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McCarthy Not Worried About Chambo's Focus
Thursday, 2nd Feb 2017 15:54

Town boss Mick McCarthy praised skipper Luke Chambers’s performance during Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat to Derby County, which came on the same day as interest from his former club Nottingham Forest, and expects the 31-year-old’s displays to continue in the same vein despite the uncertainty regarding his longer term future.

Asked whether Town are going to offer Chambers a new deal or whether it’s inevitable he’ll move on this summer, McCarthy said: “The club has an option on him and the option is an option to sign him. At the end of it, it’s down to the club.

“And I guess it’s down to Chambo. I really felt for him the other day because of the stuff with Nottingham Forest and I thought out of all the players he was one that stuck right at it on Tuesday night and kept going and I thought did remarkably well considering what the day had been like.

“And I think then he’s got to continue with that. And then if the club decide to give him his contract, great. If not, somebody will take him, they’ll snap him up because he’s a good defender but he’s a bloody good captain and a great bloke to have around the club.”

Is it frustrating that the club is unable to offer him a three-year deal now whereas Forest might, given he has to look after himself and his family?

“Of course and I guess that was the case with them being interested in him now,” he added. “But they’re a competitor of ours in that bottom half of the table, so I can’t understand why we’d want to help [them] unless we could do anything else to replace him, and that wasn’t the case.

“That’s why the option’s there. The club’s put them in. I remember being a player and if anybody offered me an option it was the last thing I was going to take.

“I only took them twice, when I was at Barnsley and I was a kid and I had no option but to take an option, you have to take it.

“And then when I went to Lyon and I was coming to the end of my career and if they’d have taken the option up when I was 35 I’d have been delighted, but I didn’t get that far.”


He says it’s not just a matter of him telling owner Marcus Evans that he wants to keep a player: “There’s mitigating circumstances, there’s the cost of it, the length of it, the age of them, so it’s not just quite as simple as that.”

Asked whether he has told Evans that he wants to keep Chambers, he continued: “Chambo’s been a right-back for us for the last four years and he certainly won’t be staying on for another three years as a full-back, so he’s got to compete at centre-half with Christophe, Tommy and Webbo.

“It’s not just as simple as [that], he’s been a full-back for the last four years since I’ve been here.”

He added: “All those things I’ve just mentioned are in the mix in terms of whether people are re-signed or not.

“It’s the same with Christophe Berra, his is running out, we’ve already talked about him, he has intimated he’d like to go back to Scotland but there’s still an option on him.”

McCarthy admits it’s not an ideal situation to have two key players whose futures are uncertain at an important stage of the season.

“Not it’s not but, as I said, I thought Luke Chambers was excellent the other night, considering everything that had gone on,” he said. “And he’ll continue to be.

“Bearing in mind, if they want contracts here or contracts elsewhere they have to continue playing and they’re both really good pros, so I’m not worried about them."

McCarthy has no doubt that their heads will be in the right place for the remainder of the season: “Absolutely.”

Has he chatted to Chambers, who he says has been a key man during his time at the club and one of the players he’d least like to lose, since Tuesday's game, the skipper having seemed downcast after the final whistle?

“I should f***ing hope he was, we’d just been beaten 3-0 by Derby County!” McCarthy continued. “If he walks off smiling I’ll slap him! Somebody said to me afterwards, ‘Mick seems down’. Really? Really?”

He says he’s not talked to Chambers on the subject: “No I haven’t, I expect him to play and get on with it, just like I’m going to do on Saturday and get on with it, like everybody else.”

Did he want to leave? “There was an offer in, they wanted to have a talk to him, we didn’t [let it happen] because we need him.”

He added: “I dug my heels in, Marcus did, the club did because he’s playing. We want to make sure we’ve got the best team possible to stay in the league, to make sure we’ve got enough points, make sure we’re competitive and not getting wrapped up in anything else.”

So no fee agreed between the clubs? “I’ve said all I’m going to say to you. I’m not going to answer your questions about it.”

Does he understand why fans might be getting concerned about stability, the Blues boss himself having recently said he’ll assess his own position in the summer?

“I don’t think anybody should be concerned about my future,” he added. “I keep saying pretty much most of them would have me out the door anyway, so I doubt they’re all shaking with worry about that.

“I’ve got a year’s contract to run at the end of this season and that’s just what it is. I’ve no intention of going anywhere, but let me see, I don’t know.

“It depends how everybody feels about me come the end of the season. It’s not a particularly pleasant place for me to be at the moment, by the way. Let’s not make any bones about it.

“I don’t like turning that sort of performance out and getting beaten. And the last thing I need is the abuse I get. It’s not particularly nice for me, so I will consider what I want to do.

“Whether it’s a year either way, I can’t just decide I’m going to walk off and go somewhere else. I’ll have a chat with Marcus at the end of the year."


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FenboyBlue added 05:01 - Feb 3
This feels like a repeat of McAuley & Delaney all over again. I don't understand the club's long term planning at all.
1

dirtydingusmagee added 07:20 - Feb 3
FenboyBlue, I don't think the club has any long term plan, if Evans doest sell up and someone interested and wealthy enough to invest take over soon, ITFC will be history,and the ground a shopping centre or car park .
0

dirtyboy added 07:55 - Feb 3
Contracts will be sorted if we're safe from relegation, no sooner.

0

TractorRoyNo1 added 10:48 - Feb 3
Don't be surprised if Mad Mick and Chambers are both at Forest in June.
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BackTheBlues added 10:51 - Feb 3
There is something very odd about this situation...

Is Marcus sticking to his 5 point plan looking at Chambers thinking he's old and not good enough and expensive? Hence McCarthy's comments "Its up to the club"

or

Is McCarthy trying to hide disharmony at the club and moving the blame?


I just don't know!
1


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