James McClean: Stoke winger shares threats sent to him on social media | Football New…

Stoke winger James McClean has highlighted more threats sent to him on social media.

On Sunday, McClean shared a direct message on his Instagram story sent to him from a user that said: “Don’t make me set your house on fire and burn everyone inside it”.

The 31-year-old had posted a statement on his Instagram page on Friday and asked: “Does being abused for being Irish and anti Irish abuse acceptable? Is it not popular enough to be… spoke out about too?

“I have highlighted the abuse publicly on social media recently and the silence from everyone is deafening!”

McClean has repeatedly highlighted sectarian abuse online. The Republic of Ireland international also told Sky Sports News last April: “Footballers are a free hit. It’s like it’s viewed as we earn this amount of money so we should just take it.”

Last Wednesday, Instagram announced it will impose stricter penalties including the removal of accounts to prevent abusive messages on its platform after a number of recent cases of racist abuse in football.

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