McCarthy Has No Intention of Walking Away and Plans to Build Again at Town
Wednesday, 12th Apr 2017 16:13

Town boss Mick McCarthy says he has no intention of walking away from his Blues contract and is looking ahead to next season when he plans to rebuild, believing there need to be changes in the squad. The 58-year-old, who has a year left on his deal, with Town having an option for a further two seasons, also reacted angrily to terrace chants claiming he’s “ruined” the club during Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at Fulham.

Asked whether he he ever considered walking away from Portman Road during this season’s struggles having spent the larger part of it under fire from fans, he said: “No, because I enjoy my job and as for some of the stuff about ‘Mick McCarthy, you’ve ruined our club’, what the biggest load of cobblers that I’ve ever heard in my life that is.

“I saved the club from relegation and I’ve had three top 10 finishes and the one time I have a bad season then people have turned their backs on me, which is a bit of a surprise and it’s disappointing.

“But hey ho, I’m not walking away from here, I have a year’s contract to run and unless something else is done then no, I’m not walking away from it. I’ll be here and I’ll be planning for next season and I’m looking forward to it.

“I’m looking forward to my holiday actually. I’m looking forward to getting enough points to make sure that we stay in this league, I can go away and have a break and I’ll come back full of vim and vigour again.”

In January McCarthy said he would make a decision on his future in the summer, has he already made up his mind?

“I’m not walking away from my contract, not a chance,” he reiterated. “I’m not walking away from a job, which I see it as, and it’s a good job.

“I’ve no intention because I’d like to build it again. I don’t want to walk away, I’m not walking away, no way.

“I’d like to have it again as we had it two years ago, even last season. Saved them from relegation is what I did, then we had three top 10 finishes, and this year it’s been bad.

“I don’t think it’s justified what’s gone on, to be honest with you. My intention is to stay here and build another team, and hopefully it’s as successful as it was when we finished sixth. And if that pisses off a lot of people, so be it.”

Put to him that he has said he wouldn’t be happy if he turned up on the opening day of 2017/18 and season ticket sales were down to 10,000 - as it seems likely they will be - and that was down to him he wouldn’t be happy, he added: “Marcus might not be happy with that either. That might be the case, but I seem to remember there were 20-odd thousand in here most weeks when we finished sixth and guess who that was down to.

“My objective is to get it back to that. And you know what, if it’s only on a one-year contract, so be it, it’s a one-year contract. Not a chance would I be drive out of anywhere. No way.”

Regarding the ongoing criticism from fans and in the media, he said: “I don’t read the media, that’s for sure, any of it. I don’t listen to the radio station, I certainly not locally. I talk to them but don’t listen to them. You might think that that’s nonsense but I don’t.

“Unless I put ear plugs in I can’t do anything about the crowd on a Saturday or a Monday or whenever we’re playing.

“I guess I have to be a bit brass-necked about that and just understand but, as I just said, apart from ‘ruining the club’, that’s the biggest load of nonsense I’ve ever heard in my whole life.

“It’s been tough this year, it has. We’ve not been good. And it’s sad that a lot of people have turned on me and turned on the players but they’re going to have stick me out for another five games anyway.”

He continued: “If Arsene Wenger can get stick, Alex Ferguson got stick at one stage, he was getting vilified by his own punters and Sir Bobby could and everybody else, it’s part of the gig.

“You [the media] keep asking me about it and I talk about it but I’m not whinging about it or talking about it every day. I come in and I do my job.”

He says not all fans have been on his back this season: “I’ve had some nice comments, nice letters and nice support from people. And, of course, the ones who come [and] were at it from very early on in the game on Saturday, I can’t do anything about that. As I keep telling you, win games and that stops.

“There’s not a lot [you can do], play well and win games. We’ve not done enough of that this season. But I don’t think it constitutes some of the vitriol which is going about, but hey ho.”

Looking ahead to the summer and next season, he says the playing staff will need refreshing whoever the manager is.

“The squad’s going to have to change,” he admitted. “You said ‘Whoever’s charge’, at this moment in time it’s me that will be in charge.

“If that’s the case, things have to change, of course. It can be that you’re with players too long and eventually maybe they need to change and the manager needs to change.

“If for some unknown reason it’s somebody else, then it will change because they’ll want different players.”

He added: “Players under contract, there’s not a great deal that they can do. They can ask to move, they can make noises towards that, they can stamp their feet and pull their hair out and tell their agent what to do.

“But if they’re under contract there’s not really anything they can do if a club wants to keep them.

“There may well be some that want to move on, there will be some will move on. There will be some I want to move on, and some I don’t want to change. That’s going to be a natural process that in the summer, I think.”

Are there players who are out of contract who he is yet to make a decision on? “They’re all my thoughts and I’ll keep them to myself for now.”

McCarthy feels he and his squad have done well in previous seasons having worked with a budget which is among the lowest in the division. Will he have to ask owner Marcus Evans for more money as he looks to rebuild?

“I’ve performed particularly well, and the players have, with what we’ve got and sometimes you have to deal with it,” he insisted.

“And I’ve never complained about that. My conversations with Marcus will be exactly that, with Marcus.”

The finances of the Championship have changed significantly in the two years since the Blues finished sixth, does McCarthy believe it’s now tougher for Town to hit those heights?

“It is,” he agreed. “I’m glad I didn’t say that because it might seem like an excuse. I’m glad you said it. [But that is the reality], absolutely it is.”

Managers at all the established Championship clubs without parachute payments or owners investing around £20 million a year are working in much the same situation as he has been, aren’t they? “They are and trying to get results and some, with their budgets, are doing well.

“I’d say Cloughy’s doing well [at Burton], Barnsley have done brilliantly, they’ve come up with momentum from League One.

“Huddersfield are doing great. David Wagner’s got some good players, some good loan players, he used the German market, he knew it and he’s done really well with it. Fantastic, as I did in my second season, to be honest.”

So, it can still be done? “I’d say so, but as you said, it’s a lot harder now.”

Photo: TWTD

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