Mick still has got plenty to offer in management

IT will be interesting to see how Ipswich Town fare now the club and Mick McCarthy have decided to announce that my former Ireland and Sunderland boss will not be staying on at Portman Road when his contract expires at the end of this season.

I can understand why Mick (left) was reluctant to make the news public because, he knows, subconsciously, players will down tools once they know for definite he is not going to be their manager next season.

He is 59 now, the longestserving Championship manager after six years and has been under pressure for a few months, which has extended to the players, and that seems unfair to me. What more could he have done? In his six years Ipswich have been a competitive club in a very competitive league.

Looking from afar, Ipswich’s league position in the Championship, with the finances available to Mick, is a great achievement. You scratch your head and wonder what the fans want. They are mid-table, have been on the fringe of the play-offs all season, and most importantly, they are safe.

Wherever he has worked after Ireland, he has not really had proper financial backing and it does make you wonder how Mick would have fared at Sunderland, Wolves and Ipswich if he had been given money.

I don’t know what his plans are, and he may fancy a break, but I hope he is still hungry enough to carry on. I am sure a Championship job will come up with his name on it and he’ll get an owner who will back him properly.

There was talk of course of a return to Ireland, if Martin O’Neill had gone to Stoke, and I would love to have seen that.

But O’Neill is taking us forward and we have to back him. If the Ireland job does become available, Mick would be a great choice given his experience from his first stint.