THE man across the table is fidgety and restless. He is wearing his Ireland tracksuit and a forced smile, which eases slightly when he speaks about his family; the child already born, the other that is on the way.
"Family has changed me, aye," James McClean says. Yet many of us don't want to see any alterations. We admire the bluntness of his words as much as the directness of his play.
Often when amateur psychologists attempt to analyse footballers, they search for something that isn't there. With McClean, there was never a need to reference Sigmund Freud's works to figure out what was going on inside his head. What you saw was very much what you got.
Plenty don't like what they see, though, the Northern Ireland fans who are disgusted by the way he turned his back on them after regularly playing for their Under 21 side, the Sunderland supporters who didn't agree with his poppy stance.
And within Ireland's Euro 2012 squad, there were a few who looked upon him as a bit of a loose cannon. Those who know him well vouch for his sincerity and his kindness. "He'll tell you how it is," one friend says. "You better get used to that because that's the way James plays it. Straight."
So he makes no bones about his future. He's a Wigan Athletic player now, but if they get relegated then he won't be on their books come August. "We still have a chance of staying up and I will do everything I can to make sure we do survive. But I don’t want to be playing League One football next season, nor does the club," he says.
"Fighting relegation is not where we want to be. Malky Mackay (Wigan's recently sacked manager) was tremendous for me, but the results didn’t show that. I loved playing for him. The faith he had in me was great. He had me playing up front too which added another string to my bow. Okay, I prefer left wing, but I'm not going to be a spoilt brat giving out.
"There are players not playing for us that would love to be on the field so I will play wherever I am asked and give my all."
James McClean. Photo: INPHO.Giving 100 per cent is McClean's trademark, and the tackle he put in on Poland's Arkadiusz Milik last month served the dual purpose of geeing up Ireland's supporters, who have been waiting a few years for something decent to cheer about, and turning the tide of that European Championship qualifier.
A barnstorming 30 minutes followed - ending with Shane Long grabbing a late equaliser which handed Ireland a qualification lifeline.
"There is a great spirit in this camp - as the late goals against Georgia, Germany, and Poland have shown," McClean said. "We don't give up and if we can pick up valuable goals that are going to give us valuable points in the remaining games, we will take those too.
"We seem to do things the hard way. Where is the fun in starting a game well? We seem to prefer the late, late strikes.
"But even though we got that last-minute goal, the mood in the dressing room afterwards was mixed.
"Yes, we know we got a valuable point. But if we had scored earlier in the second half we would have gone on to win the game. We really took the game to Poland in the second half and the lads were tremendous.
"So it was a valuable point gained rather than two dropped is how we have to look at it. But our remaining games are must-win ones now. Scotland are next. We owe them one.
"Based on the second-half performance we put in against the Poles, we should be really confident going into the game. We are still alive in the group and we will continue to fight the whole way through this campaign."
Fighting perception has been top of McClean's agenda since the day, in November 2012, when he told Martin O'Neill, then Sunderland's manager, that he didn't want to wear a poppy emblem on his shirt for their Premier League game against Everton. So far, so innocent.
Then people noticed. The story went viral on social media and for many, McClean's stance wasn't so much anti-war as anti-British. Those offended voiced their opinions loudly. "I don't know if it's fair to say that I was a scapegoat but, in a way, I think I was," McClean explained in a recent interview with the Irish Independent. "The Sunderland fans are very passionate as it is. When it's good it's good. But very quickly, when it turns bad, it's very bad. They get on to the players really badly. I became an easy target."
Even though life would have been a hell of a lot easier if he had have conformed, he refused to do so, staying true to his principles.
"I want to set the best example for my children growing up. I am who I am, I have always been that and I am not going to change that. So I just want to set the best example for my children and I will continue
to do that."
Whether he continues to be a Wigan player, though, is a different story. Celtic made an attempt to buy him in January, but that move died a quick death. "Once they went after Stuart Armstrong, I knew I'd be staying," said McClean. But others are interested, Derby County, in particular.
"Like any player I am ambitious," said McClean. "I want to play at the highest level and pit myself against the best players and further my career as best I can. Like I said we will have to see what happens at the end of the season."
Plenty will happen then. Wigan will probably be on their way to League One, McClean on his way to some place else. And Ireland? They play Scotland and England, knowing a win against the former could reignite their qualification campaign. "We strongly believe we can get to the Euros in France," says McClean.
Come June, we will have a better idea if we can share the faith.
