West Brom and Ireland midfielder James McClean falls into the latter category. Now 28, the wildchild of his formative football years has given way to a mature, eloquent man with 51 caps for his country. His outspoken past might not hint at a footballer who is the epitome of captaincy material, but players are judged primarily for what they do on the pitch on matchdays, and in that regard, McClean is an exemplary leader. That was acknowledged by Martin O'Neill in recent days, with the manager handing his fellow Derry native the captaincy for Ireland's friendly defeat against Mexico in New Jersey.
An experimental Ireland team may have been well beaten in that match, but McClean has grown into Ireland's key player during the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. With several Irish veterans retiring in the last couple of years (Shay Given, Robbie Keane, Richard Dunne) and others in the final throes of their playing careers (John O'Shea, Wes Hoolahan), the team needs a player who is experienced enough to rise to the task of captaincy but young enough so that they can carry responsibility for a prolonged period of time. Ireland have a prime case study befitting that description in national team captain Seamus Coleman, but as I'm sure you know, the Everton right-back continues to recover from the horrific leg break he suffered during the qualifier against Wales last March.
Coleman was proving himself to be a tremendous captain prior to Neil Taylor's inexcusable lunge and it goes without argument that he should reclaim the armband when he is ready to return to the international fold. In his absence, McClean is the Ireland player most deserving of the captaincy for several reasons. He has the experience, he leads by example and he is exceptionally committed to the Irish cause.
His substitute appearance in Sunday's friendly against Uruguay demonstrated just how much he offers to the team, scoring a superb goal to seal a very impressive win for O'Neill's side. It was a goal reminiscent of the one he plundered in the qualifier in Austria last November, a night when McClean stood tall and delivered three points that could go a long way to ensuring Ireland's presence at a World Cup for the first time since 2002. Even though he was in and out of West Brom's starting 11 during the 2016/17 season, McClean has made himself indispensable to the Irish team with his performances over the past year.
His comments about making the trip to the USA for the Mexico friendly further highlighted what international football means to him. He was under no obligation to board the transatlantic flight, as O'Neill selected a squad primarily made up of Championship players who had been idle for more than three weeks, but McClean voluntarily joined them when he was entitled to put his feet up, having not finished his club season until 12 days before the match. The 28-year-old spoke out about his intolerance of fellow professionals opting out of international action, with an increasing number of players giving post-season friendlies a skip. Irish players have history in that regard, but McClean is the polar opposite and his unwavering dedication to the green shirt is similar to that exhibited by former Irish captain Robbie Keane, who continued to make himself available for every international gathering long after he had proven his worth to his country.
Another standout attribute of McClean is his courage and steadfastness in the face of extreme vitriol from those who watch the game. He has never been slow to express his pro-Irish beliefs and refuses to wear a poppy on his kit in November when it is seen as standard procedure in English football. It is a headstrong stance which annually sees him inundated with death threats from bigoted morons who could hardly spell the word 'war', never mind comprehend the reasoning for the poppy. McClean could very readily take the easy option of going with the grain to avoid such abuse, but he is so true to his values that he refuses to bow to public pressure. That is another example of how he leads by example rather than making hollow comments on social media - on that note, the cessation of risque remarks on Twitter shows how he has matured over the course of his career.
The vast experience of O'Shea makes him favourite to get the armband for Sunday, although the selection of Shane Duffy and Kevin Long as the starting centre-backs against Uruguay could hint at the Sunderland veteran being named on the bench for the qualifier at the Aviva Stadium. After that, it's hard to find a more deserving candidate than McClean for the captaincy. Jon Walters and Stephen Ward are experienced, although neither are quite the driving force that the Derryman is. Glenn Whelan has been around the block, too, but has never shown himself to be a genuine leader for Ireland. The other likely starters are probably too young to have the captaincy thrust upon them.
You could say that captaincy in football is not as big a deal as in other sports, that a captain is only someone to wear an armband and choose a side of a coin. Great captains, though, galvanise their team-mates by showing an example in the biggest games and proving their commitment to the team's cause. On that score, McClean is the ideal choice to lead his team-mates onto the pitch shortly before 5pm on Sunday.
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