EXCLUSIVE NEIL MOXLEY THE WHEEL
Talks to Mick McCarthy After 25 years and nearly 1,000 games as gaffer, Macca has finally mellowed
THERE’S a small wheel of fortune in the canteen at Ipswich Town’s training ground.
A group of young footballers are gathered around it when Mick McCarthy makes his entrance.
“Go on, then, give it a whirl,” says the manager. The excitement mounts as a teenager takes the plunge and it spins while his colleagues pray for the worst punishment imaginable.
Instead of money, there are forfeits. Turns out that the player in question has to fix up his manager and staff with tea and coffee for a week.
“Right, you can start now,” says the Yorkshireman and, five minutes later, the victim knocks on the door of his manager’s office, coffee in hand, apologising for interrupting.
“What’s this?” says the Ipswich gaffer, looking aghast. “It’s as weak as p**s. Go back and shovel another spoon of coffee into that, please.”
Welcome to the world of Mick McCarthy. Do not adjust your sets. What you have been seeing for the past 25 years is no act.
Yes, it’s been one quarter of a century since the late Millwall chairman Reg Burr (far right) allowed an ageing centre-half to take his first steps in management.
Since then, McCarthy has earned two promotions to the Premier League, one appearance with Ireland in a World Cup, plenty of heartache, and has more than 900 matches under his belt.
Nutshell
If you take his games with Ireland into the equation, he’s hurtling t owards t he 1,000-mark.
He said: “If someone had said to me that I would still be in the game 25 years on, having seen what I’ve seen and experienced what I have, I wouldn’t have believed them.
“It’s not much fun sometimes, heading into work at 5am on a Monday morning after a defeat. But after my breakfast and an hour on the bike, I’m bang at it again.
“It’s what I do. Always have done, ever since Mr Burr gave me my first break.
“He was very old-school and very likeable. In fact, he gave me a line which has stuck with me to this day.
“He would wear a sheepskin coat and sheepskin gloves pretty much all year round and he was asked by a journalist if it was a superstition. ‘Yes, of course, it is’, he replied, humouring him.m. ‘DoesDoes it work?’ the journalist asked. ‘Well it tends to work better with a good team than a bad one...’
“And that is football in a nutshell, isn’t it?”
The 1,000 games matter because for bosses it’s proof of longevity. Proof that you can do it. Proof that you have won more than you have lost. Proof really that you know what you are doing.
Ask for Macca’s managerial highs and his two promotions to the big-time with Sunderland and Wolves are up there. But you get the feeling they still come below anything he achieved with Ireland.
“No, the Irish games don’t count,” he said, “which is a shame because I had 68 in six years. It felt like more.
“I have to say that qualifying for the World Cup comes before any promotion. I loved the Ireland job. I really did. When we did it, it was in Iran of all places.places It was a strange trip trip. The was relief,relief excitement and happiness home.home Wow,Wow what a feeling.feeling Mind you,you stadium was full of 100,000 blokes. No for everyone. But there was no booze, judging by the state of some of them women there apart from members of obviously. when they stepped off the plane at our s t aff who had t o wear “We got on the plane – no one had Dublin Airport, we made up for that headscarves. had a drink for three days – and we three-day abstinence. Dear me.”
“The whole evening was incredible. were told that we had to wait until we Experience has perhaps softened We had actually lost the game 1-0 with were 30 minutes outside their air-space McCarthy around the edges but a goal in the 94th minute, but we had before we could have one. essentially he is the same as he was a two-goal lead from the first match. “They came and asked me to pop the when he started out in management.
“And the feeling at the final whistle first cork on the champagne on the way The game, however, isn’t. He added: “I’m not running a club where people are on 50, 80 or £100,000 per week.
“I still like the fact that our lads have to work to earn a living. They’re on good money but it’s not at that level.
“If you have someone who is picking up £5m for four years, they don’t have to do anything.
“You can leave them out and if they don’t want to run around... it has got to affect people.
“I have always respected the very top players. The Steven Gerrards, the Roy Keanes – despite my fall-out with him – the ones who did it every single week.
“John Terry, putting his head in. All of them could pack it in and never work