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McCarthy Proud of His “Horrible Bunch”
Monday, 20th Apr 2015 06:00

Boss Mick McCarthy expressed his pride in his Town squad after they picked up another hard-fought away point from their 1-1 away draw against his old club Wolves on Saturday.

“The first thing I just said to them in the dressing room afterwards was ‘What a belligerent, stubborn, hard-working, tough, horrible bunch of sods you’ve turned out to be, and I love you!’.

“‘And I’m proud of you because I think you need all those qualities to be a good team’. And we can play but we’ve certainly got all that and it’s lovely to have.”

McCarthy made no apologies for the no frills approach which has seen the sixth-placed Blues - who are three points plus a superior goal difference ahead of Brentford and Wolves in seventh and eighth with just two games to play - to the cusp of confirming a place in the play-offs for the first time in a decade.

“I would have thought our fans are going home pretty happy that we’ve come and added a point to the two home wins, and with some good performances,” he said.

“I think it takes a lot to get ourselves into the position that we’re in and a lot of those qualities that I talked about are probably the reason why we are where we are.

“It takes a lot of things to be up at the top. There will be teams below us who are all fanning out and playing sexy football and there are some of them that peer down their noses at it.

“We’re winning games, we’re in the top six, we’ve still got a chance of getting promoted, so anybody who cocks a snook at the way we do it, I laugh at them.

“I think it’s comical because I think what we do we do it well and isn’t that what having a job is all about? I’m sure you’d like to think your boss think that you do your job well.”

Elsewhere, West Ham are reported to be ready to make a £5 million move for Blues left-back Tyrone Mings if his predecessor at Portman Road Aaron Cresswell is sold over the summer.

The former Town full-back has been linked with the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City after an impressive first season with the Hammers.

It would be little surprise if West Ham have joined most of the rest of the Premier League in keeping tabs on Mings this season, although the Blues are likely to want a fee significantly in advance of £5 million for the former Chippenham defender.

Meanwhile, Town’s U21s are in action against Bristol City at Playford Road this morning (KO 11am).

Last Monday, goals from Jack Marriott, Alex Henshall and trialist Josh Yorwerth saw Mark Kennedy’s side to a 3-0 victory over the Robins at their Failand training ground.


Photo: Action Images



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Len_Brennan added 06:35 - Apr 20
Phil: Do you know if there is a sell on clause in the Cresswell fee, or if the £3.75m has already risen towards the reported (rising to) figure of £7m with add ons?
With Man City interested & Cressie being English, the transfer fee could be very significant.
20% of £15m is £3m.
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Bob7881 added 06:48 - Apr 20
I Think its great we are still in with a shout of promotion all Town fans have waited long enough. That said i have no confidence in the squad and manager if we get to the premier league, even the most dyed in the wool Town fans must except the football we play is poor at best. To top that i dont think Evans will spend as he wants his money back. Having said all that i live in hope that this our year and we step out at wembley and win on the day and write another day into our great history. After that who knows.
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warktheline added 06:55 - Apr 20
Mings has a lot to learn and at this present time I believe he is being totally overrated, but if some big offer comes in for him, I won't be complaining.
Regardless of division between Town fans, surely WE should be proud of this 'orrible bunch'. A mixed bag of players but very prepared to fight in a Town shirt for every point gained! Well done lads.
13

Fat_Boy_Tim added 07:24 - Apr 20
Another thing I'm quite proud of is professional way we have gone about our business recently. No players arrested, spotted in a nightclub the night before a match, tweeting idiotic comments and pictures, having sulks etc etc. There have been complaints about the style of football but not from me. If we are in 6th place with two games to go that will do nicely, our style of football deserves 6th place. I'd rather this team and this season than most of the last 10.
28

WorcesterBlue added 07:45 - Apr 20
That's a good point FBT and a nice change. It's pretty clear what Mick demands and that has lots of benefits some unseen.
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BYRNE_16 added 08:06 - Apr 20
I must admit it I was shouting at the screen because we didn't look great. But at the end i thought "I'll Take that" Massive point and now we must win at PR saturday to seal the deal.

We are Ipswich and there is nothing you can do about it!
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blueherts added 08:12 - Apr 20
Good MM - I got back Saturday and couldnt believe some of the stuff I was reading - alot very negative - As I say , all about opinions - but some people do need to live in the modern word of Business running football
Yes - It may not be perfect for all us fans who loved the game in the 1970s and early 80s but Sky , Barclays , Business owners , invisible foreign owners and the Premier League run Football - SAD BUT TRUE
So as the owner of 'our beloved club' Marcus Evans has given MM an objective to maximize his return . Minimal investment and max return - we are a business , unike some of the other sides - where Russains/Asians/Americans fancy afew years of limelight and somewhere to park their 'fortunes', ME runs a business within parameters
So MM is on course to meet that goal ...
We can all sit down at the end of the season and decide how you measure success
Many will want promotion playing beautiful football , many are happy to be competing with two games to go .
If you want the former and want a change then you will be waiting another few years - if you want the latter MM is on course
And for those saying we will get battered in the prem league with this squad ?
At the end of this season there will be a change in personnel , some going some coming in , I am sure - especially if we go up - that is a game changer
I would rather sit looking at a half FULL glass but so many on here have it half empty
Believe in what MM is doing - this is how it is - we cant live in the past
20

Mr_Evans added 08:14 - Apr 20
Stoke got promoted, and kept their place in the PL by playing dogged football. Any person that states it as a negative thing that we'll go up and come straight back down again are imbeciles.
The cost of promotion and 1 season in the PL will pump more money into this club than we have had in over a decade. Local businesses will thrive, our youth system will benefit and we'd also finally have a decent team on FIFA 16!!!

Also, remember last time we went up people said we'd drop straight back down - well we qualified for European football...
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pennyfathersleg added 08:21 - Apr 20
I love you Mick! I'm very proud to be an ipswich fan again, haven't said that for a few years! At the end of the day, football is a results business and we have produced results this year! I'm proud of how the boys have given everything, this season and continue to do so - let's hope they do for 5 more games!

COYB
7

poringlandblue added 08:27 - Apr 20
the fact we are where we are in the league shows to me what hard graft and team spirit can do but somewhere along the road dont we need to entertain people, attract new supporters. its £100 for me and my son for an afternoon at the match and for that id like to see something i cant see on a park on a sunday morning. im no expert but surely the more we have the ball the less chance of conceding, i dont get continual long balls to murphy who lets say wins 50% of the headers of which 25% fall to team mate, then the balls right back at us. if we do make the premiership id rather mick keeps the majority of the squad together, forget buying a few has beens on big money, get them to pass abit, if wego straight down so be it but clear our debts and move on.
3

GiveusaWave added 08:28 - Apr 20
I think it would be great if we got promoted, and those players that take us there should really keep their places in the team.

Yes, we need strengthening in about 3/4 places, but Murphy, Varney, Bishop, Mings, Smith, Tabb, Berra, Chambers, Anderson, Bru and co deserve their opportunity to play in the Premier League. We might take a good few thrashings but the financial windfall would keep us afloat for the next 3/4 years (and might help us to get instant promotion if we go back down).

Promotion would be huge for this club and our future.
1

Keaneish added 08:41 - Apr 20
Yes, yes, yes. Agree its about mixing it up. Agree its about being stubborn. Agree its about character. Agree it's the best position we've been in and a minor miracle given how much we've spent. All good. BUT...

Whether you buy in to the ' its a results business ethos or not, its dross to watch. No-one can argue any different. All teams around us are playing better football, some with less financial resources than us. Explain this...
6

brittaniaman added 09:02 - Apr 20
Let us all hope that the (Horrible Bunch) MM. quotes ! can get 4pts out of the next 2 games so we should clear it by at least a point.
1

PhilTWTD added 09:07 - Apr 20
Len_Brennan

Ian Milne was asked last week but wasn't certain of the details but he thought there was one. Would be a percentage of profit rather than the overall fee though and probably nearer 10 per cent.
3

osborne added 09:13 - Apr 20
‘What a belligerent, stubborn, hard-working, tough, horrible bunch of sods you've turned out to be, and I love you!'.
Well Mick, you've built a team in your own likeness then. We love you too! If anyone has the credentials to get us promoted from this point in the season int's Mick Trust him - I do.
2

Moscow_Blue added 09:14 - Apr 20
If Delaney, Bruce and Rosenior can survive and Cresswell star in the Premiership then just may be there would be hope with some of the present players. We have two very tough games to come and the play-offs are not guaranteed. Keep the faith and Come on You Blues!!!!
2

2_Goal added 09:38 - Apr 20
Interesting that nick felt like he had to say those words to his players, and then also that he felt he needed to relay them on afterwards. In any case, he has earned the right to say what he wants.

Picking up on an earlier post saying that this bunch of players are behaving off the field too - no bad stories in the media, which is great. Also - no red cards this season! Which is also great. Probably down to mick. If you let the team down (which is what earning a red card generally means) then mick would certainly let you know about it!!

2

dalinghooblue added 09:47 - Apr 20
We might be a 'Horrible Lot', but we have the best on field disciplinary record in the division. We are the only team which has not had a red card and with 68 yellows, only 4 teams have a lower yellow card total but all those have two or more red cards.
4

Len_Brennan added 10:18 - Apr 20
Phil, Thanks for that.
I guess if ian Milne isn't even sure that there is one, it can't be much & certainly it's not something that the money men are rubbing their hands in anticipation over, with the thoughts of a windfall.
Still, a £14m fee, would give £10m profit and net us an extra £1m, even by the terms suggested. That'll get us 10 more Freddie Sears'es.
1

StowTractorBoy added 10:34 - Apr 20
Well said Mick and if you read this board you will be laughing at a lot of the anti comments on here. It seems that unlike most I go home and away to see ITFC win whatever it takes. I would rather win a with a rubbish performance than lose playing the beautiful game. With this squad there is no way we should compete with the likes of Norwich, Derby and Watford who have squads that cost millions but MM has used what he has exceptionally well. We may not make it but how nice it ii to be in the mix so lets all get down to Portman Road on Saturday and get behind the team however we play.
7

Jimmy86 added 10:43 - Apr 20
With Mings people need to get real. The only reason he didn't leave in January is coz there's no way on gods earth he's a 10 million pound player. No club was willing to bid remotely near that. It is his first full season at this level, but you get the impression he is starting to believe his own hype. He is far too casual and against wolves he was really poor. Hasn't been great since January and is playing with the brakes on, as he was at the start of the season, until Mick gave him a rocket. He perhaps needs another 1!!
1

Palestine added 10:58 - Apr 20
Mick sounds like Harold Steptoe describing his dad!

It's great to have a hardworking team that fight like men, and can scrap, something that was missing for many years when our defence was a 'soft touch'. That said, the anti-football approach is taken to such an extreme it almost looks perverse, when the ball is pummeled up field in a blind panic, rather than a simple pass made. We might make the play offs, and if we somehow got past 2 better teams than us and went up, which is unlikely (pls not to Norwich), then I think we would be like McCarthy's Sunderland team and have a horrible season. Sorry.

And does the Prem parachute money set clubs up? Look how many have suffered and almost gone down again - Wigan, Fulham, Cardiff, Wolves, etc.

I honestly don't know whether to wish we get promoted or not..!
2

Razor added 10:58 - Apr 20
Fantastic hard earned battling point at Wolves and Berra once again the star.

Lets get PR rocking on Saturday and do the job then---remember sweating on results at Blackburn a few years and Brian Stein baled us out----dont think the old ticker will take much more of that!

Just 2 comments-----was Jonny Williams just a big PR stunt or is he being cunningly saved,and any update on the injuries-----will any make it for the last 2 games or play-offs--the lack of information is not good and being dis-respectful to town fans.

Anyway---BLUE ARMY and roll on Saturday.
1

PJH added 11:05 - Apr 20
Well said MM.

As individuals none of this team would get near a greatest ever ITFC XI(unless Bishop or Mings develop dramatically)but as a team/squad they are as "together" as any we have had over the last 50 years.

Like StowTractorBoy, I also go to games both home and away to see my team get a result,however it is achieved.
After the majority of games I am proud of the squad and MM and TC.
COYB
7

warktheline added 12:41 - Apr 20
@keaneish, it's the McCarthy way of playing football, it's obviously successful at Championship level, as backed up by his CV. What's there to explain?
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