Town boss Mick McCarthy won’t meet headhunters Ray Houghton and Ruud Dokter but will speak directly to senior FAI figures if they want him to succeed Giovanni Trapattoni as Ireland manager, according to today’s Sunday Times in Ireland.

The Blues manager — or an intermediary — is said to have indicated to the FAI that he won’t take part in the interview process currently being conducted by Houghton and Dokter but would talk to the Association’s top men if they approach him directly regarding the role he previously occupied between 1996 and 2002.

The other frontrunner Martin O’Neill is understood to have spoken to the pair, who are due to report back to the FAI board within the next fortnight, for a second time last week but so far without confirming whether he would take the position if it were to be offered. The Northern Irishman continues to be linked with various vacant club jobs.

McCarthy, who yesterday said he had still received no contact regarding the vacancy, is believed to be unhappy that the FAI are yet to intimate whether he is in the running or not, feeling that the speculation is unsettling for Town.

There are also suggestions that the FAI may be content for the speculation surrounding McCarthy to continue while they pursue another target. Last time the job was vacant former England boss Terry Venables was a strong favourite before Trapattoni was appointed.

In addition, billionaire businessman Denis O’Brien, who will help fund the new manager’s wages, is not thought to favour McCarthy’s reappointment, although he has stated he has no input in the selection process.

The Daily Star on Sunday says McCarthy could, as TWTD reported on Thursday, rule himself out of the running if there continues to be no contact from the FAI.

They report that he could distance himself from the job if there has been no approach by the end of the week. With Town in action on Friday, the Blues boss’s weekly pre-match press conference is likely to be held on Thursday.

Houghton and Dokter are believed to be holding the last interview of the process this week. McCarthy has dismissed speculation that he is the man they’re speaking to with former Blues boss Roy Keane now reported to be set to talk to them in the days to come.

McCarthy is back to being the widespread favourite, ahead of O’Neill, but the big mover in the market over the weekend was ex-Leeds boss David O’Leary, whose odds are down to 4-1 with one bookie.

Elsewhere, former Blues skipper and coach Tony Mowbray is perhaps inevitably tipped to be McCarthy’s potential successor should he move on by the Daily Mail.

Meanwhile, ex-Town striker and coach Chris Kiwomya has left his job as manager of Notts County by mutual consent with the Magpies bottom of League One.

Photo: Action Images

northstand78 added 16:54 - Oct 27 zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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bluerep added 17:08 - Oct 27 *please* dont go Mick, please please please!
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StowTractorBoy added 17:22 - Oct 27 Just don't know who to believe anymore - be glad when this debacle is settled
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lincolnshireblue added 17:23 - Oct 27 Speculation unsettling for Town. If Big Mick would just say he is not interested, that would be that. But he will not say that so in fact it is not the papers that are unsettling Town it is Big Mick. Also the Club are not even doing anything about it either. Come out and say one way or another so that we all know whether we are looking for a new Manager or if everything is staying as is.

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PutneyBlue added 17:27 - Oct 27 Dear Mick We know you want to manage internationally again, but look at it this way: you may end the week with two choices - Town or Ireland. Think of what you could achieve with either. The way things are going with Ipswich, you could take them back up into the big time, maybe not next season, but there must be a fair chance of next - you've built (most of) a team, you've cut out (most of) the silly goals against, and you've even got a front man who likes scoring goals. Given that Ipswich are the side who have been in the second tier the longest, and so many managers have failed to get promotion, getting them up to the Premier League would surely be a feather in your cap, and make you even more employable than you already are. In contrast, managing the Irish national side is something you've already done for 6 years. Surely it must be a case of "been there, done that". You got them into the World Cup, and maybe it would be good to do that again some day, but surely you've achieved all there is realistically to achieve there. If I were in your shoes, I'd relish the challenge of bringing Ipswich back into the big time after so long. Do that, and there will be than one international side knocking at your door. I hope you see it that way.

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RegencyBlue added 17:29 - Oct 27 This looks like an attempt to force the FAI's hand to me and, lets be honest, the best way for MM to kill the speculation would be to just say no! Unfortunately I think he will go if asked.
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WhoisJimmyJuan added 17:30 - Oct 27 Funny. I posted on here yesterday that the FAI were partly to blame for this unsettling atmosphere and I was disagreed with. Here it says the FAI would like the speculation to continue. So I hope the poster in response is reading this. You cannot blame MM for being interested in an international job - he clearly is. We have to accept this. WHat we don't have to accept is FAI's tactics.

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1Finshefki added 18:02 - Oct 27 Good, no one likes a Ruud Dokter
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Keaneish added 18:12 - Oct 27 Why rule yourself out of something before you even know what it is!? If I heard strong rumour I was to be offered a deal, I'd want to know what the deal was at least before I said no. I think this is a common sense approach to business and it's no different in MMs case.
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Blue041273 added 19:00 - Oct 27 Keaneish I agree with you 100%. Precious few on here seem to see the bigger picture. Ho hum!
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Blue041273 added 19:02 - Oct 27 Keaneish I agree with you 100%. Precious few on here seem to see the bigger picture. Ho hum!
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premierbound added 19:31 - Oct 27 Keaneish and others. Respect your opinions but to put a different view on this. Why rule yourself out before you've heard the offer - because MM is already presumably very financially secure (esp if the £1M bonus from ITFC for last year is true) so it should be about principles and what he wants to be remembered for not just the money. Also, he's in grave danger of not being offered the job and then being in an untenable position with us whereby he can't shake off the allegations that he's only staying with Ipswich because he didn't get the Ireland job. If he didn't want it he really isn't being very clever in playing this "no comment" game. I for one hope he goes now and we'll get in a Terry Butcher or other that isn't here only til a better offer comes in. He's been an improvement on RK and PJ - not saying much - but hardly a tactical genius as recent games have shown.

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blueboy1981 added 19:53 - Oct 27 ...... he wants it for sure - only needs to be offered the right package and you won't see his ass for dust. What price loyalty ? - from this man, or many others. Only loyalty in Football 2013 is from SUPPORTERS - and that is beginning to wear thin with today's cost involved.
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NoCanariesAllowed added 21:18 - Oct 27 Ah, this increasingly familiar phrase. "According to reports in Ireland". Might as well just exchange it with "according to whatever tripe the Irish press have decided to make up today".
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KiwiBlue2 added 21:27 - Oct 27 To be a serious contender you surely have to be offered an interview. Unless Mick is the person to be interviewed this week it would appear that he is not in the running unless the FAI process is a particularly peculiar one. I think that he will be continuing his current role. A notable factor in his background is that he seems to stick at jobs for a decent period.
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ericclacton added 21:52 - Oct 27 Pull de other one it's got de bells on.
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chevvymalc added 21:57 - Oct 27 Roy Keane being interviewed for Ireland job what a joke still he can;t relegate them, oh hang on he might even manage to do that with his non-existant p/r skills.
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patrickswell added 08:17 - Oct 28 Well, if Mick is trying to call the shots by cutting out the middlemen and only talking straight to the FAI bosses, that could work to our advantage. If there's one thing, "blazers" don't like, it's being dictated to.
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muccletonjoe added 10:14 - Oct 28 A very messy business which has done no one any credit , least of all mick mccarthy , let's just get it over with , if he stays , maybe some of us can forget we are second choice to ireland.
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andoverblue added 10:38 - Oct 28 Over the years plenty of managers have ruled themselves out of vacancies , he has not , so its a no brainer he is interested . Bring on Holloway :)
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Blue041273 added 10:44 - Oct 28 Premierbound I don't think too many will disagree with you with regard to your initial comment. But for me your post went downhill quickly after that. Very few people in any walk of life consider doing anything by principle instead of money these days and football managers don't have the luxury of long term job security so will invariably look at cash over principle pretty much every time. Also, I for one won't consider myself to be offended if he is not offered the Irish job and 'just' stays with us as if it were a second choice. It is an honour to be considered to manage your country and instead of turning against him we should be recognising the fact that he wouldn't be in the running if he wasn't doing a job for us.

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BlueVelvet added 12:59 - Oct 28 not surprising that MM doesn't want to be inc in the bunch the headhunters are considering if RK is in the pot
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TractorBeezer added 16:36 - Oct 28 The bookies don't seem to have much doubt: http://www.oddschecker.com/football/football-specials/rep-of-ireland/next-perman Personally I would like Mick to stay. We don't need the upheaval. He's lacking in some areas but has certainly stabilised things and trimmed the spending. We do need more incisiveness at the sharp end though.
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runningout added 18:33 - Oct 28 obvious Mick McCarthy is the best around to take the Irish Republic job.. not sure why they need the donuts that call themselves Headhunters.. Guess they will be out of a job, (if it is a job) should MM get the position he wants..
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Nthsuffolkblue added 19:43 - Oct 28 Really does sound like he wants to tell them to their faces how far they can stick the job after what happened before. Keeping the cards close to his chest to see if they are desperate enough to do so.
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