'I should never feel threatened' ' - Wrexham star James McClean explains why he punched Cardiff fan in car park

The 36-year-old former Republic of Ireland international is no stranger to unwelcome attention from opposition supporters. He is often the subject of terrace taunts and has never been the kind of character to back down from a challenge.

Much of the abuse that he endures can be shrugged off, with angry words often being aimed in his direction during the heat of competitive action. Things were, however, taken a step further when Wrexham played host to Cardiff as a group of Bluebirds supporters gained access to the car park used by Red Dragons stars. An investigation into how that happened has been opened, with McClean having to put his boxing skills to good use as he responded to a “hostile move” that was made against him while being left outnumbered.

Explaining the unfortunate events, McClean told talkSPORT: “What happened was I got out of my car in the players’ car park. Somehow, there were four male Cardiff fans, also late 20s, early 30s. They recognised me, [and] immediately started running their mouths off at me. I ignored the first jibe. The second, I responded to, and I confronted them about it. Words were said. One of them, a tall chap with glasses, made a hostile move towards me.

“Like I’ve told you in previous interviews, I’m in my workplace and I feel I should never feel threatened in that workplace. So instead, I wasn’t waiting for him to make the first swing. So I did. Four men, one of me.”

Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson said of the incident, with McClean having played no part in a 0-0 draw with Portsmouth on Wednesday: “I had a chat with James on the evening and it has been dealt with and that’s it. No more to say on that tonight.

“James has had an injection in his hip and has been playing on for weeks with it. We needed to get that right and we took the decision to do that yesterday - to get him available for the weekend.”

McClean added on having to deal with problematic behaviour from fellow adults that should know better: “People need to understand that just because we play football doesn’t mean people can try and take liberties without their actions having consequences. That was it. Nothing further happened. And the situation was dealt with. I hope that helps.”

McClean, who joined Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac at Wrexham in 2023, has been granted special treatment by the EFL due to the attention that he attracts from rival fans. Since 2024, he has been allowed to leave the pitch by the shortest route to the tunnel when being substituted - rather than stepping off the field at the nearest point.

He has said of that ruling: “It's not something I've asked for, so it was quite a shock to see it, to be honest. It's definitely welcome because, not just for me, but for anyone. I find that a very stupid rule anyway - leaving the pitch at the nearest exit - you're putting yourself in a situation where players have to walk around the outside of the pitch, and, especially, players playing away...and you can get idiots.

“It's very hard to control thousands of idiots if you're a steward or police if people wanna throw things, if people wanna shout abuse - not everybody can be controlled. It just takes away the [chance of] anything stupid happening really, common sense has prevailed let's say!”

Wrexham, who sit 14th in the Championship table at present, have one more fixture to take in before reaching the November international break - with that contest set to see them play host to Charlton on Saturday.

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