The bookies have slashed the odds on Mick McCarthy heading to the Stadium of Light after David O'Leary's somewhat desperate offer of being unemployed/available was ignored. The Mickser says publicly that he wants to stay with Ireland and lead them to Euro 2004. Privately, his mates seem to be saying he'd be gone in a shot, if he was offered the job to replace Reid. It all could turn out quite nicely for McCarthy. He could bow out on the back of a good WC finals before the possible slide of Ireland back to ignominy occurs in these qualifiers. Being hammered 4-0 by Russia put the green team's on-going performance somewhat in perspective and Mick may feel that he's got the best out of what is a decidedly average side. Coupled with the on-going fall-out from his spat with Roy Keane - an argument he's never going to win with a substantial section of the Irish soccer fans - a quick exit now might be just the ticket. And there'd be an extra bonus from Mick's POV - Keane can come back, once Mick is gone, and finish his international career with a team that is heading backwards. What a fitting coda that would give Mick as he trundles on with his career in a very average Premiership side. I wonder does he have any Sicilian blood in him alongside the Irish/Yorkshire strains?
I think it'd be good for him to manage Sunderland. He's had his share of bad times with Ireland, i would imagine he would change jobs if given the chance. I think O'Leary would be a better choice though, i reckon he'll want to do a really good job to hit out at Leeds and his critics generally. Roy Keane i doubt would come back to Ireland even if Mick did leave, what with his problems with the Irish players generally. Saying that i haven't read his book or anything so i dunno if he's said he would
I think the whole thing is a conspiracy. First, Sunderland change from a competent team to down right laughable. Then Ireland get stuffed by Russia who brought new meaning the word "boring" in the World Cup. So the board sack reidy and bring in the only man who would be happy with the Sunderland squad. The very same man who has picked that bunch of donkeys also known as the Irish team: Quinn, McAteer and Kilbane. With all this evidence how else could anyone explain the signing of Phil Babb this summer.
Kerpow is right, it all looks like a done deal. As a Newcastle supporter, I would be delighted if Mick was taken on by the Mackems. We were worried that they would get a manager who was less hilarious than Reidy, but McCarthy would fill the role nobly.
And if McCarthy goes, who takes over the Ireland job? Dave O'Leary?? He's got the right credentials - an Irishman born in London. And then watch how long McAteer lasts in a new Irish regime without the Mickser to protect him. Quinn has retired - but to call him a donkey is facile and wrong. He has served as a more than competent striker in the time that he's played for club and country. Kilbane seems to do all right when playing for Ireland but never seems to have done as well at club level. And if not O'Leary, then who? Is there an Irish manager who might fill the role instead of English misfits? English managers do not seem to have the necessry qualifications, temperament, tactical nous or streetsmarts to fill an international role, so Ireland could do well by looking either at home or further abroad.
I think the question to be asked is "Should Sunderland take a manager who has been a failure at club level (Nationwide level, not Premiership), and is only considered a success because the Dutch took them too lightly in the World Cup qualifiers?"
This sums it up neatly from Football 365: Dear Mick, You've come a long way since the days in the pit back in Barnsley. A hero in Parkhead, a Lansdowne Road legend, the man who fouled 23 times in Italia 1990 yet failed to pick up a booking. 'If you can't get the ball get the man' seemed to be the mantra that you lived your footballing life by. Every junior league centre-back's template, that's what you were, thumping those howitzer balls down the middle of the park. Observing the hair-tossing, loin-stroking Italians in the tunnel of the Stadio Olimpico before one of Irish soccer's many moral victories back in June 1990, you commented 'Look at' em, let's 'ave the b**tards'. The game was an Irish triumph: a 1-0 defeat. Captain Fantastic: that's what you were. You were soon flavour of the month in Ireland, telling 100,000 people in College Green, Dublin on the team's homecoming (in your deep Yorkshire but once removed from Waterford accent) that 'everyone up here is 100 per cent Irish'. Even Big Cas must have grinned to himself at that one. You went to Millwall to sharpen your heels in the world of football management. You beat Arsenal at Highbury in the FA Cup and had already taken more than a shine to Mark Kennedy, who'd scored a belter that night in north London. Within a few months, you were in front of your old friends, the Irish media, unveiled by the Football *********************s of Ireland (did I get the middle bit wrong?) as successor to your spiritual footballing mentor, who'd grown tired of chewing Shredded Wheat and managing the Irish soccer team in his spare time. While Big Jack went fishing, you were taking the captain's armband away from a less than happy Andy Townsend and handing it to a less than happy Roy Keane. It's safe to say he wasn't made up by your appointment. The first few years were tough, but by the time Euro 2000 had come and gone, we'd racked up a few more moral victories - the 'win' over Belgium in the 1998 World Cup play-off and the equally impressive 'success' over Turkey in the Euro play-offs two years later. Still, they were enough to guarantee you another shot at actual qualification. We're Irish. We don't like to rush things. We show UEFA officials an empty field where we're going to play the Euro 2008 semi-final. Stick on the kettle there, Lennart, sure Jesus what's the rush? The World Cup draw for Japan and Korea hands us the Dutch and the Portuguese in qualification. Your skipper cannot understand the excited proclamations that follow our throwing a two goal lead away in Amsterdam. We 'do' the Dutch in Dublin, as you'd probably put it. You see your captain at the end of the game; you say to him that a photo together would be great for the Sunday papers. The most you get is a handshake with each other's bodies so far apart that Jan Molby and Gazza could have walked between you. Play-off's loom again, and of course we lose in Tehran, but for once, we can hop about with justification when we lose, because, for we've actually, erm, won. Then the tournament. Your captain isn't too pleased by what Saipan provides, never mind the drinking antics of his squad mates. Sure drinking's fine if you're Irish. Don't listen to your skipper though - it's not as if he has done more than any other player to help Manchester United win the Champions League and Premierships by over the half dozen. What would he know about preparation? You decide to air your views with your skipper, but with the rest of the squad present too. One of you must emerge victorious from this mess, and it's not going to be your captain, who reduces you in a public manner that no one has ever done before or is likely to again. You decide to send your captain home. We know the rest. Now. One defeat into a European Championship campaign, and a chance to return to club management is probably yours if you want it. Take it. As long as you're manager of Ireland, you'll never be rid of the spectre of Roy Keane. Sunderland - a club with a big following, a big support and enough Irish players on the books to make it feel like you never left Lansdowne. Set forth to Sunderland, Mick and leave Saipan behind you forever. Imagine, a team with its own stadium, all the inflated footballs you could swing an FAI official at, and training facilities that won't leave you ringing for a Wearside travel agency for advice about bibs and cones. You can do no more with Richard Dunne and Gary Breen. But Kevin Philips and co could do with a hand. Go on Mick, take the job. Cheers Dermot
What game did you see? Replying to "Being hammered 4-0 by Russia put the green team's on-going performance somewhat in perspective and Mick may feel that he's got the best out of what is a decidedly average side. " The Russia Ireland game ended 4 - 2. Unfortunately for us Irish we are saddled with a 2nd rate manager - for some reason the English soccer public rate him. We would have been delighted to see him go to Sunderland just to get rid of him. Now we have Hobson's choice. a) Loose/draw to Switzerland in Dublin because Mick will insist on playing Ian Harte , Kevin Kilbane and not picking John O Shea, playing Duff up front instead of on the wing. mick will resign or be forced out but we will not qualify for 2004. OR B) Beat the mighty Swiss. Mick will stay in the job and probably not qualify for 2004 anyway. Let's face it. Mick should have left after the WC when his stock was high. He has too many enemies in Ireland now. Last point : Re "decidedly average side" - put the best Irish team on the pitch including Roy Keane, Damien Duff, John O Shea, Shea Given and Robbie Keane and we are a match for any team in Europe.