New Manager appointed
- Thread starter Premier 1
- Start date
SeasideEssexXile
Vital Football Legend
Been outmost of today and pleased we got this one over the line.
Comes across very well - excellent first interview:
Comes across very well - excellent first interview:
SeasideEssexXile
Vital Football Legend
Mick McCarthy: ‘I’d have sacked myself at Cardiff but it’s great to be back in the game at Blackpool’
The 63-year-old speaks to i’s Mark Douglas about his surprise return to management, what went wrong at Cardiff and football’s ever-changing terminology
Enter the Tangerines, 23rd in the Championship and with no win since 8 October. It’s a salvage job but the offer – a five month initial contract with the task of galvanising the squad and keeping the club in the division – was just too good to turn down.
“I’m really excited about it. It’s great to be back in the game and great that someone thinks you can do a job,” he says. A raft of speaking engagements and a trip to Florida have been cancelled.
On Monday we’d spoken at length about that weird twilight zone of spending over 12 months out of management, the strange emotions of a Saturday afternoon without a game to manage and how he’d spotted that “familiar blankness” on the face of Frank Lampard and one or two others under pressure the previous week.
“Journalists get that bit braver when you’re losing games, you know,” he’d said of that “awful feeling” of being unable to reverse a losing run.
Now he is opening the door to that world again, the stress, the tension, the late nights, early starts, the surreal life of the long distance manager. He can’t wait.
“It’s the same every time you get a new job, that buzz. I’ve loved spending time with my family but you miss being around it and Blackpool is a great club. Besides, on Sunday I jet washed my drive and I think it was a case of jet washing the jet wash.
“That probably told me it was time to get back in.”
McCarthy told friends on Thursday that Blackpool is either his “swansong” or – if it goes as he hopes – might just end up being the start of another managerial journey.
You suspect McCarthy will relish the fact that his managerial career is not ending with the run of eight defeats which brought the curtain down on his time at Cardiff in 2021.
Mick McCarthy’s managerial career
• Millwall (1992-96)
• Republic of Ireland (1996-2002)
• Sunderland (2003-06)
• Wolves (2006-12)
• Ipswich Town (2012-18)
• Republic of Ireland (2018-20)
• APOEL (2020-21)
• Cardiff City (2021)
• Blackpool (2023-present)
“I’m still surprised and shocked by that, it’s not normal,” he said. “I made a few mistakes in that run. I think I went a bit too negative but there were mitigating circumstances. I’d have sacked myself after eight games without a win.”
McCarthy returns to a game that has, he admits, changed immeasurably in the last four or five years.
“Everyone has two centre halves in the 18 yard box getting the ball, everyone seems to play the same way and the best teams do it really well and will win more games because they keep the ball. It’s not a bad thing as teams are playing some great football but sometimes I’m watching it and thinking ‘Someone please put a cross in!’ As a centre forward you’d be doing your head in,” he says.
“I think there’s more than one way to skin a cat. There has to be.”
He also chuckles at the changing terminology of the game. “I was watching my nephew play the other week and spotted a goalkeeper who used to play for me,” he recalls
Are you the physio?’ He said ‘No, I’m the head of health, medical, physiology and something else and something else and well-being’. I said to him ‘How wide is your f___ing office door? You’ll never get that title on there!’
“When he went away the goalkeeper said to me: ‘Yeah, he’s the physio’ but they just can’t call him that anymore.”
Blackpool are getting a good manager, a proud member of the 1,000 game club, and an even better man. He’s as fired up as he was as a 33 year old at Millwall all those years ago, determined to justify the faith of Blackpool’s board and supporters rather than proving perceived doubters wrong.
On Monday, we spoke at length about his reputation and he settled on the following sentence: “I do what I can to win a football match but I don’t always do it to please everybody.” That is exactly what his new club need.
The 63-year-old speaks to i’s Mark Douglas about his surprise return to management, what went wrong at Cardiff and football’s ever-changing terminology
Enter the Tangerines, 23rd in the Championship and with no win since 8 October. It’s a salvage job but the offer – a five month initial contract with the task of galvanising the squad and keeping the club in the division – was just too good to turn down.
“I’m really excited about it. It’s great to be back in the game and great that someone thinks you can do a job,” he says. A raft of speaking engagements and a trip to Florida have been cancelled.
On Monday we’d spoken at length about that weird twilight zone of spending over 12 months out of management, the strange emotions of a Saturday afternoon without a game to manage and how he’d spotted that “familiar blankness” on the face of Frank Lampard and one or two others under pressure the previous week.
“Journalists get that bit braver when you’re losing games, you know,” he’d said of that “awful feeling” of being unable to reverse a losing run.
Now he is opening the door to that world again, the stress, the tension, the late nights, early starts, the surreal life of the long distance manager. He can’t wait.
“It’s the same every time you get a new job, that buzz. I’ve loved spending time with my family but you miss being around it and Blackpool is a great club. Besides, on Sunday I jet washed my drive and I think it was a case of jet washing the jet wash.
“That probably told me it was time to get back in.”
McCarthy told friends on Thursday that Blackpool is either his “swansong” or – if it goes as he hopes – might just end up being the start of another managerial journey.
You suspect McCarthy will relish the fact that his managerial career is not ending with the run of eight defeats which brought the curtain down on his time at Cardiff in 2021.
Mick McCarthy’s managerial career
• Millwall (1992-96)
• Republic of Ireland (1996-2002)
• Sunderland (2003-06)
• Wolves (2006-12)
• Ipswich Town (2012-18)
• Republic of Ireland (2018-20)
• APOEL (2020-21)
• Cardiff City (2021)
• Blackpool (2023-present)
“I’m still surprised and shocked by that, it’s not normal,” he said. “I made a few mistakes in that run. I think I went a bit too negative but there were mitigating circumstances. I’d have sacked myself after eight games without a win.”
McCarthy returns to a game that has, he admits, changed immeasurably in the last four or five years.
“Everyone has two centre halves in the 18 yard box getting the ball, everyone seems to play the same way and the best teams do it really well and will win more games because they keep the ball. It’s not a bad thing as teams are playing some great football but sometimes I’m watching it and thinking ‘Someone please put a cross in!’ As a centre forward you’d be doing your head in,” he says.
“I think there’s more than one way to skin a cat. There has to be.”
He also chuckles at the changing terminology of the game. “I was watching my nephew play the other week and spotted a goalkeeper who used to play for me,” he recalls
Are you the physio?’ He said ‘No, I’m the head of health, medical, physiology and something else and something else and well-being’. I said to him ‘How wide is your f___ing office door? You’ll never get that title on there!’
“When he went away the goalkeeper said to me: ‘Yeah, he’s the physio’ but they just can’t call him that anymore.”
Blackpool are getting a good manager, a proud member of the 1,000 game club, and an even better man. He’s as fired up as he was as a 33 year old at Millwall all those years ago, determined to justify the faith of Blackpool’s board and supporters rather than proving perceived doubters wrong.
On Monday, we spoke at length about his reputation and he settled on the following sentence: “I do what I can to win a football match but I don’t always do it to please everybody.” That is exactly what his new club need.
aussie1
Vital Squad Member
Did not check my spell checker.,,,,Should have gone to Spec Savers Prem.
Rock on Mick,your the man
MichaelP
SeasideEssexXile
Vital Football Legend
This is an excellent read:
https://www.bettingodds.com/news/next-blackpool-manager-mick-mccarthy-michael-appleton-pete-wild
https://www.bettingodds.com/news/next-blackpool-manager-mick-mccarthy-michael-appleton-pete-wild
Very interesting and thoughtful read.
BobHatton
Vital Champions League
Hope So.
SeasideEssexXile
Vital Football Legend
Whereas Wiggun sack You're after less than 60days...
Wigan Athletic have sacked boss Kolo Toure after he failed to win any of his nine games in charge.
The former Arsenal and Manchester City defender was only appointed as Leam Richardson's successor in November.
However, the Latics took just two points from his seven Championship matches at the helm and are four points adrift of safety.
They now have a two-week break before returning to action with a trip to Blackburn on Monday, 6 February.
Wigan Athletic have sacked boss Kolo Toure after he failed to win any of his nine games in charge.
The former Arsenal and Manchester City defender was only appointed as Leam Richardson's successor in November.
However, the Latics took just two points from his seven Championship matches at the helm and are four points adrift of safety.
They now have a two-week break before returning to action with a trip to Blackburn on Monday, 6 February.
