McCarthy insists he informed Bamba of exit

MICK McCarthy has denied Sol Bamba’s claim he learned of his Cardiff City exit through Twitter.

In an interview with WalesOnline back in August, the Ivorian spoke about the sequence of events surrounding his eventual release back the Bluebirds back in the summer.

The defender said he was “shocked” and “heartbroken” when he saw on Twitter that the club had confirmed their retained list for the 2021/22 season and he was not on there.

Bamba, who last week retold his version of events in an interview with BBC Radio Tees, said he was disappointed with how the situation was handled and felt he deserved better from a club with whom he spent five successful years.

Bluebirds boss McCarthy, however, has a different recollection of how things panned out at the back end of last season.

“I saw [the WalesOnline interview], just after the start of the season and I was tempted to ring Sol and speak to him, but I thought I’d leave it and not give it legs, but it doesn’t seem to be going away,” McCarthy began.

“But the story that he wasn’t told, well that’s wrong because I told him. We had two or three meetings in my office.

“I don’t know if there was some suggestion at some stage that there was a coaching role, but there was no coaching role. I can’t make a coaching role for anybody and we have all the coaches in place.

“In terms of staying on as a player, I told him he wouldn’t be getting a new contract. Hence the reason I put him on for a minute in the last game of the season. He got on, that was his last hurrah and his final game.

“So I was a bit surprised about that. He knew from me, but if he’s suggesting he hasn’t been told by anyone else, I don’t know. But certainly from me, he was told he wouldn’t be getting a new contract.

“In fact, I did offer him the opportunity, if he was staying in the area, to come back for pre-season if he wanted to keep himself fit to go on and get another club.

“I actually said that in the dressing room after the final game. He was told by the management, which is me.”

When asked specifically about finding out on Twitter, McCarthy replied: “He didn’t [find out on Twitter]. I told him. He wouldn’t be getting a new contract and there was be no coaching role for him.

“That sounds brutal, that, now. It wasn’t spoken like that. But it was told by me and I’m the manager of the club and that was understood.

“Whatever relationship he has with anyone else at the club, I can’t do anything about that, but he found out from me, because I told him.”