‘If I feel my safety is endangered, then I'm going to act upon it’ – James McClean would defend himself on the pitch

It comes after the Derry-born footballer and former Republic of Ireland international was targeted by rival supporters in the wake of his decision not to wear a poppy on his shirt during Remembrance weekend.

The Wrexham AFC captain also had a cup of Bovril thrown at him in a game against Birmingham City in September.

During Remembrance weekend, McClean stood apart from his teammates during the minute silence before kick-off and refused to wear an embroidered poppy on his shirt.

The 35-year-old has refused to wear the poppy throughout his career.

Speaking on talkSPORT’s White & Jordan show on Wednesday, McClean was asked by presenter Jim White if he ever feared verbal abuse from the stands would lead to physical aggression, and the footballer replied “no”.

“You'll get complete honesty from me. At the end of the day, I'm there to do a job and in any way if I feel under pressure or threatened, I'm going to act upon it myself because I'm not dirty,” he said.

“So if someone was on the pitch, at the end of the day, I'm protecting myself first-and-foremost, and that happens, but I make no apologies for that because, at the end of the day, I'm there to play football - no one else has a right to be on the pitch.

“Especially if I feel my safety is endangered, then I'm going to act upon it, and like I said, I'll make no apologies for that because it should never be the case.”

McClean also said it was “quite a shock” that he has been given special dispensation by the EFL.

The EFL has written to all of its clubs to inform them that McClean must leave the pitch by the nearest route to the tunnel after a series of incidents where missiles were thrown at him.

McClean said the new rule was not something he had 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,” McClean continued.

“I find that a very stupid rule anyway – 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 want to throw things, if people want to shout abuse – not everybody can be controlled.

“It just takes away anything stupid happening really, common sense has prevailed let's say.”

After the incident at Birmingham, McClean revealed that Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson told him that the club would be seeking special dispensation.

“A couple of weeks ago, the manager pulled me after the Birmingham incident that they were looking into doing something,” said McClean.

“As weeks have gone by, I didn't hear anything, didn't really pay attention, to be honest, and then yesterday when it broke I've seen it like everyone else and it's welcome.

“That's a credit to the manager and the club because they've seen what's happened at Birmingham and they took action. Like I said, that's not something I've asked for but it's something that I welcome quite clearly.”