McCarthy lays it firmly on the line
Soccer News 26 February 1997
"I COULD BE LABELLED A BUFFOON IF WE FAIL TO QUALIFY FOR FRANCE"
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW :: BY TOM KELLY
Irish manager Mick McCarthy has openly admitted he faces a date with destiny.
Speaking exclusively to the Connaught Telegraph during a visit to Castlebar for the Mayo Association Football League's annual presentation function in the Welcome Inn Hotel, the Yorkshire-born boss said the year ahead was vitally important for him.
He told me: "I accept I will be judged on whether or not Ireland qualify for the World Cup final in 1998.
"There is no doubt about that. If we qualify by goal difference, I will be judged as being a wonderful manager. If we fail to qualify on goal difference, I might be labelled a buffoon.
"But people should look at the picture with a wider sense of perspective. They should be prepared to ask if the game has progressed during my time as manager.
"We can't go any further in terms of success. Jack Charlton brought us to the quarter-finals of the World Cup in 1990. I don't know if that will ever be emulated. I hope it is, and that I am in charge.
"I am hoping that Irish players at all levels will become technically better because of the way I want the Irish team to play at international level, with a greater emphasis on passing and other skills.
"This won't happen over two years, but it may happen over a longer period than that if we continue playing the way which I think is the right way. A skilful and attacking way of playing football, with a lot of mobility and variation.
"It is a pleasure to watch when it is going right. But when it goes wrong, it's useless."
McCarthy said he did not know how far away he was from getting the team that he wanted.
"There was a time when I thought I probably had it. Then other players caught my eye when I was not happy with performances in certain positions.
"In our opening World Cup qualifying match against Macedonia, I felt a number of players performed brilliantly. But, against Iceland, their display was totally different.
"So I had to ask myself was I going to stick with those players or change things around.
"I brought Gary Kelly back for half a game against Wales, and played Jason McAteer wide on the right which I think is his best position.
"I thought Steve Staunton, who had played at the back in the previous games, did excellently at midfield in Cardiff. I also put Roy Keane back in midfield in that match, but I still feel he could play at the back for me.
"Big Paul McGrath came back and did well, and I thought Ian Harte was tremendous. Terry Phelan also played well on his return.
"The team is constantly changing. I don't get the chance to see the players week in, week out. So you never get any continuity.
"Because I play the game differently than Jack Charlton, I possibly have more options then he had. There was a more settled format of playing under Jack."
McCarthy believed the next match in the qualifying group against Macedonia on April 2nd was 'a far bigger test' for him than the one against Romania twenty-eight days later. "I think we are capable of beating Macedonia away. But we are not going to go there to throw caution to the wind. If we can win there, we can turn our attention to Romania.
"If we happen to lose to Romania, atleast we know we have them at home in the last group game on October 11th. That would give us the opportunity to turn matters around, providing, of course, we win our remaining matches in between."
Asked to explain his style of management, he said he did not concern himself with self-analysis. "There is no question but that I am an honest manager. If you are honest with players, they can never come back and say that you told them this or that.
"You could say I am a hands-on manager. I know everything that's going on. I know who needs a kick up the backside. I know who wants an arm put around him and told he played well.
"I concern myself with the finer details, and I like to win. I would also like to think that the team is greater than any individual. I believe collective spirit is a big part of any team.
"It was a big part of my own game, and sometimes overshadowed the fact that I could play a bit as well."
McCarthy said there was not an aspect of the Irish job which he found particularly difficult since his appointment a year ago. "Some of the Press are saying that I've changed. That I am a bit colder with people. I don't think that I am. I am still as honest with people as they are with me. I don't like being treated badly by anybody.
"I admit to missing the day to day involvement which is not possible for an international team manager. I love the camaraderie of being involved with players. I miss that on a day to day basis."
Asked to elaborate about his feelings towards the Press, he said: "You are almost defending yourself at times against the Press. I find this very hard. Defending myself against people who never played the game. But nobody likes criticism."
He accepted the expectations for Irish football success was far greater now than when he won the first of his 57 caps back in 1984. "I was part of a team which helped built up those expectations. The problem with expectation, however, is that the disappointment is far greater when a match does not go the way people expected it to."
McCarthy depicted the mood in the Irish dressingroom before a big match. "It is great crack. We have the music turned up. We start with a few Irish Ballads until somebody starts giving out. Then the fun starts.
"Mick Byrne, our physio, is the big, bubbling personality in the dressingroom. He's larger than life. Little Charlie O'Leary will be buzzing around, keeping everybody going. The lads, of course, give them plenty of grief.
"My assistant, Ian Evans, is a great personality in the dressingroom. I would be walking around having a laugh with people. "I enjoy that part of the build-up. It is different when you come out into the dug-out. The pressure starts to build up then."
McCarthy said he enjoyed his playing career at club level, a career spanning 16-years which brought him from Barnsley to Manchester City, Celtic, Olympic Lyon and Millwall. "It was not a great career in terms that I was a great player. But it was a great career in terms of me enjoying it.
"I cannot look back at any club I was with and say I did not enjoy it. I have no regrets at anything I did.
"I was a professional from the age of 18 to 34. It's not bad when you can look back on such a long playing career and say that you had no regrets.
"I suffered the fate of relegation with City and Millwall. Okay, it was a terrible feeling at the time. But I did not regret it. I saw it as being part and parcel of a footballer's career."
When asked who had the biggest influence on his career, his choice was a little surprising. "The one man in football who had the biggest influence on me was Norman Remmington, who was groundsman, kitman and physio at Barnsley. He is still involved at Oakwell.
"He helped me wonderfully in terms of encouragement and advice on life and football.
"Norman Hunter also had a big influence on me during his time as manager of Barnsley. He appreciated my ability as a defender more than Allan Clarke did during his term as manager there.
"Allan Clarke said to me as a youngster that when I won the ball, I should give it to somebody who could play. That did not go down too well for a lad of 20.
"When he said it, I thought he was out of order to be honest. But when I look back on it now, I know it was good advice. What he was telling me was to play it simple.
"Billy O'Neill had a big influence on me, too. He stood by me at times when I had a few bad games. I was fortunate insofar as I was managed by some very good defenders, like O'Neill, Charlton, and Eoin Hand. Perhaps they say qualities in me that they had."
McCarthy confessed he was not the type of person who spent time planning the future. "I have twelve months of a contract left in the Irish job. Everybody seems to be happy the way things are going. I am delighted the way things are going.
"Like I said, if I qualify for France, I am a success. If I don't, even by one goal, I could be deemed a failure.
"I don't know if I will be invited to stay on if we fail to qualify. Whether I am or not, I will be involved in football. The future for Mick McCarthy is as a football manager.
"Whatever I do and where ever I go, I will do so with an open mind and
with the intention of enjoying it."
Connaught Telegraph - News & Sport - February 1997
