A McCarthy Witch Hunt

If Mick McCarthy was a holiday he’d be a wet week in a caravan in the Corley services on the M6. And when I say wet I mean it pissing it down. And when I say pissing I mean actual urine. To watch him be interviewed is to be hit repeatedly in the face by a very pessimistic spade.

No man has ever approached the highest stratus of football with such a hardy sense of defeatism. Given the opportunity to build on a fortifying victory at White Hart Lane against a crumbly United team bouncing off defeat themselves, McCarthy threw in a thousand towels. To protect his team for more winnable bouts ahead. Come off it Michael, it’s a football pitch not the killing fields of Ypres. The turf isn’t littered with the tiny shards of your half-empty glass.

I wonder what happened to McCarthy’s pride and hope. Maybe they’re up his bollocks where Roy Keane stuck them.

Mick McCarthy at the post-match press conference

A Little Bit Of Bump And Grind

Putting it mildly Roy Keane isn’t everybody’s cup of tea. In fact, for Ipswich fans brought up on decent-minded managers like Bobby Robson and John Lyall, he’s more like a cup of sick. But at least you know where you stand with Roy, he couldn’t be more transparent if he was made of clingfilm.

During this week’s hilarious press conference at Portman Road, Keane put forward his forthright views on the Henry handball controversy. Given his previous disagreements with the FAI, he may as well have brought in a large axe, slipped on a little bit of R Kelly, and set about it grinding it in the most energetic way possible.

But he does make a valid point about the incident which lead to the Irish winning a vital qualifying game against Georgia at Croke Park in February. Check it out for yourselves below. It would have only been slightly more bizarre if the referee had awarded Ireland the Nobel Prize for Physics than this penalty.