{"id":668571,"date":"2026-10-29T06:06:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T06:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/668571\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T06:06:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T06:06:13","slug":"derry-city-terminate-james-mccleans-contract-by-mutual-consent-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/668571\/","title":{"rendered":"Derry City terminate James McClean\u2019s contract by mutual consent \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

James McClean<\/a>\u2019s contract with Derry City<\/a> has been formally terminated, bringing to a premature end a remarkably sour homecoming for the 103-cap Irish international.<\/p>\n

In a statement on Wednesday afternoon, Derry confirmed the club and McClean had reached a \u201cmutual agreement to terminate James\u2019 contract with the club with immediate effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis agreement brings an end to the recent dispute,\u201d read the statement. \u201cBoth the Club and James are satisfied with the outcome and are pleased to move forward constructively.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is understood that the club have paid an undisclosed financial settlement to McClean. The player\u2019s contract was due to run until the summer of 2028. Now 37, McClean will take time to consider his career options.<\/p>\n

McClean joined Derry City from Wrexham in January, fulfilling a long-held ambition to return to his hometown club after a 15-year career in Britain.<\/p>\n

McClean would make just 19 appearances for Derry, however, the last of which came against CSKA Sofia in a Europa League qualifying tie on July 9th. McClean was hampered by a hip injury, posting on social media in April that the issue may force him to retire. A week later, however, McClean shared a positive update following an appointment with a specialist, in which he was given an injection that allowed him to continue playing.<\/p>\n

Despite large-scale investment by billionaire owner Philip O\u2019Doherty, Derry failed to mount a title challenge, and the run of results was so poor that they parted ways with manager Tiernan Lynch in August.<\/p>\n

\"ShamrockShamrock Rovers\u2019 Graham Burke and Jack Byrne with James McClean of Derry. Photograph: Ryan Byrne\/Inpho <\/p>\n

McClean hinted at unhappiness at Derry during a punditry appearance on RT\u00c9 during the 2026 World Cup, and hit out at manager Lynch on social media after Derry were eliminated from European competition in July.<\/p>\n

Derry attempted to terminate McClean\u2019s contract in August, arguing his hip injury had left him \u201cpermanently incapacitated\u201d and invoking a clause that would allow them to dismiss McClean with six months\u2019 pay.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Gavin Cooney: James McClean\u2019s Derry City swansong peters out to a disappointing final noteOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

McClean rejected this and continued to train. He insisted he was available to play for Derry, but he was not selected by Lynch\u2019s interim replacement, Mark Connolly.<\/p>\n

McClean issued a statement in October in which he apologised for his social media posts and said he was not incapacitated, as the club had claimed. \u201cI cannot understand or accept that I have been treated this way over the past few months,\u201d said McClean, adding Derry\u2019s attempt to cancel his contract \u201csets a dangerous precedent for every player in this league.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two parties have now agree to terminate the contract, after talks in which Derry were represented by Joe Jeffers SC and McClean was represented by Stuart Gilhooly SC, solicitor with the Players\u2019 Football Association of Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am pleased that we have reached a resolution to settle these matters,\u201d said McClean. \u201cWhile my return to the club did not work out as I had hoped, Derry City FC will always hold a special place in my heart. I want to thank the fans for their support, and I wish the squad, the management, staff, and the supporters the very best for the future. In particular, I want to wish the team the best of luck in the FAI Cup Final against Waterford FC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chairman Philip O\u2019Doherty said, \u201cOn behalf of everyone at Derry City, I want to thank James for his dedication to his hometown club. His achievements extend far beyond the Brandywell; amassing 103 senior caps for the Republic of Ireland is a remarkable milestone, and we want to formally acknowledge his immense contribution to Irish football as a whole. We wish him the very best for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James McClean\u2019s contract with Derry City has been formally terminated, bringing to a premature end a remarkably sour…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[14646,61,60,55018,112],"class_list":["post-668571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-derry-city","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-james-mcclean","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}