If you’ve played a friendly, that should be it — no interference
SAYS MICK McCARTHY
MICK McCarthy has called on football’s rulemakers to revert to the system in which a player is tied to an international team once he is capped at senior level.
In the wake of Declan Rice’s defection to England after three senior appearances for the Republic of Ireland, McCarthy feels the current FIFA flexibility on friendly games is flawed.
‘I think that once you’ve played an international, at full level, once you’ve committed to it, that should be you done,’ he said yesterday.
‘It would stop the interference of other people when you come and play in a friendly,’ he added in a thinly-veiled dig at Rice and his advisors.
McCarthy revealed he was ‘curt’ with Rice when the West Ham midfielder rang him last month with news of his defection to England.
‘He said: “Mick, it was an honour” and I said “Hold on, I don’t want to hear that, if you’re not playing for us then crack on, good luck.” That’s what I said and I thought I was a little bit curt at the time, so I sent him a nice text to wish him good luck.’
McCarthy’s gut instinct told him Rice wanted out when they met before Christmas.
‘All I know is, if he wanted to play for Ireland, it was an easy decision because he’d had three caps. In my own mind, I never thought he was coming with us,’ he said.
‘The quotes from him (Rice) was that he wanted to win things. I guess he’s looking at the England team and how well they did at the World Cup, that he wants to be part of that. I want players who want to play for us.’
‘I don’t want to talk about him (Rice) or the situation because he’s not my player,’ he added.
Of those who could yet sign up for Irish duty, McCarthy is having his patience tested by Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford, after initial contact was positive.
‘I’ve been doing all the chasing in terms of trying to get to meet Patrick and his dad. There comes a time where if you want to play, pick the phone up,’ he said.
He has yet to speak to Nathan Redmond, the in-form Southampton winger, who would be a huge asset if he comes on board, while Will Keane, who is switching to Ireland, is out for six weeks with hamstring damage.
McCarthy revealed that Noel King, the FAI’s player identification manager, was checking on Daniel Crowley, a creative 21-year-old midfielder with Willem II in the Dutch Eredivisie, who is eligible for Ireland.
Of his ‘chasing’ around after players, he observed wryly, ‘That’s part of the gig now, isn’t it?’
McCarthy returns to Dublin next Thursday to name his first squad for the opening Euro 2020 qualifiers against Gibraltar (March 23) and Georgia (March 26).
He wasn’t giving many secrets away, but confirmed in-form Sheffield United striker David McGoldrick, 31, would return.
‘David will be in the squad, no doubt about that. He is playing pretty much every week and has been different class for Sheffield United, who are second in the Championship.’
Sean Maguire, another whose international career has been more stop than start, will also figure, after winning over McCarthy.
‘I saw him play at QPR and didn’t fancy him at all, he played on the left, he’d only just come back from injury then.’
And now? ‘I like his movement. His pace. He is aggressive. His finish against Millwall was excellent. I’m glad I watched him play up front as a lone striker.’
McCarthy feels for Michael Obafemi whose injury KO for the season was ‘a real blow’ to the teenage striker, and reported that veterans Glenn Whelan and Daryl Murphy were on standby, if needed.
He also conceded how difficult it would be to play Seamus Coleman and Matt Doherty in the same XI — Coleman is first choice at right-back — while he indicated that James McCarthy would not be involved without game time in the coming weeks.
McCarthy flies to Gibraltar today to check out the artificial surface of the tiny Victoria Stadium.
‘Anything they can do to upset the apple cart is to be expected. It helps we’ve got our own 4G pitch in Abbotstown to train on beforehand.’