In the same way that people do not have to explain their reasons for wearing a poppy, Mr McLean should not feel it necessary to explain his reasons for not wearing one. Although he may feel the need to explain his reasons to his manager, it seems he has chosen to do so publicly. However, leaving that aside, among his comments (about Bloody Sunday) he said:
“Please understand, Mr Whelan, that when you come from Creggan like myself or the Bogside, Brandywell or the majority of places in [which he calls] Derry, every person still lives in the shadow of one of the darkest days in Ireland’s history – even if like me you were born nearly 20 years after the event. It is just a part of who we are, ingrained into us from birth."
And thereby hangs the tale. As part of the Good Friday Agreement numerous murderers, torturers and other sundry criminals were given "Get out of Jail Free" cards. Some of them went on to hold high political office and all this was done in the expectation that the people of the whole of Ireland - North and South - would move on after a very turbulent time in their history. It's clear from Mr McClean's remarks that they haven't and many of them probably never wil.