Mick McCarthy

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Mick McCarthy
Personal information
Full name	Michael Joseph McCarthy
Date of birth	February 7, 1959 (age 47)
Place of birth	Barnsley, England
Height	6'2 3/4" (190cm)
Position	Manager
Club information
Current club	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1977-1983 1983-1987 1987-1989 1989-1990 1990-1992	Barnsley Manchester City Celtic Olympique Lyonnais Millwall	272 (7) 140 (2) 48 (8) 10 (1) 35 (2)
National team
1984-1992	Republic of Ireland	57 (1)
Teams managed
1992-1996 1996-2002 2003-2006 2006-present	Millwall Republic of Ireland Sunderland Wolverhampton Wanderers
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Michael Joseph McCarthy (born 7 February 1959) is a former professional football player who moved into club management with Millwall F.C., the Republic of Ireland, Sunderland A.F.C., and currently Wolverhampton Wanderers.

He is known for his straight-talking, uncomplicated air, and has also worked as a television football pundit.

Contents 1 Playing career 2 Manager of the Republic of Ireland 3 Sunderland 4 Wolverhampton Wanderers 5 Trivia 6 Managerial stats 7 Successions 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Playing career

Born in Barnsley, England, McCarthy made his league debut for Barnsley F.C. in 1977. A strong central defender, after 272 appearances for Barnsley he went to Manchester City F.C. (1983–1987), Celtic F.C. (1987–1989), Olympique Lyonnais (1989–1990) and Millwall F.C..

His father, Charles McCarthy was Irish, meaning he was eligible for selection for the Republic of Ireland's national team. He made his international debut in 1984. He won 57 caps up to June 1992 and was the well-respected captain for his side, possibly the biggest feat for "Captain Fantastic" was in the second round penalty shoot out win over Romania in Italia '90 which lead to a crunch tie with the hosts in the quarter-final. Although Ireland were beaten 1-0 they were resilient opponents and were considered unfortunate not to progress to the semi-finals.

He joined Millwall in March 1990 and became player-manager in 1992, succeeding Bruce Rioch. After relative success at Millwall on February 5, 1996 McCarthy was appointed successor to Jack Charlton as the Republic of Ireland manager. Millwall went on to be relegated that season under Jimmy Nicholl.

[edit] Manager of the Republic of Ireland

Despite failure to qualify for the 1998 FIFA World Cup or Euro 2000 McCarthy held his job. The republic of Ireland qualified for the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea and Japan, but their tournament was overshadowed by a very public and bitter spat between McCarthy and the team's star player Roy Keane, who was sent home by the manager without having kicked a ball.

McCarthy was criticised by some for his handling of the player. Despite this he had a relatively successful campaign, reaching the Second Round to be eliminated by Spain in a penalty shootout.

The media's vilification became increasingly intense and personal after a poor beginning to their qualifying campaign for Euro 2004; eventually, on November 5, 2002, McCarthy resigned from the post.

While his record as the national manager was good – of 68 games his team won 29, drew 19, and lost 20 – unfortunately it seems likely that memories of his tenure as manager will always^{[citation needed]} be more about the Roy Keane affair than his teams' pitch performances.

[edit] Sunderland

On March 12, 2003 he was appointed manager of struggling Sunderland as an immediate replacement for Howard Wilkinson, who was sacked after six successive Premiership defeats left the club facing near-certain relegation. McCarthy's hiring did not stop Sunderland's slide, and the Black Cats were relegated at the end of the season.

However, he largely escaped blame for the relegation, and was retained as manager. The following season, McCarthy brought Sunderland into the First Division promotion playoffs, but lost in a penalty shootout to Crystal Palace F.C. after Palace had scored a disputed stoppage-time equaliser. This was a remarkable achievement considering the players sold and huge debt that the club were in.

McCarthy completed the miracle recovery of the club in the 2004-05 season. The Black Cats secured automatic promotion to the Premiership on April 23, 2005, and six days later clinched the Championship title.

After a disappointing season and with the club 16 points from safety with only 10 games remaining, Mick McCarthy was dismissed as manager of Sunderland on March 6, 2006.^[1]

Many commentators did not believe the problem lay with McCarthy, instead believing it lay at board level with Bob Murray and his reluctance to release funds to survive in the top flight. Kevin Ball was appointed caretaker manager for the remainder of the 2005-06 season.

[edit] Wolverhampton Wanderers

On July 21, 2006 McCarthy was appointed manager at Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers^[2], replacing Glenn Hoddle who had departed a fortnight before. He was to be unveiled officially on July 24 in a press conference at Molineux.

[edit] Trivia

McCarthy has suffered 4-0 defeats against Cardiff City at Ninian Park on two occasions while managing two different clubs. On both occasions his side had a player receive a straight red card in the first half of the match. The first defeat was in February 2004 during his time at Sunderland A.F.C. when Joachim Bjorklund was sent off after 17 minutes and the second in September 2006 while in charge at Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. when Gary Breen was given his marching orders after 23 minutes. Breen's card was recinded after the match however. ^[3]

[edit] Managerial stats

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	L	D	Win %
Millwall		March 18, 1992	February 4, 1996	203	74	59	70	36.45
Republic of Ireland		March 1, 1996	November 5, 2002	48	22	13	13	45.83
Sunderland		March 12, 2003	March 6, 2006	147	63	58	26	42.85
Wolverhampton Wanderers		July 21, 2006	Present	22	9	7	6	40.90

[edit] Successions

Preceded by Bruce Rioch	Millwall manager 1991–1996	Succeeded by Jimmy Nicholl
Preceded by Jack Charlton	Republic of Ireland manager 1996–2003	Succeeded by Brian Kerr
Preceded by Howard Wilkinson	Sunderland manager 2003–2006	Succeeded by Kevin Ball (caretaker)
Preceded by Glenn Hoddle	Wolves manager 2006–	Succeeded by Incumbent

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Steve Cram on McCarthy's sacking

Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. - Current Squad

1 Oakes | 2 Clyde | 3 Collins | 4 Olofinjana | 5 Breen | 6 Craddock | 7 McNamara | 8 Henry | 9 Cort | 10 Bothroyd | 11 Clapham | 12 Edwards | 13 Johnson | 14 Potter | 15 Rósa | 16 M. Davies | 17 Clarke | 18 C. Davies | 19 Finkler | 20 Murray | 22 Gobern | 24 Gyepes | 25 Jones | 26 Little | 27 Mulgrew | 28 Ricketts | 29 O'Connor | 30 Ikeme | 31 Hennessey | 32 McIndoe | 33 Riley | 37 Kightly | Manager: McCarthy

	Republic of Ireland squad - 1990 World Cup Quarter Finalists
1 Bonner | 2 Morris | 3 Staunton | 4 McCarthy | 5 Moran | 6 Whelan | 7 McGrath | 8 Houghton | 9 Aldridge | 10 Cascarino | 11 Sheedy | 12 O'Leary | 13 Townsend | 14 Hughton | 15 Slaven | 16 Sheridan | 17 Quinn | 18 Stapleton | 19 Kelly | 20 Byrne | 21 McLoughlin | 22 Peyton | Coach: Charlton

	Republic of Ireland squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Given | 2 Finnan | 3 Harte | 4 Cunningham | 5 Staunton | 6 Roy Keane | 7 McAteer | 8 Holland | 9 Duff | 10 Robbie Keane | 11 Kilbane | 12 Kinsella | 13 Connolly | 14 Breen | 15 Dunne | 16 Kiely | 17 Quinn | 18 G. Kelly | 19 Morrison | 20 O'Brien | 21 Reid | 22 Carsley | 23 A. Kelly | Coach: McCarthy