Chris McCann
Christopher John McCann is a former Irish professional footballer who played as a midfielder.
Club career
Burnley
McCann was born in Dublin, County Dublin. He was brought over to Lancashire from the Irish club Home Farm, alongside Martin Reilly after going on a trial at Burnley earlier this year. McCann progressed through the youth system at Burnley in the 2004–05 season, reaching the Alliance Cup northern final in a losing effort.McCann was promoted to the first team by manager Steve Cotterill in the 2005–06 pre–season matches. He made his senior debut in the 2005–06 season, coming onto the pitch as an early substitute in the 4–0 win against Coventry City on 13 August 2005. McCann scored his first senior goal on 27 September 2005, in the 3–0 win against Ipswich Town. McCann then became involved in the first team, with his playing time coming from the substitute bench. He then scored his second goal of the season, in a 1–1 draw against Queens Park Rangers on 2 January 2006. The next day on 3 January 2006, McCann signed his first professional contract with Burnley on a three-and-a-half-year contract. Following this, he said his target "was too cement a place in the club's first team". For the rest of the 2005–06 season, McCann fulfilled his target, making number of starts for Burnley. This resulted in him earning seven awards at the club's award ceremony, including the Young Player of the Year award. At the end of the 2005–06 season, he made twenty–seven appearances and scoring two times in all competitions.
Ahead of the 2006–07 season, manager Cotterill believed that players like McCann could be move to bigger clubs if the price was right. He started the 2006–07 season in the first-team squad, appearing in the first four league matches for Burnley. However, McCann was reverted to the substitutes' bench after a few games as he sought to confirm his potential at Championship level. McCann made his first start in three months against Ipswich Town on 4 November 2006 and scored the winning goal, in a 1–0 win. After the match, manager Cotterill praised his performance, saying: "I thought he was immaculate. I told them but I just thought he could do it and low and behold he didn't let me down and he certainly didn't let himself down." However, injuries saw McCann pressed into action as an emergency left-back and he took these opportunities – re-establishing himself in the first-team line-up. Three weeks later on 25 November 2006, McCann scored his second goal of the season, in a 2–1 loss against Birmingham City. He added two more goals throughout February, coming against Queens Park Rangers and Wolverhampton Wanderers. On 13 March 2007, McCann signed a three–year contract with the club, keeping him until 2010. A month later on 23 April 2007, he scored another winning goal, in a 3–2 win against West Bromwich Albion. After the match, McCann said he dedicated the goal to James O'Connor, who suffered heads to heads clash with Paul McShane and had to be substituted. For his performance, McCann won the Young Player of the Year award for the second time in a row. At the end of the 2006–07 season, he went on to make forty appearances and scoring five times in all competitions. Reflecting on his performance, Andy Lochhead said about McCann's performance, saying: "A good, young up and coming player who has seemed to improve as the season's gone on. He is versatile, has shown improvement all the time and is getting stronger and developing more. He's level headed, which is important because youngsters have got to keep their feet on the ground."
Ahead of the 2007–08 season, McCann said that his aim to secure a regular first team place in effort to rebuild his career, with manager Cotterill intended to help him to "further his development" at Burnley. He started the first seven matches of the season for the club, playing in the midfield position. McCann scored his first goal of the season, in a 2–0 win against Sheffield Wednesday on 18 September 2007. After the match, he were among four Burnley's players to be praised by manager Cotterill. However in a follow–up match against Bristol City, McCann suffered a hamstring injury when he was fouled under a challenge and was substituted in the 20th minute substitute, as Burnley drew 2–2. After being sidelined for two weeks, he returned to the starting line–up and played 45 minutes before being substituted, in a 2–1 loss against Cardiff City on 6 October 2007. Following his return from injury, McCann said it was time for him to grow up and be a man, due to reaching maturity. He then regained his first team place in the midfield position. Three weeks later on 27 October 2007, McCann scored his second goal of the season, in a 2–1 loss against Southampton. His third goal of the season came on 1 December 2007, in a 3–1 win against Charlton Athletic. Following the appointment of Owen Coyle as the Burnley's manager, he re-iterated his desire to keep McCann amid to the January transfer window and believed in his potential on "reaching to the very top". In a match against Preston North End on 15 December 2007, he scored an equalising goal in the 62nd minute to make it 2–2, but was sent–off two minutes later "for a two-footed challenge on Sean St Ledger", as the club went on to lose 3–2. After serving a three match suspension, McCann returned to the starting line–up, in a 3–0 loss against Blackpool on 1 January 2008. The beginning of 2008 saw the player sidelined on three occasions, due to suspension and injuries. Despite this, he returned and scored his fifth goal of the season, in a 2–0 win against Coventry City on 26 February 2008. His performance throughout the 2007–08 season was praised by Coyle, describing him as "the outstanding player on the pitch", while McCann, himself, praised him in return for giving him confidence, as well as, acknowledging his improvements. At the end of the 2007–08 season, he went on to make thirty–seven appearances and scoring five times in all competitions.
Ahead of 2008–09 season, McCann was linked with a possible move to a Premier League club, but stayed at Burnley, as he aimed to set a new target on scoring goals. His first goal of the season came on 26 August 2008 against Oldham Athletic in the second round of the League Cup, in a 3–0 win. Since the start of the 2008–09 season, McCann fully established himself in the first team, playing in the midfield position, as he considered to be "his most important season yet". McCann made his 100th league appearances for the club, in a 0–0 draw against Plymouth Argyle on 30 August 2008. Between 27 September 2008 and 18 October 2008, he contributed to assisting two goals, winning both matches against Preston North End and Watford, followed up by scoring two goals in the next two matches against Reading and Birmingham City. This led to manager Coyle commenting about McCann's progress is getting stronger and believed that he will make an impact in the league. However in early–December, McCann suffered an illness that saw him miss two matches; where up until his illness, he started every matches since the start of the 2008–09 season. Two months prior to his illness, McCann previously suffered an injury that almost made him miss a match but he quickly recovered. McCann made his return to the starting line–up against Southampton on 13 December 2008 and helped Burnley win 3–2. Two weeks later on 26 December 2008 in a match against Barnsley, he scored the equalising goal, but then scored an own goal, which was a winning for the opposition team, as the club went on to lose 2–1. Since returning from his illness, McCann regained his first team place for the rest of the 2008–09 season. He scored his fifth goal of the season against Tottenham Hostpur in the League Cup semi-final, equalising the tie on aggregate making it 4–4 late on, and although Burnley went on to win the match 3–2 on the night, the tie finished 6–4 to Spurs on aggregate after late goals in extra time from Jermain Defoe and Roman Pavlyuchenko. McCann added two more goals in February, coming against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Sheffield Wednesday. His eighth goal of the season came on 4 April 2009, in a 1–1 draw against Derby County. He then played a part in Burnley's play off campaign which saw them promoted to the Premier League after victories over Reading, and a 1–0 Football League Championship play-off final win over Sheffield United at Wembley Stadium. McCann started the match and played 27 minute before being replaced by Joey Guðjónsson, due to injury. At the end of the 2008–09 season, he went on to make fifty–eight appearances and scoring eight times in all competitions.
With Burnley playing in the Premier League for the 2009–10 season, manager Coyle successfully predicted that McCann is destined and capable to play in top–flight football. Amid to his future at Burnley, he was in talks over a new contract by the club. On 13 August 2009, McCann officially signed a two–year contract extension with Burnley, keeping him until 2011. Two days later, he began his debut Barclays Premier League season in the opening game of the season against Stoke City and started the whole game, in a 2–0 loss. McCann, however, suffered an unfortunate knee injury and subsequent surgery to his cruciate following the game against Sunderland at Turf Moor. The injury sidelined the midfielder until December 2009 at the earliest. He spent the rest of the year, regaining his fitness following his return from injury. McCann made his return to the starting line–up against Reading in the fourth round of the FA Cup, as the club loss 1–0. In his second match back from injury, however, he picked up a second injury that ruled him out for the rest of the season. At the end of the 2009–10 season, McCann made eight appearances in all competitions.
Following Burnley's relegation from the Premier League, McCann returned to the team and played in Burnley's first three pre-season friendlies against Bury, Oldham Athletic and the first game of Burnley's tour of Singapore in which he was taken off with a knee injury. McCann played no further part in Burnley's pre-season and in the week before the Clarets season opener against Nottingham Forest, news broke that the midfielder was a doubt for this game and would be sent to see a specialist. Shortly after, it was announced that he would be out for six months after undergoing his knee surgery. McCann spent seven months recovery from his knee injury before returning to training fully in March. He made his first appearance for the club in eight months, appearing in the Burnley's reserve match, in a 3–1 win against Morecambe's reserve on 5 April 2011. While making progress on his return, McCann was offered a new contract by the club. Two weeks later on 23 April 2011, he made his first league appearance of the season against Derby County and scored his first goal for Burnley in two years, in a 4–2 win. On the last game of the season against Cardiff City, McCann captained the club for the first time in his Burnley's career, in a 1–1 draw. He went on to finish the 2010–11 season, making four appearances and scoring once in all competitions. On 30 June 2011, McCann signed a two–year contract extension with the club, keeping him until 2013.
Ahead of the 2011–12 season, McCann was named captain of Burnley by manager Eddie Howe following Graham Alexander's departure. In the club's first two matches in the League Cup, he set up a goal for Jay Rodriguez, who scored a hat–trick, in a 6–3 win against Burton Albion, which was followed up by scoring his first goal of the season, in a 3–2 win against Barnet. A month later on 27 September 2011, McCann scored his second goal of the season, in a 5–1 win against Nottingham Forest. His start of his reign as Burnley's captain started off badly, due to the club's struggling form, leading to supporters expressed concern over his responsibility as captain. But he soon received a backing from the former captain and teammate Graham Alexander. McCann then scored three goals in two matches between 29 November 2011 and 3 December 2011, scoring twice against Ipswich Town and once against West Ham United. Two weeks later on 17 December 2011, he made his 200th appearances for Burnley against Brighton & Hove Albion and helped the club win 1–0. However during a 3–1 loss against Millwall on 25 February 2012, McCann suffered a hamstring injury and was substituted in the 39th minutes. But he quickly recovered from his hamstring injury and returned to the starting line–up, in a 3–2 loss against Watford on 3 March 2012. Throughout the 2011–12 season, McCann regained his first team place for Burnley, playing in the midfielder position while on a captain duty and played in every league matches, making fifty–one appearances and scoring five times in all competitions. Reflecting on the 2011–12 season as the club's captain, he acknowledged the "inconsistent" and "sloppy performances" on Burnley's form, but "neverthesless exceeded his expectations".
Ahead of the 2012–13 season, McCann was replaced as captain by new signing Jason Shackell. He later felt relieved to be replaced as captain, citing "it feels like a weight has been lifted" and his own concentration on the game. McCann scored his first goal of the season, in a 3–1 win against Port Vale in the first round of the League Cup. With his contract expiring at the end of the 2012–13 season, Burnley began opening talks with the player over a new contract. Two weeks later on 15 September 2012, he scored his second goal of the season, as well as, setting up one of the goals, in a 5–2 win against Peterborough United. McCann started in every matches for the club until he suffered an injury during a 2–2 draw against Millwall on 29 September 2012, resulting in him missing one match. McCann scored on his return from injury, as Burnley loss 4–3 against Crystal Palace on 6 October 2012. Two weeks later on 23 October 2012, he scored the winning goal, in a 4–3 win against Bristol City. However, McCann found himself out of the first team, due to injuries and suspension that saw him miss one match once a month between November and March. Despite this, he continued to be regain his first team place in the centre–midfield position. McCann finished the 2012–13 season, making forty–three appearances and scoring five times in all competitions.
With his contract expiring at the end of the 2012–13 season, McCann's future at Burnley was uncertain. McCann said he was happy to stay at the club. On 19 February 2013, Burnley's manager Sean Dyche revealed that he's interested to open talks with McCann over a new contract. Amid to the contract talks, he was linked with a loan move to Blackpool, but Burnley rejected the bid for him. As a months of uncertainty, it was more likely that McCann would be leaving the club, with no talks over a new contract has started. It was announced on 21 May 2013 that he would be leaving Burnley, ending his eight years association with the club.