Former Stoke City player of the year James McClean labels Stoke as 'grim' and has a pop at 'moaning' people of the city who 'gave off the vibe they had been victimised'

James McClean says he found the people of Stoke “gave off the vibe that they had been victimised” and he “couldn’t stand their moaning” as he releases his autobiography.

McClean, aged 37, has reflected on his rollercoaster three years in the Potteries in The Walls, which was published this week.

It was a £5million signing that Gary Rowett had to battle with Stoke hierarchy to make in the summer of 2018 after the club had been relegated from the Premier League and it wasn’t a universally popular addition within the fanbase.

Controversy and drama reached a peak three months into his first season around Remembrance. He had received abuse over the years regarding his stance not to wear a poppy on his shirt and, on this occasion, he bit back at a section of Stoke supporters.

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Stoke had put out a statement explaining his thinking and referenced how the Royal British Legion had said “no one should be pressurised” but he felt that merely “created more of the same stories”.

McClean, who has confirmed he had a £30k-a-week contract, wrote: “Something always happened at Huddersfield … [and] Stoke turned out to be as grim as Huddersfield. The British media called it the Brexit capital because around there was a 70 per cent vote to leave the EU. The people gave off that vibe that they’d been victimised and were owed something.

“I came from a community that had genuine reasons to feel that way, so I couldn’t stand their moaning and their negativity. There was a section of their fans that never wanted me there; Graham Barrett, [McClean’s agent] said the hierarchy at the club weren’t sure either. Gary Rowett’s determination made it happen.

“The deal was great, but the timing wasn’t. They were in a hangover after the peak years they had under Tony Pulis, so the atmosphere around the place was terrible. The supporters would turn on their own pretty quickly. Gary was never popular with the fans, who were singing about how the football was *****.

“[On Remembrance weekend] I was still booed by some of our fans as well as the Middlesbrough supporters.”

McClean admitted that he could not relax after being used a substitute in a 0-0 draw at the bet365 Stadium and, late in the evening he quoted Bobby Sands on Instagram before saying: “Your abuse, your throwing things, your booing, do your worst.”

He added: “To the home fans that are actually educated and support me, thank you. To the uneducated cavemen in the left-hand corner of the Boothen End stand that want to sing their anti-Irish song each game and call me a Fenian this and that … I am a PROUD FENIAN no **** will ever change that, so sing away.”

The FA launched an investigation and McClean, after accusing the authority of discriminating against him, signed off an apology statement written for him by Stoke.

He wrote in The Walls: “The Stoke CEO, Tony Scholes, called me in a few days later. ‘We’re a club for the fans, James, you can’t be calling them uneducated cavemen.’

“I didn’t like the first version [of the apology], so they changed a few words and put something out that was fair enough, even if it didn’t really sound like me.

“The FA’s response was to give me an official warning for using an offensive word. They added a line at the end of their statement saying ‘discriminatory language or behaviour, as we understand may have been experienced by the player in this case, is unacceptable’, but I didn’t believe for one second they were looking into it.”

Rowett was sacked two months later and McClean remembers Stoke at that time was “a dysfunctional club … with [no] unity in the dressing room”. He claims that Nathan Jones was not able to get a handle on the squad before he was replaced by Michael O’Neill after just nine months, with Stoke in a battle at the wrong end of the division.

McClean found his best form as the side pulled to safety and he ended up being named player of the year for 2019/20. He left for Wigan Athletic the following summer after a significant fall from grace, receiving – he has confirmed – a £900,000 pay-off.

He wrote: “The uneducated cavemen in the Boothen End did shut up eventually when I started to play really, really well. I was given an ovation off the pitch after persevering with an injury against Sheffield Wednesday and forcing a corner for a winning goal when I could barely run.

“I started the 2020s with home goals against Swansea and Charlton and the Stoke fans were genuinely disappointed when I went off with a knee injury against Preston on February 12 [which turned out to be] the last time I wore a Stoke jersey in a stadium with their supporters.”