High profile Celtic fan James McClean has signed for Stoke City in a £5m move from West Brom.
The winger has made it crystal clear that he’d jump at a move to Celtic but again there was no calling from the hoops for the Irish internationalist.
McClean has been to Celtic matches, worn the hoops and kitted out his kids but for now he’ll have to remain a long distance supporter from his new base in the Potteries.
West Brom’s relegation last season- achieved under three different managers- meant that there would be cost cutting at the Hawthorns but it’s another demoted club that McClean has moved to.
Gary Rowett told the Stoke Sentinel: “I think if you look at our team that’s been out there in every game, I think Bojan has done really well wide, but we’ve just had that a lack of a natural runner to go in behind and that natural runner to work up and down the pitch and be a bit more direct.
“For us that’s been a big thing and I think James will give us that.
“When you drop down to the Championship you need players who are going to fight, you need people who are going to work hard, you need people who’ve got quality and he’s shown all of those things in his career and that’s why I want him.”
Every move that McClean makes kicks off a poppy debate with some fans more interested in that issue than the ability of the player.
The man from Derry hasn’t wore a poppy at Sunderland, Wigan or West Brom and is quite clear about his reasons for doing so despite the fanatics that the issue attracts.
Anticipating that issue Rowett added: “I get the scenario with that and I don’t really want to comment and judge.
“I understand the stuff that goes with it but if we are going to start judging people on speaking their minds, we don’t have to like it, we don’t have to agree with it, but we have to appreciate that he’s been honest enough and true to what he believes.
“For me, look, we’ve just been relegated, it’s about trying to pick the best possible team that we can and judging the players on the pitch.”
