Mick is never worth €1.2m

I STRUGGLE to understand why Mick McCarthy is to be paid such an enormous salary.

A guaranteed €1.2m a year, for two years, irrespective of results, seems a crazy way for the FAI to spend its cash.

You might understand if this was some superstar and the FAI was engaged in a bidding war with various top-flight clubs.

But there was no bidding war. Not only that, but McCarthy was unemployed having finished his job with Ipswich (where, by the way, his salary was a whole lot lower). He’ll be earning vastly more than Joe Schmidt, the phenomenally successful rugby manager.

It would have been possible to hire someone perfectly competent on a far more modest salary and use the money saved to invest in soccer at a grassroots level. That could make a real difference.

Adam Doyle,

Roscrea, Co. Tipperary.