Mick McCarthy

Drumcondra 69er wrote: I'd sooner see Kenny in charge for the Nations League and World Cup qualifiers. But it would be very difficult to deny a manager the chance to manage at a tournament he'd qualified us for if we were to get there.  If he was to offer to forgoe his exit payment and take that as a years salary that would complicate things further, there's a years salary there.  There was a part of me that wanted Kenny to see the 21s campaign through and lead them into the finals if they qualified. Purely from the perspective of getting the experience of a finals camp with that squad of players. Think that could be valuable in terms of when they come through to senior. God knows when that tournament will take place now though. Can see this being a very tricky situation.

I can't really understand how anyone can say Mick will be unlucky to not take the team to the Euros etc

maybe co-managers?

Drumcondra 69er wrote: Nialler wrote: I can't really understand how anyone can say Mick will be unlucky to not take the team to the Euros etc The man has been paid millions and the Danish manager is saying he is set not to take his qualified team to the euros so there is a precedent already.  It is time for the FAI to take a decision about what is best for Irish football ruthlessly. I did not see Mick offering to to give up his ridiculous 'exit bonus' in a financial crisis. I don't see him offering to give up his bonus in a second crisis. The media talking about fairness to a man who has failed miserably and been totally overpaid (Croatian manager get 400k-600k year for example) in the process is mind boggling.  He had a contract... we fulfilled the terms. Good luck in your future Mick. It really isn't any more difficult than that.  The Danish manager is retiring so it's nothing the same.  It's not as straightforward as you indicate either. He's supossed to be very popular with the squad for right or wrong so they may not want to change if they qualify with him. No one is certain about the terms of the contract either, with the way contracts were being drawn up in the old regime I'd be amazed if it's watertight or doesn't have contradictions in it. And should he qualify then he won't have failed.

I don't blame McCarthy totally at all. I mean he didn't appoint himself. But the irish soccer economy has been a top heavy incentivisation of degenerecy for years. For eg Bielsa took over a poor leeds squad and coached them out of it and earned around the same money as Mick. Thats is the definition of insanity.Lots of good things happening now and I think the senior team should play an aspirational style of football we are in all our age groups. I mean I am just looking at this thinking there are plenty of players who are past their sell by date in terms of age profile with young lads who need the experience as soon as possible to develop (Whelan vs Molumby). Playing the like of collins etc is insanity as his ceiling is so low.  He has probably peaked as a bottom of the league championship club player.  bite the bullet now and throw one of the young forwards in instead of paying double later. Most international teams have recognised this. We are playing Glen Whelan when his career is over, not to slate the lad but its just reality. Anyway to say we dont have the players when we have plenty of players at the top level is to diminish what a top class coach can do... which is plenty.

I’m not disputing those figures, but where are you getting them from? It is quite difficult to get exact figures, especially outside the biggest clubs and franchises.

I think you're being a little pessimistic there Brick. This generation will do a lot better than previous ones. I reckon the Irish setup would be disappointed if at least 4 or 5 don't play to a high standard for a decent period of time - Connolly and Obafemi already making breakthrough in the PL at a young age and there's high hopes for Parrott, Molumby, Collins, Knight, O'Shea, Bazunu, Idah.

Mr Brick wrote: "To also suggest that we are ranked 3rd and that it would only be a bonus if we did better is an astonishing ridiculous position." Nothing astonishing or ridiculous. We were ranked third and we finished third.

Jebediah Springfield wrote: I think you're being a little pessimistic there Brick. This generation will do a lot better than previous ones. I reckon the Irish setup would be disappointed if at least 4 or 5 don't play to a high standard for a decent period of time - Connolly and Obafemi already making breakthrough in the PL at a young age and there's high hopes for Parrott, Molumby, Collins, Knight, O'Shea, Bazunu, Idah. I hate saying it because things usually blow up in my face, but in my humble opinion, this is our best crop by a mile since late 90's (Keane, Duff, Harte etc). That's not even mentioning the 19's, 17's and 15's who are doing very well too. I'd like to think that behind the scenes, we seem to be doing something right with our coaching finally.