McCarthy was derided on his way out but who’s laughing now?
WELL this is awkward. Yesterday’s man is still relevant, it turns out. After Mick McCarthy signed a new twoyear contract with Cardiff City, the club’s chairman said they had reached an agreement despite other teams being interested in the 62-year-old.
When he left the Ireland job for the second time last April, McCarthy was not cheered on his way.
Those who suggested it was disappointing he would not get to see out the qualifying campaign for the Euros by taking charge of the playoff against Slovakia barely registered among all the giddy chatter about the Stephen Kenny era.
It was logical to bring forward the Kenny succession, given that the play-off was postponed for six months owing to the pandemic.
It made for a fresh start in line with the new season. But it was possible to recognise that while also thinking it was an ill-fitting
end for a man whose dedication to his country was obvious across four decades.
McCarthy’s Ireland record wasn’t bad in his second spell and the team played, initially, with more tactical coherence than they had in the last stages of Martin O’Neill’s reign.
The highs were notable, including a win over Georgia in his first game back in charge in Dublin.
That was the night the public rejection of John Delaney was made tangible through dozens of tennis balls flung on to the pitch.
As the FAI was on the verge of imploding organisationally, there was nothing so seismic about to happen with the team.
McCarthy’s overall record was five wins, four draws and a defeat from 10 games, but some of his selections were criticised, as was a style that was often cautious.
Yet the extent to which McCarthy was derided was surprising, too. He was dismissed as a legacy of the Delaney era, as if the years he gave as a player and in his first period as manager counted for nothing.
He was portrayed as a manager out of his time. To the more intense chin-strokers, he was an embarrassment. McCarthy was bound by the ridiculous succession arrangement brokered by Delaney, that saw Kenny placed in wait while McCarthy got one qualifying campaign.
One wonders if he ever regretted consenting to that deal, despite the reportedly generous terms which included a significant pay-off when he left.
Money, it seems reasonable to suppose, has not been a major determinant in McCarthy’s career for some time. Having managed in the first and second tiers of English soccer for years, he must be a very wealthy man. And his eagerness to get back into management spoke to a passion for the sport, rather than the rewards.
His time at Apoel Nicosia was a failure, but one resulting at least in part from the instability at the club.
Yet there was little indication that he would have such a remarkable effect on Cardiff City when given the job in January, initially for the remainder of this season.
Cardiff were 15th in the Championship when he joined. Their draw with Huddersfield on Friday night left them close to the play-off positions and a return to the Premier League that looked highly improbable for the club and its manager, is now a plausible ambition.
For McCarthy, it should serve as vindication of his talents, particularly in the hard-scrabble world of England’s second level, where he has always been at his best.
It should also bring a smile to supporters to see a member of Ireland’s so-called ‘football family’ – a phrase that has thankfully declined in usage since the collapse of the old era – do so well. Surely it is possible to agree with Kenny’s views around how the game should be played, and the supporting logic that older methods were in need of updating, while also seeing the good in what McCarthy achieved, and recognising that perhaps he can still do this job, after all.
And it’s also possible to wish Kenny well with his daring ambitions, while also fearing that he simply does not have the personnel to implement it; while acknowledging that McCarthy, with his vast experience, maybe understood the limitations of his players and planned accordingly.
The most convincing case for Kenny’s methods remains the excellent performance in that Slovakia game, but the effort in Helsinki when losing to Finland contained plenty that was good, too.
Bigger tests loom with the return of international soccer later this month.
While Kenny plans for that, McCarthy will be trying to keep Cardiff’s dreams within reach.
This late flourish in his career was hard to imagine last April. Yesterday’s man battles on.