Boss Mick McCarthy has been nominated for the Sky Bet Championship Manager of the Month award for December, having carried off the gong for November when Town striker Daryl Murphy won the Player of the Month award.

McCarthy is up against Leeds manager Steve Evans, Middlesbrough’s Aitor Karanka and new Brentford boss Dean Smith.

The Blues, who are sixth in the Championship, won four - three of them away from home - and lost two - against the Championship’s top two Boro and Derby - during the final month of 2015. The winner will be announced on Friday.

Only Neil Warnock (twice), Steve Coppell, Roy Keane (with Sunderland), Chris Hughton, Brian McDermott and Sean Dyche have been named Championship Manager of the Month in two successive months since its introduction at the start of the 2004/05 campaign.

Last season, McCarthy won the September award, becoming the first Town boss to win Manager of the Month since Joe Royle in November 2004. He was also nominated in December 2013, November and December 2014 and in August this season.

McCarthy picked up the award three times with his previous clubs, once with Sunderland and twice with Wolves.

Meanwhile, Town and QPR are reported to be considering a move for 20-year-old Cagliari centre-half Dario Del Fabro, who is currently on loan at Ascoli.

Italian U20 international Del Fabro, who made one appearance while on loan at Leeds last season, seems an unlikely Blues target with Town already having Piotr Malarczyk as cover at centre-half and skipper Luke Chambers able to move inside from right-back if required, while Barnsley youngster Paul Digby, also 20, was signed last week.

Matt Clarke, 19, and Josh Yorwerth, 20, have been allowed to move out on loan for the remainder of the season to Portsmouth and Crawley respectively.

McCarthy has played down the likelihood of additions to his squad during January, having repeatedly stated that he is happy with his squad.

Photo: Action Images

prebbs007 added 18:41 - Jan 7 Karanka surely a certainty this month. Sorry Mick. It's good though as hopefully the curse will hit Middbro !!!
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Stato added 18:43 - Jan 7 Fair enough Cheshire we'll have to agree to disagree. He won't win manager of the month for no other reason than Karanja deserves it more. There is a fable building up about the enormous progress under Mick and it's nonsense. There is also a fable about him having no money to spend and that is also nonsense as Milne has confirmed there is money. Our budget in this division is about mid way and has been for sometime and in some seasons we've performed slightly above budget and in some we have been slightly below. Mick avoids transfer fees to leave more money for wages. That is his choice and I'm not knocking him for it but some of the rubbish on here shows some seem to think we have one of the lowest budgets just because Mick avoids transfer fees. The football dished up by McCarthy has been woeful to watch and while some are happy to watch that as long as we avoid relegation I would rather seen us get the ball back on the green stuff and try and play the way it should be. Mick is a terrific bloke but so was Jewell. I look forward to the day when I can watch the sort of football I grew up with from Robson, Burley and Royle.

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Dozzells_Bobblehat added 19:32 - Jan 7 BossMan - Mick avoids transfer fees and saves it for wages??? What? You think the players who attract fees would be prepared to take less wages than the others?? I don't think so. No we don't play it about, but we have a team that run their socks off every week and actually care about their performances now. Our manager is stubborn but he has brought the whole club up two or three levels and we are now a genuine playoff chasing team. Compare this to anything in the last ten years and if you can't see progress then I'm not sure what is.

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bohslegend added 19:52 - Jan 7 Given the choice between getting promoted playing a direct style of football, or finishing mid table trying to pass it around and through premier league standard teams, I know I'd choose promotion any day. Entertainment in football comes in many forms. But the best form of entertainment in my view is when the ref blows the final whistle and you've 3 points in the bag. And at the end of the season if you had enough of those type of games it can often result in getting promoted. For me that's the ultimate goal. Premier league football. And if /when we get there, MM will have substantially more transfer funds to buy even better quality players. But it seems to me that his philosophy in the transfer market is at worst shrewd, at best strategically brilliant. We will never compete with the big boys for money. So his ability to find diamonds in the rough is a fantastic asset to the club.

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Walk_the_Wark added 20:45 - Jan 7 You can give McCarthy all the money in the world... Reality is he only knows how to play one way. He's not up to managing in the premiership, which actually doesn't matter as it aint gonna happen for us until he goes. All you 'Super Mick' brigade- keep bleating! At this rate we'll be where we are now in 5 years and you'll all still be happy.
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alfromcol added 20:49 - Jan 7 Lighten up everyone, it's only organised so Sky Bet can get free publicity. It means nothing, it must be embarrassing to receive the cardboard/plastic trophy!
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