New boss Mick McCarthy is delighted to be back in management but admits that he had some qualms about taking over at a club which is currently bottom of the Championship. McCarthy, whose appointment on a contract until the summer of 2015 along with his Wolves assistant Terry Connor, was confirmed this morning, was paraded at a Portman Road press conference late this afternoon.

McCarthy said he was pleased to be back in football nine months after be sacked by Wolves: “It’s great. For now! I’ll tell you on Saturday night at five o’clock! It feels good, I’m delighted to be back. It’s a good club, it has a good feel about it.

“I did [have qualms about taking on a team bottom of the Championship]. I would have liked another job in the Premier League, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.

“I needed a rest away from it as well. I realised that and then I got this opportunity. It’s a fantastic club with a great fanbase with a terrific history to it.

“What it hasn’t got at the moment is a particularly good team, that’s the bottom line. Paul’s a mate of mine, as is Hutch, I’m certainly not going to be disrespectful to them, they would say the same — if you’re bottom of the league there are problems.”

He admits that he joins Town at a low ebb with thoughts of returning to the top flight a long way from his mind: “Premier League? I’m talking about staying in the Championship for now. I think that the first job is to get them out of the bottom three and stay up, that’s going to be a task in itself.

“Looking at Marcus Evans’s track record, he’s backed every manager he’s worked with and I think if he sees that it’s going in the right way, and it’s being run in the right way, then he’ll back me as well and give me an opportunity to progress.

“But let’s deal with the real issue at hand — we’re bottom of the league, struggling like hell at the minute, let’s try and get them out of that position first.”

He added: “In the short-term we need six points to get out of that. We’ve got two away games, it might take a while to do that.

“We’ll have some good days and we’ll have some bad days but what we’ve got to do is keep focused and confident that we can get out of there in the short-term. And that’s the only way we can push on is by getting out of there.”

He says he was headhunted by Town and admits to more than a sharp intake of breath when he was first contacted: “I didn’t apply for it so obviously yes. I thought ‘Oh shit’ actually to start with when I got the call. I saw where they were and saw they were being beaten."

He admits that the loan situation isn’t ideal: “There’s a problem with loan players I think.

"I do think that is an issue. I hear one of the loan players, Richie Wellens, is saying they don’t care enough. It’s not perfect to have so many loan players but there’s some good talent."

McCarthy says if he senses the same as Wellens, those players won’t be around for long: “If they don’t care, they won’t play, but everybody looks you in the eye and says ‘I really want to play’. Performances tell more than any other words do.

“I’m sad that some of my team now would be casting aspersions against others. But it’s interesting that it’s a loan player that comes in and says it because he’s from outside, a fresh voice, another one that can perhaps see the wood from the trees a little bit. But I hope I don’t see that they don’t care.”

As he prepares for his first game in charge at Birmingham on Saturday the 53-year-old says he’s started to go through recordings of previous games and says some were worse than others: “I don’t know what the root cause [of Town's struggles] is.

"I’ve had a look at a couple of DVDs today. One was horrendous against Sheffield Wednesday, should have watched it on Halloween that one.

“Looking at the Brighton and Derby games, they actually played all right and had chances. It’s bizarre. I’ll get a chance to look at a few more and I’ll see it for myself on Saturday."

Regarding what team he'll play in that game, he is still to make up his mind: “St Andrew’s is a tough place to go and play. A couple of the young ‘uns have impressed me today in training. I’ll see, I’ll have a look tomorrow and make a decision on it.”

Photo: Action Images

Kikapu added 21:20 - Nov 1 I registered because I was fed up with all the negative comments - on all topics and wanted to add a few to the positive column. Now everyone is commenting in a positive way and I've nothing to cocmplain about. That's a sign of the character that is MM. I'm sure he will make things happen.
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WIGGSTER1978 added 21:20 - Nov 1 I was not to keen on getting McCarthy but after hearing a very HONEST news conference I am quite happy . HE states the points we are in trouble and he HAS NOT PROMISED THE GOLDEN LAND of the premier league like all other mangers have. Good Luck Mick & Terry . lets hope you have every single blues supporter behind you.
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suffolkpunchdrunk added 21:22 - Nov 1 Hard to believe given his lack of success at ITFC but Roy Keane took Sunderland from 23rd place in the championship to become division champions in his first season in charge. Can MM go one better and take us from 24th place to the promised land? Going to be a tough game this weekend but Birmingham have conceded a fair number of goals so far this season so lets go 4-4-2 and get at them. Dudley Junior Campbell to score a brace against his old team! COYB

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bluelad7 added 21:26 - Nov 1 Also worth mentioning the amount of comments left by both Sunderland and Wolves fans wishing M & T all the best (see Sky Sports website). Appears he is still held in high esteem by both sets of supporters which speaks volumes. I've really got a good feeling about this. Let's hope the scum get relegated this season so we can spank them twice on the way up to the Prem league -

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Talbs77 added 21:32 - Nov 1 First of all welcome to the big man, just seen the whole press conference online and he certainly talks so much sense. I think some players that perhaps havent been putting in 100% need to pretty damn quick as I think the big man wont hang around changing it aka Martin/JET/Chopra. Glad he mentioned the young uns in training impressed. Now is the time to get 100% behind the big man, the team and Club. This is what being a fan is all about and, hopefully, one day when we are watching us lift the Champions League (ok I'm allowed to dream arent I?!), we will remember Sheffield Wednesday and sitting bottom of the Championship. The only way us up guys.

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BlueMagpie added 21:36 - Nov 1 Much though the Wednesday game on Saturday was grim (perhaps that's why the players were so confused - why did anyone ever let a football team take their name from a day of the week anyway?), I was ashamed to hear chants of 'you're not fit to wear the shirt' at the end. Players who had really put in a shift (I could name at least two) didn't need to hear that. Perhaps, like governments, fans get the manager they deserve. Let's hope MM will turn out better than we deserve. I'm not convinced he will be, but, like PJ, he strikes me as a good man who will work hard for the club and, more importantly, has the potential to be an Ipswich sort of man in a way that RK was never going to be. Onwards and upwards.

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MickMillsTash added 21:36 - Nov 1 I can't imagine the despair if this does not work over the next 2 years. I am optimistic
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Norwichbeater added 21:46 - Nov 1 Sorry BlueMagpie i do not agree with your last post. The singing was justified and directed at the players that deserved it. Everyone knows who they are. All the fans want are honest players who want to play for the club. BlueMagpie its only this post i don't agree with!! But we all have different opinions!
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StochesStotasBlewe added 21:48 - Nov 1 Welcome Mick & Terry. Your appointment to manage & coach our great club has already given the majority of us suffering fans a big lift. Looking foward to saturday. Interesting positive comments from both Wolves & Sunderland fans on skysports news website that show how popular Mick is/was with them.COYB.
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RaymondovicBlue added 21:48 - Nov 1 Mickey Mac? Paddy Whack? This is fun already - roll on three points on Saturday!
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Keaneish added 22:04 - Nov 1 PLease let that young un be Ainsley!
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Pip50 added 22:12 - Nov 1 We can start the countdown to next sacking in 18 months time. What have we come down too. I expect Rednapp and Oli wanted some money to spend. What a load of cra*
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Mutiny added 22:15 - Nov 1 Seems an honest man and wish him all the best. The real problem is going to be Clegg. Mick sees the problem with loan players - not sure that Clegg will agree with him. Unfortunately the only way that the new manager has a chance of success is if Clegg goes; he has been out of his depth since the day he arrived.
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TractorCam added 22:18 - Nov 1 I am totally confident Mick can get us out of this and maybe even push us 1 step further, COYB
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stinkiusminkius added 22:19 - Nov 1 Certainly talks the talk, and I particularly like his comments about sorting out those that don't try, plus mentioning youngsters. As long as people realise that improvement is unlikely to be instant I.e. don't start whinging if we lose on Saturday.
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skankerman added 22:22 - Nov 1 Good luck Mick Very pleased you are on board
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Premiertown added 22:27 - Nov 1 I think it may be January before we start making headway. Going to be a long season.
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Stato added 22:27 - Nov 1 pj lost sight of the fact that a number of players like JET and Chopra weren't delivering. It is possible some players might perform in the new regime but more likely is that Jan will see a load of new arrivals and hopefully a target man to play up front.
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BuckieBlue added 22:34 - Nov 1 Good first interview- honest about task in hand, but with air of confidence, sees (number of) loanees as a problem and specifically mentions young players.
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50yearsablue added 22:35 - Nov 1 BlueMagpie, I can understand your concern but I was ashamed to see some of our players clearly not giving 100%. I wouldn't join in such chanting but, with PJ already gone, the players were easy targets and they didn't help their cause with such a dire performance. It was one of the worst in my lifetime of support and mainly because they didn't try and made a poor, struggling team look like world beaters. The reason I am now coming round to liking MM's appointment is that he will not tolerate that from anyone. It may not be pretty but we have not had attractive football since Royle's days. Personally, I don't care but it won't be Boothroydesque and I would rather be successful at the moment than seeing pretty stuff in League 1

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Keaneish added 22:42 - Nov 1 @pip50 - if you seriously think we'd get Redknapp you're deluded!
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chantryboi added 22:44 - Nov 1 Lets all take a deep breath and give the boy a chance, results are not going to happen over night but if Mick and Co can keep us away from the relegation battle i for one will be extremly happy this season. Then after a close season in which he can bring in his own players then can he be judge. Some may dislike his style of football but throughout his career he has managed to get results.And at the moment we could do with a few!

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Ipswich24 added 22:46 - Nov 1 Great appointment lets hope 3rd time lucky. Mick has great presence and I for one will get behind him 100%. Would love to see Matt Holland come in too. COYB!!!!
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MVBlue added 23:42 - Nov 1 Agree with above comment. I think its Chopra who is king of the beer brigade. Starting to wonder about that guy
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RetroBlue added 00:00 - Nov 2 What a breath of fresh air Mick McCarthy is. His shoot from the hip, look me. Straight in the eye when you speak to me, type of honesty is exactly what the Town faithful have been waiting for. I get the feeling that the long awaited, new succesful era, is about to dawn. And Ipswich Town FC are about to be resurected from the ashes of those dark administration days that have haunted us for so long.

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