McCarthy Surprised By East Anglian Derby Animosity Saturday, 25th Feb 2017 06:00 Town boss Mick McCarthy admits he was surprised by the level of animosity between fans of the Blues and Norwich City when he first took over at Portman Road four and a half years ago having found both clubs friendly places when visiting with his previous sides. “I’ve always been surprised actually because if you don’t play at Norwich or Ipswich you come to both clubs and you get really well received,” he said. “They’re nice places to come to, except when Norwich and Ipswich play each other, they hate one another, and I’ve been surprised at that.” He added: “I was surprised four and a bit years ago, the first year we played in it because a very lovely old lady expressed the usual wishes, ‘You better win against them... the scum’, she said. “And I said ‘Wow! So, if we lose all the others and we beat them twice you’d be happy, would you?’. ‘We’ve got to beat them’. “I couldn’t believe it was what I thought was a nice old lady that had said it to me. I was quite surprised at that. And then, of course, other people afterwards. “I don’t know why I am surprised, I guess it’s just because whenever I’ve come here as a player or as a manager to both clubs it’s all very nice, it’s all very calm, our fans don’t give the same level of abuse out to the opposition fans as other clubs would, who will remain nameless, by the way, just in case. “And I don’t think Norwich do to clubs in general, but they just do it to each other. You’ve got to hate somebody haven’t you, I suppose.” He says derbies aren’t quite the same for managers as they are for a club’s fans: “When I played, I hated everybody. I wanted to beat everybody, and pretty much it hasn’t changed. “So we’re going up to Norwich, I treat them pretty much the same but I guess it’s for fans who are here and support one and really hate the other one that’s what makes it that bit extra for me, for us, for the players, we’d like to have our fans smiling and singing and enjoying it because they’ve not had enough of that this season.” McCarthy says he doesn’t need fans or Blues-supporting club staff to impress upon him what the derby means to them. “I get that one, ‘You better win on Saturday!’, that gets my goat that, whoever we’re playing,” he said. “Because we always try and win on Saturday or Sunday or whenever the game might be. “We’ve got brilliant people who work here, but also very respectful. They want us to win but they’re not going to come explaining to me what this derby means. I might get the hump slightly if that was the case. “I’ve been in the game 900 games as a manager and nearly 600 as a player, when did I ever start wanting to lose, ever?” McCarthy says he’s not one to try to step away from the passion of the derby once the game itself gets under way. “Have you ever seen me on the touchline?” he added. “How often have you seen me distance myself from the passion or stood with arms folded or sat down and not been bothered? That just doesn’t happen. “I seem to remember a picture of me from the last derby that we had that caused a few [comments], that was Wes Hoolahan.” The Town boss, who was caught on camera swearing at the Irish international of whom he is a big fan, knows full well that the results of derbies mean a lot more to fans and he believes if the Blues play as they have in their last four matches they are capable of winning their first game against the Canaries in nearly eight years and their first at Carrow Road since February 2006. “They do, I know they do and I’ve played in a lot and I’ve managed in a lot and I’m fully aware of it and I’m fully aware of the heightened senses," he said. “We certainly want to be competitive and I try and look at the last games and think that if we play as well as that in this game then we’ve got a chance of winning. “Rather than looking at what we can do in the Norwich game, just play like we’ve been playing, play as confidently as we’ve been playing and as aggressively and as competitively and we’ll be fine.”
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