James McClean has dropped hints about a dramatic career switch following his admission that he threw a punch at a Cardiff supporter in self-defence before a game. The Wrexham star found himself in a confrontation with a handful of Bluebirds fans prior to a Carabao Cup encounter at the Racecourse Ground on October 28.
The former Republic of Ireland winger claimed he was approached and subjected to verbal abuse by four individuals as he exited his car in the players' car park. McClean said in a statement given to talkSPORT: "I'm in my workplace and I feel I should never feel threatened in that workplace...I wasn't waiting for him to make the first swing. So I did."
North Wales Police confirmed it had received no reports concerning the incident. The 36-year-old has now revealed he intends to eventually transition into boxing after admitting his preference for the sport over football.
McClean has helped Wrexham, owned by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac, in securing consecutive promotions from League Two and League One since his arrival from Wigan Athletic in August 2023. However, he has struggled for consistent game time in the Championship this campaign and acknowledged it has affected his passion for the game.
Speaking during an interview with Westlife member Nicky Byrne released on Thursday, he said: "I'll be honest, I've really enjoyed it [at Wrexham] up until the last two or three months. It's not been ideal, I've not been playing as much as I'd like, which is never a good thing.
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"You want to be playing and you want to be in the mix. I've never dealt really well with not playing. I wouldn't really say it's bad times, but it's been not as enjoyable personally for myself. When you're younger, you do daft stuff and you don't really handle situations maybe as maturely as you do as you get older.
"Nowadays, I just channel that frustration and annoyance and do my training. Before, I'd throw my toys out of the pram. Now, I just channel that frustration into the punch bag and it seems to blow off a bit of steam. You kind of feel better for it afterwards."
McClean frequently posts pictures and clips of his boxing workouts on Instagram. He recently experienced the electric atmosphere of a major fight night after accompanying boxer Michael Conlan to the ring for his clash with Jack Bateson at Dublin's 3Arena on September 5.
The footballer called it one of his greatest experiences and confessed it's sparked his desire to step into the ring himself following preliminary discussions.
McClean said: "I do want to box. Misfits (boxing company) is opening up opportunities for a lot of people who aren't professional boxers to give them the opportunity to step in and experience what it's like to be a boxer.
"Absolutely, it's something I want to do and there has been background chats about it, but I'm contracted at the moment. It's definitely something I want to do in the near future.
"A lot of my training now is boxing training. I have a bigger passion now for boxing than I do for football. I would rather watch boxing than watch football. It's something I want to do and it's something I want to experience to tick off my bucket list."
He added: "I've done the ring walk for Mike Conlan in Dublin. Being on the stage that night and doing the ring walk was unbelievable. I was thinking, imagine doing that, where this is for you and you're going into the ring for a tear up. I get goosebumps."
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