James McClean has accused the English football authorities of hypocrisy and called them cowards for not dealing with the anti-Irish abuse he's suffered.
Last month the Republic of Ireland midfielder shared images online of a birthday card he received which contained anti-Irish sentiments and a death threat.
It opened with "Happy birthday and die on April 24, have an amazing death" and branded Irish people as "a race of subhuman parasites."
No words needed pic.twitter.com/InDTeHiW1t
— James McClean (@JamesMcC_14) May 1, 2019
“You don’t like this country and we don’t like you. It’s about time these gutless English managers stood up to you and tell you to get back to shithouse called Derry.
"So you are fucking Irish international, any body can play for fucking Ireland. They give caps out in cornflake packets and you have to drink that muck called Guinness that qualifys you.”
"The fucking Irish will do anything for poxy Ireland, except live in that shithole.
"The Irish are a race of inbred, subhuman parasites breed like maggots.
"Bloody Sunday. Bloody good laugh.
213 nil to us. Ha ha ha ha.
"Should have been 13,000 of you sub human bastards."
McClean was asked by Off The Ball's Will O'Callaghan this week whether the English FA are doing enough about the vitriol he's received.
Spoke to Republic of Ireland winger James McClean for @offtheball this week. He feels the English footballing authorities have shown hypocrisy in how they've dealt with abuse suffered by players pic.twitter.com/PePI4invXn
— Will O'Callaghan (@willocallaghan) June 1, 2019
"Do you want the god’s honest truth? They are a bunch of cowards, the footballing authorities. A bunch of hypocrites. Sterling is this and that. A hero and getting awards. What I get week in, week out, compared to what he’s got in one week, one game? For the last seven, eight years there hasn’t been a word.
"They are a bunch of hypocrites. A bunch of cowards."
McClean insists he's no longer personally affected by the inaction of the FA and says he didn't report the card to the police as he's not a 'grass'.
“To be honest, it’s water off a duck’s back at this stage. It’s been going on the last seven or eight years. The reason I put it up was just to highlight the fact that if I wasn’t a white Irish guy there would be a bigger uproar about it.
“And I was right in doing that as there was still nothing."
The Derry man was asked why he thinks he's treated differently.
“To put it bluntly, it’s because I’m a white Irishman. Whether that doesn’t matter to them…this happens to Neil Lennon, he gets abused and nobody does anything.
“The proof is in the pudding. If you’re a white Irishman, nobody cares.
“It’s pretty clear what they have to do to change it. It’s what they are doing with the Sterling thing. Don’t be a hypocrite.
“Racism, sectarianism: it’s all the same. It’s discrimination.
“I don’t want praise. The reason I highlighted it was to prove a point. I don’t want their praise, they can ram their praise for all I care.
“It was just a matter of highlighting the difference and showing them for the hypocrites they are.”
James McClean was speaking at the Aviva Soccer Sisters Dream Camp in Aviva Stadium where over 100 girls were given the opportunity to play on the same pitch as their international heroes. See aviva.ie/soccersisters or check out #SafeToDream on social media for further details.
