Republic of Ireland striker Kevin Doyle has revealed his team's senior players gave James McClean a stern rebuke after foul-mouthed Twitter rant.
McClean was fuming after being left as an unused substitute during Ireland's 2-1 win over Kazakhstan in their opening 2014 World Cup qualifier on Friday and the Sunderland winger took to Twitter to vent his frustration.
Describing his experience in Astana as a "f****n' joke", McClean added that he was left "embarrassed" at not being sent on by Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni.
McClean later apologised for the rant, but Doyle said the 23-year-old was still given a dressing down by several players, who pulled him aside straight after the game to tell him his tweet had crossed the line.
"We found out about it pretty much straight away and we said it to him straight away - it's not acceptable," said Doyle, whose country face Oman in a friendly at Fulham's Craven Cottage on Tuesday.
Wolves star Doyle has seen his fair share of off-the-field controversies with the Republic during his international career and he thinks McClean will actually benefit from the experience of his telling off.
"We ended up joking about it the next day," Doyle added. "It's been good because it has probably got him integrated in to the group a bit more because we have all been taking the p**s out of him.
"We were thinking of getting him to sing in front of the group again - that made him nervous enough. I think he nearly cried the first time he did it.
"A few of the lads find it quite traumatic when they stand up in front of us so it might have been good for him."