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

bushbaby7 added 13:16 - Apr 28 Of course it's ok to have favourites, but when those favourites are picked to the detriment of the team, that's when the problems starts. Just as an example, Mick has always said that if you play well you keep your place etc. So how come parr can play 1 game, score a goal and get dropped for the next game? Again foley, played a blinder score a goal and got dropped, think he has only played once since then? Correct me if I'm wrong? Ok Douglas has scored a couple of goals, but not recently, and his performances have been dire of late but still gets picked over other players. If that's not favouritism I don't know what is? Ok we don't see them in training etc etc, but we do see them for roughly 90 mins on a Saturday, and we can only base our opinions on what we see. And lately it's not been very good.

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bohslegend added 18:10 - Apr 28 entitled to your opinion bushbaby but for me, you're saying that only if you agree with who the manager has as favourites should they get in the team.
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thebeat added 18:21 - Apr 28 bohslegend i take your point about managers having certain players they like in the team if fit. But Micks a different case. He plays them even when he knows its not the right thing to do, for the team and for the club. Half the time he continues to pick them just to shove it in the fans faces that he picks the team and not them. Jonathan Douglas is a prime example all season, contributes zero game after game but keeps better players out every week. There can be no other explanation than personal feelings keeping him in even if it effects the teams performance. Mick philosophy is i'll keep playing them and when we eventually win a game i'll be proved right, he discards the games inbetween. Even with substitutions he wont make the obvious one sometimes cus its the one the fans want. He'll make a different one and hope it works. An example would be us chasing the game 1 nil down and we see Bru coming on. We all think great he'll take Douglas off and only have Skuse as the defensive midfielder and we can get at them more. And then he'll leave Douglas on and take a winger off and give us no more impetus than we already had. Its obvious why he does it, cus if Bru comes on for him and changes the game and we win everybody would expect Bru to start with Skuse the following game and that would mean dropping Douglas. And its the same not wanting to pick 2 from 3 centre halves. He cant bring himself to do it and its just not right

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essexboy added 19:40 - Apr 28 thebeat..well said.We are all entitled to our opinions otherwise life would be very very boring.!! It's just a shame some posters on these pages cannot accept we beg to differ..At the end of the day we all want the same thing for our club,and that's to be a damm sight better than we are now. 👍👍
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bohslegend added 15:15 - Apr 29 @thebeat (and for the sake of essexboy) I respect your opinion although I don't agree with it. essexboy seems to be suggesting that I am denying your right to have that opinion and I'm not. By putting forward a counter-argument does not in any way dispute the fact that you are allowed to say what you think about the situation. In this case I disagree entirely that MM's modus operandi is based completely on pi$$ing off the fans who prefer other players.

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thebeat added 17:00 - Apr 29 bohslegend there can be no other reason for most of his team sheets other than on a personal level or to put the fans in their place, cus its certainly not based on ability shown playing for the club as everyone clearly sees every week. Its there to be seen. They play awful and still keep their place. If hes the only one that cant see it then he shouldnt be in the job
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thebeat added 20:37 - Apr 29 bohslegend i have no idea how many games you have seen this season but can you just answer me one more question with your head and not your heart. In the games you have seen can you honestly say Douglas has done anything to keep his place for the next game?
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