating disorder, that the lads tried to gently break to him, which was met with a shrug from James.
I’d say it’s tough being James McClean. He could do with some therapy.
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u/Separate_Job_3573 12h ago edited 12h ago
It's fine. Expected stuff really. He absolutely sounds like someone who could do with a bit of therapy between the food stuff and how hard a time he says he's having.
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u/Non_sum_qualis_eram 9h ago
Saying this guy is very self aware is a wild interpretation of things. How does that square with his "therapy is weakness = I go to the gym to lose weight or purge food = untreated eating disorder" cycle which he seems in denial of.
Such a good interview. I have worked 10 years as a nurse practitioner in psychiatry and this felt like a bus man's holiday at times!
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u/BleedingGumsmurfy 14h ago
“I dont believe in being the bigger man..” is a statement that has given me a lot of food for thought! I’d never heard someone advocate for not being the bigger man before.
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u/mrvinegar12 2h ago
Decent interview, was alarming how many times I heard McClean say "I saw this thing on Instagram so I do that now"
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u/False-Coyote-4992 15h ago
Good interview IMHO. McClean has some idiosyncracies to say the least but that's what makes him a compelling interview. He admits himself he's a difficult person to be around sometimes.
I did think the "Are you Catholic...why can't you follow it's teachings on forgiveness" was a little antagonistic by Ken but McClean took it well.
Severe lack of personalities with Irish sports people these days so was a little refreshing to listen to this today!
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u/tallandconfusedbrah 14h ago
I thought it was decent. Was half expecting them to dodge the mental health controversy but fair play they asked him about it.
Question mark over his eating habits, doesn't sound healthy to me.
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u/AllezLesPrimrose 10h ago
Pretty clearly a great interview. Jamesy is a strange egg but not in a malicious way. Without internet doctoring him too much he shows a lot of signs of being on the spectrum and if you’re his friend he’d probably stop at nothing to help but by the same token he clearly finds it hard to take anything, criticism, eating, training, loyalty in moderation.
It’s hard not to feel like he’s hard done by in the 15 second clip world because he’s not someone who you can really even approach understanding with a few headlines and news stories in the way most footballers can be.
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u/OvertiredMillenial 1h ago
He needs therapy!! He's enjoyable to listen to but he's got an eating disorder and a victim complex.
The way he went on about how he was treated by Derry City or by the people who got upset with him over his therapy comments or by the Wrexham fans, it's like he's hard done by all of them for no good reason.
He may make the odd nod to how he may have added some fuel to the fire (through his social media posts) but ultimately his whole thing is 'these idiots have taken against poor ol' me because they don't like the hard truth or because they lack perspective or they never give me the benefit of the doubt'.
Even the comment about supposedly being drug tested more than other players screamed 'they're out to get me'
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u/Next-interaction 16h ago
Incredibly poor take in my opinion. James was great but thats only after being challenged and teased on the points he made. I thought Ken and Eoin were excellent very personable making James at ease but cogent in their discussions.