Former Millwall, Crystal Palace and Blackpool boss Ian Holloway believes Town “will do well to hold on to” manager Mick McCarthy this summer and says he should be on the shortlist for the vacant Aston Villa job.

Echoing comments previously made by ex-Villa man Paul Merson, Holloway told Sky Sports: "Mick McCarthy should be on the shortlist for the next Aston Villa job, without a shadow of a doubt.

"I think Ipswich will do well to hold on to McCarthy this summer. Someone with his credibility and know-how will be hot property."

He added: "Villa must go for someone who knows the Championship and have seen it and done it before.

"It's going to take someone with real experience to clean up that mess. It's going to take down to earth talking. A straight talking person will need to lead and make the players believe again.

"That man will need to get the overpaid players who don't care out of the door. It will take someone with great skill to achieve that. It's massive job and someone has a huge job on their hands.

“They'll be a long queue of people who'd want that job - it's a belting gig, but it's one hell of a project."

Having been second-favourite earlier in the month, McCarthy is now down to sixth-favourite with ex-Leicester boss Nigel Pearson odds-on to get the job.

Meanwhile, McCarthy, who signed a new Town contract until 2018 with an option for a further two seasons in January, says he’s looking forward to having midfielder Teddy Bishop available next season after the 19-year-old endured an injury-hit 2015/16.

“It’s been a tough time for Bish and you could see at Middlesbrough when he had 15 minutes that he was goosed at the end,” he told the club site.

“He’s got to come back after the close season and get himself fighting fit for next year. He is a wonderful talent. You can see that by the way he glides past players and we want to see that talent back on the pitch next season.”

Photo: Action Images

markytitfc66 added 08:57 - Apr 27 Blurboy1981 what MM actually said was "I can't get any better than I have without spending "
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dirtydingusmagee added 09:08 - Apr 27 down the a A12 to Colchester Mick, you may just get them back up ..They wont have any money but you could take some of your favourite fossil collection with you.Reckon that way you can get into League two quicker than staying at Town .
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dugoutdave added 09:19 - Apr 27 Tractor boy 1985 - irony/sarcasm and humour - look it up!
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cats_whiskers added 09:27 - Apr 27 Marcus Evans might be very Rich But his football judgement in getting the right Manager for ITFC is Extremely Poor
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essexboy added 09:28 - Apr 27 This is a very interesting article,especially as some of the words come from Holloways mouth,and of course he is a very big pal of MM.(as they say,there is no smoke without fire)why would he say it otherwise.!! MM has gone I feel as far as he can and without support from the owner we will never progress under whatever manager we have at the club.The football this season has been dire and nobody can deny that,unless you are happy with His style of play and tactics.This is the only way MM can play whatever club he has been at.IF we don't get investment,then it will I'm sure be the same next season with the same manager in charge.Is this what we reall y all want.?

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bohslegend added 09:41 - Apr 27 At what point do any of the Pretzels acknowledge that our key creative players have all been out long term injured (sometimes at the same time) and therefore we are limited in how expansive our game can be????
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Rodrigo91 added 09:46 - Apr 27 Why is everyone saying I hope MM gets a chance to clean the dead wood?!! His favorite players are the dead wood the ones he signed! Knudsen has been very average and no where near as good as cresswell and mings. How Douglas and hyam play is beyond me especially ahead of Bru. Berra has been rubbish and won't get dropped. Murphy doesn't score for like 10 games and still starts where's the logic in that. We didn't even play that well at Portman road last year we kept getting the rub of the green and scoring late goals which is all good but really it's showed this year that we over achieved last season! Worrying our best player was a loanee (Ryan Fraser) the only other player who has been decent for us is Bart - The goalkeeper!

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DurhamTownFan added 09:52 - Apr 27 Is that what MM is, now? A manager who comes in for a quick and ugly fix, but then can't take teams to the next level? His Ipswich record would suggest so, and later stages of his time at Wolves showed that he can struggle to adjust with slightly higher demands. I think MM would be a good fit for Villa: he's straight-talking and knows his own mind, and I feel like they're in dire need of that there! I used to be one of the main opponents to MM, but I now feel like we need to give him another half-season at least. Give him some money to spend and see where it gets us. If we're still struggling to convince come Christmas, then yeah, fire away! But when you're talking about the likes of Holloway to replace him, then I don't see the point in change for the sake of change.

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prebsa added 09:57 - Apr 27 bohslegend - you really are picking at things that are not the main problem. Yes loosing bishop, fraser and mcgoldrick is a big thing but there has been plenty of opportunity for Mick to replace bishop so dont keep blaming everything on that! And that still dosent mean that he has to play two defensive midfielders together! Other teams have injury's too and they replace them just fine, injury's are not isolated to just our team so its a poor excuse to keep giving!

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blueherts added 10:19 - Apr 27 Mick did HAVE opportunity in Jan to add players but he CHOSE not to as he said he could not replace them with anyone any better Under Mick - strangely pre xmas both past two seasons we were playing decent football and winning - seems as soon as it gets to the business end we fall away Yes we got into the play offs last season but more by others failing than us getting it 5 wins since Jan is relegation form - BUT sadly Mick and Terry have their Pipe and Slippers out - new contract sorted - and are managed by an invisible owner , who has NEVER given anyone a clue where this club is going - a Plan Interesting to see who comes along on Saturday and what team we put out 2 defensive midfielders anyone ?

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prebsa added 10:35 - Apr 27 blueherts, 2 defensive midfielders for sure, why would we try and have a really good final game when we can set up for a magical point. Oh man I love a good point!
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MrDiddle added 10:39 - Apr 27 Why on earth would Mick want to leave town for a team like Villa - that's one club in complete and utter freefall. They'll go the same way as Wigan and Bolton just you wait! Hopefully Mick will stay, be given a transfer kitty for the summer window and get the quality midfield replacements we need to mount a serious promotion push next season. Up the town!
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warktheline added 10:42 - Apr 27 @bohslegend, right IF McCarthy had all his 'creative' free from injury, please enlighten us to how he would play them as a starting 11, and no bull****, honestly pick the team you believe he would play!!!
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blueherts added 10:43 - Apr 27 Prebs - I can hear him now - Press conference MK dons are in a false position - will give us a right game for their fans Got some good players etc etc ... We cant afford to be too open or they will pick us off The game at their place - BTW - was awful and prob one of the reasons we never get shown on Sky
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yarmuffboi added 10:54 - Apr 27 Here's my question. We let mick go. Who do u guys want in place.? I for one love mick mills on the radio. After going to games and he is telling the story of the game exactly how the game was played. He is honest saying so and so out of position why is Douglas in team where is the bish. Why is sears not playing as striker etc. Yes he doesn't have a great managerial past but he is passionate loves the club and would surely get response from our players. What u guys reckon.

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warktheline added 11:01 - Apr 27 McCarthy ,for whatever reason has no faith in expansive football with this group of players. That my friends is a fact, more often than not when he does decide to play someone remotely talented with a football, he only accommodates them, by means of out of position. The man is stubborn, and extremely rigid in regards to his 'strongest' 11. The back 4 is beyond explanation, his persistence of playing TWO holding midfielders is mind numbing, as too is his 442,442,442,442zzzzzzzzzzzz! Creativity has no place at Portman Rd, when are you pretzels going to get that!!!!!!

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Lightningboy added 11:18 - Apr 27 Totally with you blueboy1981 re Burley/Magilton as new management team. This club needs a manager that cares about it as much as the fans do - they both did.
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vanmunt added 11:40 - Apr 27 Some have short memories, Magilton only played his golf buddies and lots rumors of fighting in the dressing room if I remember correctly.
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BrettenhamBlue added 12:09 - Apr 27 Villa will have huge parachute payments which will be a huge incentive to Mick. He will actually have money to use for a change.
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BrettenhamBlue added 12:19 - Apr 27 Actually shocked by my poll results. 68 percent of fans expect us to finish next season in the top half of the table or better. The "silent majority" have spoken. I for one think we will be in that battle at the bottom next season. I am really not looking forward to the two derby games either as it could be yet another humiliation to add to all the others. If we get a couple of injuries (like we always do) and have to play Coke, Toure etc we could be in real trouble. It will be good to see Andre Dozzell, Ben Morris and Sam Ford in the first team next season, they've all done really well this year. Morris is a good finisher and Ford looked the real deal earlier in the season, a perfect target man. I hope they both get their chance.

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M82 added 12:35 - Apr 27 I don't believe we ever truly recovered from being relegated and going into administration. We have started to in the last few years at which point our anonymous owner seems to lose interest. MM is on the whole a good manager. Whether he needs to move on or not is almost beside the point - until we see some investment and ambition, any replacement is a big risk. Risks can be good - just not when the man holding the purse strings isn't prepared to manage them.

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dirtydingusmagee added 13:23 - Apr 27 blueherts , you must be the person who writes McCarthy's scripts , Just for a laugh write him a different one , that would really mess with his brain i think .
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leahcar88 added 13:28 - Apr 27 Mick brought in foley a right back in January, who was heavily criticised before anyone had seen him play. He puts in 1 motm appearance and he's on par with messi and Ronaldo. so the comment about not bringing a rb in is false. And talking about par what about Jonny Parr? Not sure if he did or not bring him in (somebody enlighten me) but also a recognised full back on either side. Would like to see mick given a chance with some transfer funds, then if he fails. That'll be time to go

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MathieandMarshall added 13:32 - Apr 27 PJewellisaGod - Sam Ford has left the club and signed for West Ham! - agree tho.. he looked decent prospect while here.
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Len_Brennan added 13:49 - Apr 27 Excellent post from ‘thebeat' on page 2 and good follow up points from a few others also. I have asked bohslegend to respond to actual points raised before, but I have either been ignored or gotten irrelevant general drivel, littered with guff about moaners and real football people. That kind of stuff is worthless. We won't all agree on here, we'll have differing views & sometimes someone will point out something we hadn't seen, that's the beauty of it. But throwing out insults and making stuff up as to what others are saying or arguing is out of order. Just because someone is critical or thinks Mick should do something different doesn't automatically mean that they are calling for him to be sacked, but the bohslegend type posters immediately come out on the attack to misrepresent the nature of the comment in order to shut down any debate — that is completely against the spirit of a forum like this. Sure if someone is being offensive or trolling you can call them out on that, but when long standing posters identify & highlight concerns and take the time to articulate them, they deserve to be considered at the very least. I don't agree with HarryS_H on this thread, but I see where he is coming from & respect the posts he had made and the consideration he has given it. But on the other side of that coin we have bohslegend, with absolutely nothing to say, but saying it anyway, never addressing any of the points made by those s/he disagrees with, not just today but always the same. Playing the man not the ball. For your own credibility bohslegend, have a go at responding to the reasonable & considered points made by ‘thebeat', just for once it would be nice to read something of substance from you.

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