Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Should Mick be fired anyway? Bang on. That thing of "McCarthy should have told the players that there were only 10 Spaniards" is way off the mark. Every single player knows who his direct opponent is. At any level, of any team sport. If you can't seem to find the guy you're supposed to be marking, then either (a) you're not very good at it - which I doubt was the case for half an hour among Premiership players; or (b) he's not there. In which case you let the rest of your team know. Don Homer - bang on again. By the way, all of you who are having such fun taking swipes at the team's professionalism - it's generally accepted that we had among the best support of any (non-host) team over there. It's also acknowledged that the commitment and passion of our supporters, and the bond they share with the players is one of the main strengths of our team. Do any of you really think that the cameraderie and genuine feeling of wanting to do well for/help each other would exist if we went for the same approach as "bigger" countries......ie ignore the fans, and if anyone tries to come near then have them removed by security. No. The Irish team brings supporters in on the team bus, and hangs around with them in the hotel while relaxing. And they were rewarded in kind.
Yes but the point must be made that the supposed worst German team ever, who are not much better then us at all, got to the world cup final mainly on their rigit profressionalism and discipline.
I'd say it was mostly Oliver Kahn and an uncalled handball on the line by Hugh Dallas against the US, but that's just me.
Well, luck helps, but it's always the same story with the Germans. Their seemingly less talented teams get the job done.
A rare find - a Sunday newspaper opinion-piece that doesn't want Mick's head served up on a silver platter! Seriously, it does offer a calmer perspective, although some may read it as veering slightly towards Paddy-bashing... http://football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9753,810858,00.html
This guy must have been reading these boards. I think he's got it down bang on with his take on the ever more hysterical people braying (Pun intended, BTW) for McCarthy's head. I liked the take at the start: Mick McCarthy will face his familiar routine........... the relentless, subjective criticism from a nation's media desperate to drive out a manager who has played a pivotal role in transforming the Republic into a bona fide world football force.
I'm the first to admit that I have a few doubts about McCarthy's managerial nous, but I really think those in the Irish press with an agenda to get him out are really going about it in a shrill, hysterical way. I think Mick is the right man for the job, but that some of his recent tactical decisions have been questionable. And for me, if you want to mount a case against him, you do it through analysis of his tactical/football decisions. I refer in particular to the article in yesterday's Sunday Indo by Dion Fanning. Nowhere in his piece did he outline for football reasons why McCarthy should go. It was all personal sniping and jibes, which for me is lazy, shoddy and downright irresponsible journalism. I think there are valid areas where McCarthy can be taken to task (I won't bang my anti-Harte campagin drum yet again!), but to have a pop at the man because you clearly don't like him as a person does is just pathetic in my book. I must say I have a lot of sympathy for Mick in the light of how these hacks treat him, and my absolute scorn for the Sunday Indo has risen another notch.
I disagree that he gets any critism about being British, that's rubbish. He's more Irish then Charlton (Who's a hero) he's simply an English man born of Irish parents and always pictured himself wearing green and even if he didn't that wouldn't be a reason to want him out. Actually, as a person I really like Mick, but I still want him out, Purley for football reasons.
That's something that really pisses me off - it's fair enough if someone does something wrong, or if it's honest, constructive criticism, but when people start taking pops just because they can, or because they just don't like the person, then it's just wrong. I don't mind people pointing out something that I did wrong, as long as I did it wrong, but sniping for the sake of it annoys me. That's part of the reason that I've been defending McCarthy so much here recently - it just seems to me that no one can complain about the results (btw, I'm not trying to pick a fight, or start up another discussion on this - we've said it all before I'm just explaining that that's why I do it .
At the best of times, I don't know whether to laugh or to cry when reading poor old Dion's attempts to be provocative. His conclusion to that article went something like "Ireland will win on Wednesday and it will be the end for Mick McCarthy". Where else would you get it but in the broadsheet that thinks its a tabloid! I never buy the Sunday Dishcloth, but I'm glad I usually get a free read of it. It helps keep me sane!
I'm not so sure about McCarthy's position now. There seems to be a concerted effort to oust him from the Dunphyites, and it may be affecting team performances. If he is pressured into leaving from these elements, I hope they replace him with some plank that will take Ireland down the toilet. I say this because I am not impressed with the people who think the sun shines out of Roy Keane's bum and have made every effort to displace McCarthy, who has carried on Charlton's good work and brought on some very good young players.
Is there an unwritten rule somewhere that in order to think McCarthys tactically inept you have to love Roy Keane? You do realise there are those that want him out purley because of some of the stupid decisons he's made and how tactically inept he really is, not because of the Roy Keane saga. If anything, that's being used as a smokescreen making him look better then he is.
No, but the constant sniping of the likes of Dunphy can't help can they ?. He has been a bit dodgy in recent games, but you have to say he's not done bad considering the team he took over from Jack was aging, and has taken you to a world cup after getting out of a group that had Portugal and Holland. The fact is, it could have been easy for the manager following Jack to ************ it up completely as the likes of Aldridge, McGrath, Houghton and so on all retired at roughly the same time. Mick isn't the world's best manager, but he is a damn sight better than the calibre of people that the FAI can attract, or could have post Charlton. Believe me, he's a sh_tload better than Keegan, Wilkinson and Taylor.
Some mad rumour doing the rounds that he'll retire live on the "Late Late" this Friday. Sounds like the rumour that Keane would "apologise" in that interview with Tommy Gorman... Anyway, I'm much more disturbed by Setanta's descriptions of Pat Kenny and the Late Late... http://www.setanta.com/soccer/story.jsp?story=WCContent;id-44567
Surely the adjectives "witty" and "excellent" were written with massive helpings of sarcasm. I can think of a word containing the letters "itty" in them to describe Pat, but it sure aint "witty"
Cheers mate, Best of luck to your team too. I think you'll find that everyone on this board, pro or anti Mick wants the Ireland team to be the best that it can. Coming on here and saying that if Mick goes, you hope Ireland go down the toilet isn't likely to win you too many friends.
good thread this. ****************** all the Dunphyshites and Dunphy himself. can't even bring myself to buy Keanos book as it'll make Dunphy richer. McCarthy should stay on (at least) till his contract runs out. end of story. btw: I didn't even know that Pat Kenny was doing the Late Late Show, I thought it was stopped when Gay Byrne called it quits. just goes to show ya how much out of the loop I am concerning RTE.
Agreed about the Keano book, my brother got one as a birthday present and he his going to lend it to me when hes done reading it. Cant stand Dunphy, then again I hate Dervan more. But then again, I bought the Irish Voice last week just to see what he would say after the Swiss game but he just went on about some reporter at the Sunday World calling him all sorts of stuff.
Saw that - who was that reporter he wouldn't name? Am I alone in thinking that despite protestions, Dunphy and Dervan have been hugely responsible for turning the volume waaaaaay up on this matter? Not to say that there wasn't a fire there in the first place, but........
I must say that I applaud Dunphy for his comments about McCarthy after the Swiss game. We all know he despises the Ireland manager, but his criticisms were almost exclusively football based. I know that doesn't excuse him for his past knife-wielding indiscretions, but he did what a football pundit should do, ie give his opinions on football. If only the rest of Irish journalism could put their pathetic obsessions aside and do likewise.....
Thats all it was, a rumour. This article is from todays Irish Independent. MICK McCARTHY will seek reassurances that he has the full support of the FAI and his players before continuing to lead the Republic of Ireland's faltering European Championship campaign. Having considered his position last week during a holiday in Portugal, the Republic's manager has concluded that he can only carry on with full backing from his employers and his squad. McCarthy, the longest serving manager in international football after six years and eight months, hoped he had disarmed critics when the Republic reached the second round of the World Cup after he had sent Roy Keane home. However, defeats by Russia and Switzerland in the opening matches of the Euro 2004 campaign have led to several calls for his resignation and he will travel to Dublin later this week to clarify his future. McCarthy's first mission will be to clarify where he stands with the FAI hierarchy. Although the association has been publicly supportive of him in the wake of the defeats against Russia and Switzerland, some senior officials are reported to have grown disillusioned with the continued fall-out from the World Cup finals. The sending home of Keane after his row with McCarthy before the finals had got under way cast a cloud over the team that has proved impossible to shift. Though McCarthy signed a two-year extension to his contract on the eve of Ireland's second round match against Spain, which they lost on penalties, sections of the Irish media have persisted with their fierce criticism of him. After the 2-1 loss against Switzerland at Lansdowne Road earlier this month, McCarthy conceded that his players had been affected by the overspill from the Keane saga. After taking a holiday in Portugal, he returned to England at the weekend to publicise his World Cup diary. When he visits Dublin on Thursday, talks with the FAI will be on his agenda, too. "I want to sit down, chat with them and see what we're doing, how things are," McCarthy said yesterday. "I've been away, I've had my week, and now I'll speak to the FAI. "I'll also speak to a few of the players also. I'll have a chat with all of them. Let's see how they feel. "The first two qualifying results have made life extremely difficult for me and my situation with a section of the press, a growing section of them, has affected the team. If we had gone into the European campaign on a positive note, rather than surrounded by all this negative stuff, it would have been far better all-round." McCarthy, 43, dismissed reports that he would use his scheduled appearance on The Late Late Show on Friday night as an opportunity to announce his resignation. "No chance, no chance," he said. "Unless I get sacked. I hadn't thought of that one. It hadn't crossed my mind." He admitted, though, that he was tiring of the constant criticism. "I've been involved with Ireland since 1984 as a player, coach and manager and I've given absolutely everything," McCarthy said. "But there also comes a time when you recognise that enough is enough. "The public perception has been very good, but at the end of it, I'll consider what's good for the team and for Irish football. "If it was best for me not to be there, then I'll have to consider it. If it affects the team, I can't have that. But I'm still doing the job until something happens to change my mind." McCarthy, 43, has long intended to return to club football at the end of the Euro 2004 campaign, whether or not Ireland qualify. He was tipped for the vacant Sunderland job recently, and would have been tempted to take it, but no approach was made and Howard Wilkinson was appointed instead
I feel honoured to have been able to have a reply printed on the same page as such a piece of sophistry and reasoning. We are all in the presence of a giant intellect - stand back and please give due deference.