Matthew Soakell, North East Canary
Kenny McLean has played every possible minute of every league game for Norwich City in the Championship so far this season. Out of those 29 games, he’s captained the side 28 times in Grant Hanley’s absence and has four assists to his name, despite starting eight games at centre-back. Whilst players like Sara and Rowe rightly get the plaudits for their creativity and flair, McLean has shown the heart, passion and leadership on the pitch that, dare I say, Norwich have missed off the pitch over the last couple of years.
McLean has now been a Norwich City player since the January transfer window of 2018, albeit he was loaned back to Aberdeen for the remainder of the 17-18 season. Since then he’s established himself as a regular starter and more recently as vice-captain. A Scotland international since 2016, he’s matured into a stalwart in Norwich teams that’ve seen changes of managers and now sporting directors.
Of the 2018-19 Championship winning team, only McLean, Grant Hanley and Onel Hernandez remain at the club and all three, it could be argued, understand and embody what it means to play for Norwich City. We may moan about Hernandez’s end product, but he loves the club. Hanley is club captain and will likely reach 200 club appearances by the end of this season, McLean has already surpassed that milestone.
Given the amount of change and turnover in football – coaching staff and players alike – sometimes a club needs players like these to ensure others know what it means to wear the shirt with pride.
So, as frustrations ring out about Norwich City’s quiet winter transfer window (so far), it’s time we pay tribute to a Glaswegian who joined in January 2018 from Aberdeen.
McLean, who played alongside former Canary James Maddison at Pittodrie prior to the England international cementing his place in Daniel Farke’s swashbuckling side, already had nearly 300 first team appearances between top flight Scottish sides St Mirren and Aberdeen before his move to Norfolk. Not one to shy away from hard yards and taking some flack from time to time, in more recent years he’s not only donned a mayoral hat in the now infamous “I am now mayor of Norwich” quip, but has come out to defend his manager and take responsibility for the club’s performances on the pitch.
I recently had a friendly exchange with an Ipswich fan on X/Twitter, defending Sky Sports’ justification to include Gabriel Sara in their team of the Championship season so far. The Ipswich fan thought Sara was overrated and that Egyptian Sam Morsy was, in his words, “astronomically clear”. It was at this point I said that often those types of players – Morsy, McLean, Tyler Morton on loan at Hull and Swansea’s loanee Charlie Patino – often get overlooked in such team of the season accolades; they aren’t flair players who get 15 assists a season and complete five nutmegs a game and so often don’t get the glory they deserve. But football’s about balance and there’s a lot to be said for a holding midfielder who’ll give everything, break up play and let other players take the credit. Kenny McLean is one of these and one we must treasure.
As he said, stood on the balcony of City Hall, “What do you[s] want, just let me know… I’ll do it” — and that sort of can-do attitude and the qualities Kenny McLean brings on and off the pitch are something for which we should all be thankful to have at our club.
Already a strong contender for player of the season, with a second placed finish in the votes last year, the Mayor can do no wrong for me this season and I only wish we had more like him throughout our club.
