Wrexham captain James McClean will be allowed to leave the pitch using the shortest route to the tunnel in a bid to improve his safety due to the supporter abuse he receives.
The English Football League (EFL) has written to the safety officers at all 72 of its clubs to inform them of McClean’s exemption, and the same process can be introduced for other players should they face similar incidents of abuse.
Substituted players have been required to leave the field of play via the nearest touchline or goal line following a law change brought in ahead of the 2019-20 season in a bid to address time-wasting.
The 35-year-old former Republic of Ireland international has regularly been the subject of abuse from opposition supporters while playing in England since declining to wear a poppy on Remembrance Sunday in 2012.
Multiple teams have been charged by the Football Association (FA) for misconduct following behaviour towards him, and he has claimed to be the subject of “more abuse than any other player in England”.
The letter states it hopes the proposed substitution process will “help to reduce these incidents and also help to manage Mr McClean’s departure from the pitch without incident”.
In September, McClean appeared to have objects thrown at him from supporters situated in the home end at St Andrew’s as he left the pitch after being substituted in the 83rd minute of Wrexham’s defeat to Birmingham City.
The letter sent by the EFL and first reported by the Daily Mail reads: “You will be aware that James McClean is often on the receiving end of abuse from some sections of support. This has, in the past, resulted in FA sanctions against the club due to the chanting becoming racially, or religiously motivated and therefore, classed as a hate crime. Missiles have also been thrown.
“It has now been agreed that on occasions in the future when Mr McClean has to leave the field of play, for whatever reason, he will leave by the shortest route towards the tunnel.”
McClean was born and grew up in the Northern Ireland city of Derry, and does not wear a poppy on Remembrance Weekend because he feels it would be a mark of disrespect to his community over the Troubles and, in particular, Bloody Sunday, when 14 men, all Catholics, were shot dead by British soldiers during a protest march in 1972.
In June 2023, Millwall were charged with three cases of misconduct by the FA over anti-Catholic chants aimed at McClean, then at Wigan Athletic, from sections of supporters during their Championship fixture.
Blackpool faced similar charges during the 2022-23 season and were fined £35,000 by the FA, after supporters were deemed to have behaved in a way that was “improper, offensive, abusive, indecent, or insulting with either express or implied reference to religion”.
Barnsley were fined £20,000 and told to implement an action plan in 2020 after a section of their supporters aimed anti-Catholic and anti-Irish chants at McClean during his time at Stoke City.
Kirk Broadfoot, then a defender for Rotherham United, was banned for ten matches after an FA commission found him guilty of using “abusive and/or insulting words” towards McClean in 2015.
McClean joined Wrexham from Wigan in 2023 following spells with Stoke, West Bromwich Albion and Sunderland.
(Ben Roberts Photo/Getty Images)
