Former Town boss Mick McCarthy has revealed that fans waiting to throw bottles at him led to police advice to leave Griffin Park via a back exit following the Blues’ 1-0 defeat to Brentford in April.

McCarthy, who had already announced he would move on at the end of last season, decided then that the home match against Barnsley on the following Tuesday would be the final game of his five and a half years in charge at Portman Road.

“I got asked to leave via the back door at Brentford because there were people with bottles and beer waiting to throw them at me,” he told the Irish Daily Mail.

“Of course me being me, I said to the police, ‘F*** em, I’m going out the front door’. They said, ‘Well, if you do we might get covered in beer; we might get hit with bottles’.

“I don’t know if there was one person or 20 people or 100. But I had to go out the back door.

"I spoke to [Town owner] Marcus Evans then. Barnsley was always going to be my last game.

“But it would have been nice to go out and say, ‘Thanks for everything, it’s been great’, rather than, ‘Well, what do you think about being booed?’. So I said, 'Thankfully I won’t have to listen to it again', and I did one.’

Asked whether he received hate mail at Town he says his personal assistant dealt with his post and shredded anything abusive.

“Why on earth would I read it?” added McCarthy, who starts a new role working as a pundit for Virgin Media Sport.

Despite the manner in which his time at Town ended, the 59-year-old still wants to go back into management.

“Because we love it,” he said. “I want to do it again. I have no desire to rest on my laurels. That’s what I enjoy doing.

“I have to say I enjoy the combative nature of it. I enjoy the managing of players and solving problems, both on the pitch and off the pitch, dealing with all the things that come with it, and sometimes the s*** and sometimes the glamour of it. I’ve had more of the glamour than the s***, I have to be honest.”

Photo: Action Images

BecclesBlue500 added 10:48 - Sep 6 yes - ha - ha McCarthy!! We were tired of playing/travelling away against the likes of Villa, Leeds, Wolves, Middlesbro, Sheff Wed/Utd etc and local derbies against Norwich; we'd much rather play nicely (whatever that means) under Paul Hurst and play at Accrington [sic], Shrewsbury, Oxford, Wycombe...... The whole point of league-based sports is to finish as high as you can; I missed the memo that read "league position or the league you're in doesn't matter - just play nicely'!!!!!

-5

carsey added 10:56 - Sep 6 I would like to see TWTD take a decision not to post anything McCarthy related unless it pertains to his coming here as a manager and even then restrict it to the match. I don't care what he says it thinks anymore and he caused enough division between supporters when he was here.
8

Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 11:04 - Sep 6 I very much doubt any bottles would have been thrown. Abuse from a small minority of over-refreshed fans, maybe. But we are not Millwall. I've travelled to quite a lot of places over the years with ITFC, including abroad, and I have NEVER in all that time seen any serious trouble initiated by our fans.
15

runningout added 11:09 - Sep 6 I would hope not true and a slight exaggeration
2

blueheartXT added 11:20 - Sep 6 I think the police should of confiscated the alcohol and the beer bottles as I thought it was illegal to drink in a public area outside
0

Michael101 added 11:20 - Sep 6 Why is mad Mick whinging i very much dought ipswic h fans would throw bottles at him,and any bad language at him in afraid him brought that on himself
5

thundercat600 added 11:32 - Sep 6 Going by some of the anti Mick comments on here he was right in leaving by the back door. I well remember some of the vile comments aimed at him by some of the so called Ipswich Town Supporters and they weren't pleasant. He had truck loads of abuse hurled at him then when he retaliated the abuse hurlers got upset
-1

Wickets added 12:04 - Sep 6 I agree the abuse was vile and way over the top but i did not see one bottle being used as a weapon and as someone who was at the game, simple do not think this is true. Stop picking at the scab Mick this smacks of you trying to keep yourself in the public eye .
8

BlueArrow added 12:10 - Sep 6 Probably weren't beer bottle's..... FAKE BOOSE
5

bobble added 12:14 - Sep 6 if there was a bottle deposit return scheme this wouldnt happen.....
7

therein61 added 12:16 - Sep 6 While never Mick's biggest fan this behaviour if true is totally unàcceptable
4

Gcon added 12:28 - Sep 6 He was persistently treated disgracefully by sipporters of this club. Embarassing.
-6

Batram98 added 12:33 - Sep 6 Have to say the fans that did this disgust me, if you supported Mick through the good times when we made play offs and then treat him like this after all he done for the club from giving is most exciting season I can remember playing Norwich in play offs and the money he must have made this club is unbelievable and he managed to sell our best players yet replace them on peanuts, for me a fantastic manager and one who should have been given more time by the fans

-2

raycrawfordswig added 12:44 - Sep 6 Drama Queen so full himself
1

Hegansheroes added 12:53 - Sep 6 Oh dear, the imbecile trying to keep himself in the limelight. He did his job in keeping ITFC up but apart from that he was useless. How this dimwit even gets on TV let alone as a pundit baffles me. Probably the most boring man ever to be at Portman Road. Funny that Hurst is from the same area yet is so different in interviews. To sum up MM was an arrogant twxt who really had not had a great deal of success, a very average footballer & not far short of being illiterate. Who could blame Town fans if they had thrown buckets of shxt at the foul mouth.

-6

blueboy1981 added 13:06 - Sep 6 ....... stop the mud slinging McCarthy - you got paid extremely well for boring us into oblivion, albeit keeping us in the Championship. Move on and concentrate on your 'current' management job, you know the one you were going to walk into as soon as you left us - oh wait a minute - you haven't got one, and you're still waiting for another set of fans to require being bored to tears ..... !!! Move on and forget us - just like we have you. you had no respect for us, the favour is reciprocal.

8

RevAdrian added 13:17 - Sep 6 blue75 and the comment from the ferry company that a whole ferry of Town supporters did not even break one glass on the way back from the UEFA cup final in Amsterdam!
4

TractorRoyNo1 added 13:20 - Sep 6 Move along nothing to see here
0

blueboy1981 added 13:24 - Sep 6 ........ IF it happened - shame on those concerned. My guess is it didn't, and wouldn't be the action of our travelling support, who have a reputation of being a credit to the Club. The only interest McCarthy had in the Club was to just do enough (which is all he was capable of) to keep earning his BACS monthly transfer. He had absolutely no feeling for the Club, or it's Fans - SELF preservation was his mission, and he had hoped he would be able to continue bleeding the Club as long as he could. SELF was his only interest, until HE made the decision to walk away from it. That pleasure was taken away from him, thankfully - and the decision made for him. Still don't know where that long list of Club's waiting to sign him - suddenly disappeared to...... ??? It proved to be yet another load of garbage.

2

ThaiBlue added 13:26 - Sep 6 Come on Mick move on m8.really don't think this happened our supporters gave you verbal agreed but not violence.why would we believe you Mick especially when you said when you stuck 2 fingers up at our fans v Norwich they were not meant for them REALLY Mick!
4

MickMillsTash added 13:32 - Sep 6 I don't hate Mick- he did Ok on limited resource - he got us organised and gave us a great season BUT this potty mouth nonsense is so childish lets hope its the last we hear of it
5

NITFC added 13:43 - Sep 6 Whilst it was absolutely correct that he left the club, the atmosphere that day at Brentford was toxic and I was surprised that Ipswich fans could behave the way they did. However there were a group of about a dozen Millwall fans behind us - presumably people who hold a grudge just there to hurl abuse - so maybe the people they are talking about were not even Town fans. I do hope not

4

PositivelyPortman added 13:45 - Sep 6 “Excuse me Mr McCarthy, ahem, I've just been having a little chat with an unruly gang of 2 under 18s outside. They are both either drunk or on drugs and they just told me that when you leave they're going to throw bottles of beer at you”. “Would you like to like to chance your arm, or do you fancy nipping out the back door?” “Yes, if they're drunk and disorderly and threatening violence we should arrest them both but we can't be f***ed with the paper work”. “If they're proper blokes, I'll go t' back door way”.

-1

TR11BLU added 14:29 - Sep 6 Why is his name still be banded around the headlines on this site, old hat lets move on. As for his next job....not so sure he will get another one. Washed up has been. Paul Hurst Blue and White Army
2

midastouch added 14:43 - Sep 6 I don't think anybody would of been able to land a bottle on him even if he'd of gone out the front entrance as he'd of had so many defensive midfielders for cover it would of taken a shot in a million to land a direct hit. I'm sure Skullator Skuse or Different Class Dougie would of happily taken one on the chin for the big boss man Big Mick. Skuse took one for the team on Sunday, he's committed enough to put his body on the line when duty calls.

3

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls