WHY FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION
With Euro 2020 set for Dublin, McCarthy has to deliver goods
It’s certainly the quickest appointment in FAI history He was a champion of youth during his first stint
TWO days before his 37th birthday, a slightly awkward Mick McCarthy was presented as the new Republic of Ireland manager by the late FAI president Louis Kilcoyne in a Dublin 4 hotel.
On reflection, he felt he was ‘bonkers’ to take the job ‘with the experience I had, but I was never going to turn it down because I might never get it again,’ he explained.
Almost 23 years later, he has got it again. McCarthy Act II has arrived.
Barely was Martin O’Neill gone out one door, then the big Barnsley man was ushered in another, in one of the fastest turnarounds of international managers.
It’s certainly the quickest in the FAI’s topsy-turvy history of appointing senior managers.
O’Neill’s departure was confirmed at 10.35am on Wednesday morning and by tea-time yesterday, McCarthy had agreed in principle to replace him – his official coronation will be in Dublin tomorrow.
Getting a new man in place was clearly seen as an urgent matter by the FAI, and of no-nonsense on the part of McCarthy who has coveted this job more than any other. He wasn’t going to haggle when it came around.
Provisionally, he already had his props in place and Terry Connor, his long-time wing-man at Wolves and Ipswich, will be his number two, with Robbie Keane also part of the coaching staff.
Ireland’s record goal scorer and most-capped player will bring brio and spark to a rather stale squad.
A McCarthy-Robbie Keane tieup oozes PR appeal, just as the O’Neill-Roy Keane axis did in October 2013 and the FAI can expect a favourable reaction to the appointment, certainly in terms of attendances.
There may be room for Stephen Kenny on the ticket too, in a strategy which would see the Dundalk manager take over the Ireland U21 job.
Kenny, who met with an FAI intermediary on Thursday, was considering his options last night.
While FAI chiefs could have cast a net wide across England, Europe and beyond, there was clearly a desire to move quickly on from O’Neill and have a manager in place for the Euro 2020 qualifying draw in Dublin on Sunday week, December 2.
If the draw was anywhere else, they might have dallied. Either way, though, McCarthy was always their man.
He returns in November, the same month that he departed voluntarily 16 years ago after two losses at the outset of the Euro 2004 qualifiers. He didn’t seek a cent in compensation.
This time, though, he will take over a squad which has a lot less Premier League calibre than the one over which he previously presided. Heart, though is another matter. After stagnating under O’Neill, they are crying out for a new voice, and a new direction.
Now 59, McCarthy has come a long way since he edged out Kevin Moran on a split vote to succeed Jack Charlton.
Back then, he was seen by some as a Charlton clone, a clogger centre-half who would become a clogger manager, his critics predicted.
Yet, his teams eschewed the route one approach and played football that was pleasing to the eye and, in time, effective.
With Ireland he championed youth and dared to cap Keane at 17, Ian Harte at 18, Shay Given and Damien Duff at 19, Richard Dunne at 20. There was quality coming through the ranks, helped by Brian Kerr’s successes at Euro U16 and U18 levels in 1998.
And when McCarthy moved on from Ireland to Sunderland, Wolves and Ipswich, twice winning promotion to the Premier League, he demonstrated that he knew his stuff.
He may talk like a fellah who’s just finished a shift in a South Yorkshire colliery, but he’s no Luddite. ‘I’m not an old fogey,’ he said.
‘I’ve stayed with the modern trends, the technology, the nutrition, the strength and conditioning. If there’s anything tactical, technical that we can use, I’ll use it.
‘But whatever system you play, football is about putting it (the ball) in the back of the net and when you haven’t got it, it’s (about) getting it back. Football hasn’t changed.’
The threadbare aspect to the senior ranks has changed, though, and McCarthy will have his work cut out to whip the players into competitive shape for the Euro 202 qualifiers.
Unlike February 1996, when eight friendlies lay in front of him prior to the World Cup qualifiers, he has one hurdle he cannot ignore: time.
In four months Ireland will embark on the first of either eight or 10 competitive games in the Euro 2020 qualification.
There is no window for a warmup and McCarthy could have as little as three days to prepare if Ireland are asked to play on March 21. Quite simply, he must hit the ground running.
No Ireland manager has had less time to prepare for his opening night.
In his first coming, McCarthy was able to blood a raft of players and fiddle with three at the back, which he ripped up after a 3-2 loss in Macedonia.
He also played Roy Keane at centre-half against Iceland which backfired as Ireland drew 0-0. He didn’t repeat the mistake again.
While no one ever imagined Damien Duff at centre-forward, the ploy worked when Ireland beat the Dutch 1-0 in 2001 and Duff stayed there for the World Cup finals, too.
McCarthy must quickly assess what he has and strive to field an XI that will be competitive. A 4-23-1 formation, which would see Seamus Coleman and James McClean restored to their best positions, would appeal.
As for the FAI, they cannot entertain not being part of the Euro 2020 jamboree when four games will be played in Dublin.
In McCarthy, they have placed their trust, and their money, for a second time.