BIG CHANCE TO BURY THE PAST
Regrets still haunt McCarthy, he could yet right the record
FROM a £25-per-head dinner at the Queen Vic Pub in Sunderland to a €1.2 million-a-year contract offer to manage the Republic of Ireland a few days later — this is turning into a week of weeks for Mick McCarthy.
On Wednesday night, he chatted to an audience of 100 or so in the north-east where he told amusing stories of his time as Sunderland manager.
Come this weekend, he could be close to agreeing a deal to return as Irish manager and talking about the old days, too. Even Saipan may get a mention.
As he joshed with punters in the chilly north-east the other night, McCarthy was acutely aware of unfolding events on this side of the Irish Sea. When approached by a reporter, he excused himself with a polite no comment. How his mind must have been racing.
For the Republic of Ireland job is the one he has coveted more than any other. It represents the chance to sign off his career by getting through some unfinished business, as he once described it.
Over six and a half years, from 1996 until 2002, McCarthy left the Irish job with two regrets — that corner against Macedonia in Skopje in October 1999 which cost Ireland a place at the Euro 2000 finals, and, of course, Saipan.
Now, at last, the opportunity to bury both of those ghosts has arrived.
He has watched and waited for this moment, torn between wanting the team he captained and managed to do well, and the opportunity that might present itself if things went awry and the FAI were considering change.
In the wake of the 5-1 loss to Denmark last November and the subsequent chatter between Martin O’Neill and Stoke City, McCarthy’s antennae twitched.
At Ipswich, he was getting rusty among the Tractor Boys in sleepy Suffolk, counting down the games until the end of the season. Had the Ireland job cropped up then, he’d have made a play for it
Ten months on, his position is far stronger. It is the FAI who have turned their lonely eyes to him, in desperation to appoint a safe pair of hands to steer Ireland to the Euro 2020 finals.
As a plus for both sides, McCarthy is ready, willing and able to return to work.
Following the lame effort against Northern Ireland last Thursday, the FAI lost patience with O’Neill and the grapevine began to buzz that McCarthy was in their sights.
The speculation hardened in Aarhus, before kick-off and most certainly after it. People close to John Delaney were openly saying O’Neill was yesterday’s man and that McCarthy was the FAI’s No1 choice to replace him.
That Roy Keane has left the Irish management staff to provide McCarthy an opening is the latest career connection between the two men. Their links stretch back as far as 1991 when they played for Ireland together in Hungary.
What history they have, these contrasting characters.
As Ireland players, they rowed on a team bus in Boston in ’92; as manager and player they split the nation in half over their Saipan bust-up before the World Cup finals a decade later.
As manager, Keane followed McCarthy at Sunderland and probably did that bit better in his two-and-a-bit years, to McCarthy’s three.
At Ipswich, McCarthy followed Keane, putting out fires and keeping the team in the Championship on a shoestring budget. Another link is their almost identical win percentage as managers — McCarthy is 38.8 per cent from 965 games, Keane is 38.7 per cent from 181 games.
And here we are with Ireland, where Keane was nailed on for to follow Martin O’Neill as manager, before he burnt bridges to the extent there is relief around the Irish squad that he’s gone.
In his place, McCarthy returns. At 59, he’s white-haired but still ram-rod straight thanks to plenty of cycling and some golf. His handshake remains iron-like.
He’s had seven months out of football, the last couple of which were on the pundits’ couch for Virgin Media, and he’s re-charged and ready to rumble again.
It has helped McCarthy that the Irish public have taken to him on his regular journeys from Bromley to Ballymount.
There have been plenty of shouts of ‘Howya Mick’ and he’s felt welcome again, aware that Irish football has moved on from Saipan.
Even those in the Keane camp in ’02 have come to accept how difficult the combustible Corkonian must have been to manage. In Saipan, Keano was anything but pacific.
As for McCarthy, he can be grumpy but the Barnsley front belies an approachable, openminded and thoroughly decent fella — not that he has been hired for his personality.
His FAI remit will be straightforward: it’s the Euros or bust.
The reaction to his candidacy has been well received by those he managed during his first term with Ireland from 1996 to 2002.
Former defender Ian Harte, one of many young players thrust forward by McCarthy, was unequivocal in his support.
Harte tweeted: ‘Who is the best person to become manager of Ireland? If it was me I would have Mick McCarthy all day long!
‘Mick is proven at international level. Plus, what he achieved at @Official-ITFC was remarkable on a shoestring budget! And for me he’s brilliant at motivating players.’
Should McCarthy get the job and deliver Ireland to the finals of Euro 2020, he will be better value for money for the FAI than he was for fans at the Queen Vic.
MICK McCarthy remains the clear favourite to succeed Martin O’Neill as Republic of Ireland manager ahead of imminent contract talks with FAI chief executive John Delaney.
Stephen Kenny has also been linked with the post but as of last night there was no FAI contact with Dundalk seeking permission to meet the Dubliner.
The FAI are eager to wrap up the succession stakes as soon as possible and have a new manager confirmed, ideally for the Euro 2020 qualifying draw in Dublin a week on Sunday.
McCarthy is in pole position and is poised to agree a two-year deal to cover the Euro 2020 campaign with an option to continue for the 2022 World Cup. He