Date: 30th October 2026
Weakness in the argument
By Donald C Stewart
Men’s mental health is such a complex issue. So says Michael Lynch of the Men’s Action Network (MAN) in response to reports that James McLean, the Derry City striker, has in an interview suggested that seeking therapy is a sign of weakness. During that interview McLean was questioned over the difficulties he is currently experiencing in his contract dispute with Derry City which he described as “incomprehensible”. That gave an interviewer, quite rightly and correctly, an opportunity to ask if he’d ever sought therapy.
McLean went on to explain he’d overheard his brother, a fellow Derry City player, and others in the club having a chat with a sports psychologist. However, as a man, he felt that that was weak.
It’s easy to see how people would pile on to McLean, given he comes from the Republic of Ireland and refused to wear a poppy whilst he played within the English Premiership. He has been a target of abuse, including death threats, due to the political stance he took.
It is a stance that he is more than welcome to have, and he should be commended for holding onto his principles in my view.
His view of therapy, as Michael Lynch from MAN says is also one, he is welcome to have. Though entitled to have it, it suggests that people who have difficulties and are seeking the right professional help are not of their right mind.
QED as Latin might have it.
Mental wellbeing is a complex and difficult issue within all sports. There are organizations which seek to support and help people get through the difficulties that they’re struggling with, and McLean would be well advised to go and speak to them as well as those who have managed to recover from having bouts of depression, anxiety and any other of the plethora of mental health issues with which they have struggled.
It would help contextualise his view.
To add to the complexities of the news reporting, McLean’s own wife has surfaced publicly to talk about his struggles. What man and wife need to avoid is some sort of pile on onto a man who simply has a view.
Whether or not that view will be further challenged or McLean will accept help or what may happen in the future, will all come out in somebody’s washing, but one of the things that is never going to support somebody going through any difficult times is the criticism that always comes from people who have an opinion that they can hide behind a keyboard for.
I might disagree with McLean’s stance and one of the things that I do know is that therapy always tends to help as long as you get the right therapy. There are different types out there and it is not a smorgasbord, but there is at least a choice.
I remember somebody saying to me once that they didn’t want to go to Alcoholics Anonymous because they didn’t like it. A friend opined from behind me that’s the point, you’re not supposed to like it. What does you good sometimes is a struggle and a pain, literally mentally and emotionally. We have to hope people around James McLean have the opportunity to support and help to get him.
Derry City have distanced themselves from his opinion but not it would appear from the player.
Hopefully there is going to be a meeting, if not of contracts, at least of minds, that can help James McLean come back and do the things that he does best, which is take a football at his feet and demonstrate why it is that people invested with him for so long in the Premiership.
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Tags: oor Donald, Scotland, Scottish fans