Town boss Mick McCarthy admits that the ongoing rift between him and supporters will come into his thoughts when he decides on his future in the summer. The 59-year-old’s Blues contract is up at the end of the season and he recently revealed he had begun discussions with owner Marcus Evans - who has an option to keep him at Portman Road for two further years - regarding what might happen at the end of the campaign.

Yesterday, McCarthy issued an apology for swearing as he celebrated Town’s goal at Norwich but denied he was directing his comment at the travelling Blues’ support in response to earlier derogatory chanting, as had been widely interpreted at the time.

“Yes, I guess so,” he said when asked whether the schism would come into his thinking. “But I’ve not given that too much thought, I have to be honest, since [Sunday]. I always say I’d like to win tomorrow and then my relationship is a lot better, it always is.”

A shame that the rift has developed? “I prefer it when they’re supporting the team and if it’s me being here that is affecting that, that really is sad.

“But, I’m here for the next 14 games at least, and I’m at pains to say at least, and I’m going to try and do as well as I can.”

McCarthy says despite the weekend furore, he has no problem staying focused: “Oh yes, absolutely. I’ve been doing this a long time and I’ve had ups and downs throughout my career and, yes, I do manage to focus on it. All I am is focused on the Cardiff game.”

Regarding the apology, he said: “Listen, people saw me swearing on television. It was at nobody but I was pumped up for that game, really pumped up.

“I said when I was sat here last week how much it meant to the fans and that I was quite aware of it. I was desperate for a win, sadly I didn’t get it.”

Was he concerned when he saw how it had been interpreted? “Not really, people can interpret it however they want. But listen, I’ve jumped up and done that before, so it was a really good moment, I thought we were going to win the game.”

Does he believe he’s entitled to celebrate a goal in any way he likes? “Well, maybe not when people are watching it with the bad language that I used. But when I jumped up I’m not thinking I’ve got the cameras on me because I’m not that bothered, to be quite honest.

“But I think it’s a shame actually that you [the media] are running the story and carrying on with it, to be honest. It’s just prolonging it. It’s such a shame that we should stop talking about it, I guess.”

And if he’s getting stick from fans, isn’t he entitled to hit back in kind? “I wasn’t giving them stick back. You’re misinterpreting it. I was pumped up and I said here, I was desperate to win.

“Pumped up and delighted we’d scored, thought we were going to win. And that’s the end of it. You’ve seen the website and you’ve seen what I’ve said, so as far as I’m concerned it’s finished with.”

Does he believe it’s possible for a club to be successful over a longer period if there is such a rift between its manager and its fans? “Let’s hope so. I keep saying, I’ll just keep doing my job. I’ve got Cardiff to play tomorrow night.

“I’ve had a great relationship with the fans actually, for the most part. And I think if we win tomorrow night we’ll get cheered off as we normally do.”

Can it have an impact on the players during a game? “You’d have to ask them. I don’t think so actually. I think the atmosphere does and I’ve said in the past that I think that fans come along and cheer the team because that’s what they are, they’re fans, and they come and support us.

“And that’s what they do generally and if we’ve won we get well supported, if we’ve lost, like any other club, like any other team, you get the bird when you’re going off.”

Asked again about how his relationship with fans might affect his decision in the summer, he added: “I’m concentrating on tomorrow. Effectively, the only way I can [improve] it is by winning games and playing well.

“We played well on Sunday and we should have won that game in the end. You can argue that Bart made two good saves. I think their keeper made some good saves, I thought we played well and were the better team in the first half.

“We had to withstand a bit of pressure from a very good Norwich side, but in the end we scored and with 30 seconds to go we should have won the game. I’m hoping that we can replicate the performance but win the game instead.”

McCarthy refused to blame ill fortune or referee David Coote for his side not being able to hold on for the remaining seconds.

“It’s not bad luck and it’s not the referee,” he said. “It’s not him adding five minutes on. I don’t think the physio was on in the second half, forgive me if I’m wrong.

“There’s six substitutions, apparently that’s three minutes, there was a goal scored, that’s 30 seconds, I believe. Even if it’s a minute I still don’t know where five came from.

“But that’s the most comfortable we’ve ever been with five minutes being put up, they never looked like scoring and it’s our own stupidity that cost us.

“We’d pretty much done it. We should have run the ball in the corner and wedged it up against the corner flag and kicked it out for a throw-in and don’t let them out and then game would have been finished. But we didn’t and it’s cost us.”

“We were excellent. I thought the lads were great. If there’s ever a perfect game plan which had gone to plan and was kiboshed by some naivety at the end of the game that was it, and that’s all it was. And, of course, had we won it would have been a completely different story.”

He says no blame was apportioned in the dressing room after the match: “Not at all. I don’t go around doing that, that’s for Monday morning to have a discussion with them.

“I’ve said to them today we should have learnt, we did it against Sheffield Wednesday, we continued going forward, trying to score another goal and it’s just bonkers. As far as I’m aware, and I’ve been in the game a long time, 1-0 wins it.”

He admitted the home side’s celebrations at the final whistle irked him: “It stuck in my craw, I’ve not beaten them. When we scored I thought we’d do it. But we didn’t, so it still does. I might have to come back and do it again.”

Photo: TWTD

brittaniaman added 09:14 - Feb 21 Some people on here say that a FEW fan are causing the rift, Well I would not call 6,000 fans a Few would you ???
2

Bluroo added 10:03 - Feb 21 Obviously he will stay to spite the fans.
1

carrickblue added 11:26 - Feb 21 Im pretty confident MM will be gone come the end of the season. We just need to hold out until then. Angry emotions MUST remain as we have to keep showing our concerns for ALL to see. I have a funny feeling in the coming years a certain somebody will come along with private investors and will take reign and turn this mess around. We need passion and" unfortunately" patience.

0

MicksZzzTactics added 11:37 - Feb 21 @Cat For once I've to partly disagree with your last post here dear 'ex-goalie extraordinaire', and this particularly after having gone over EADT's "I'm here for the next 14 games ...at least!" article. Obviously you are right that it's not his decision ALONE ...but the latest TWTD articles + said EADT article tells my awesome deductive CPU a couple of things: 1) Whether the first manager & owner contact of 2018 (remember according to the February 9th interview and despite the Transfer Window, pizz-poor form & all his own bad vibes MM hadn't been in contact with ME since Christmas!!!) was made after the excruciating poor performance against last-place Burton i.e. his ensuing little trip to France, well that's to this day just pure speculation. 2) But in any event either 'Muck The Schmuck' himself or ME's clueless mouthpiece IM has definitely been in contact with Evans after the public uproar over the "F@ck Off" caught on live telly (but sadly still relatively few people seems to care or even fully comprehend that his ensuing "up Yours" gesture is just as obscene and unacceptable!, especially when coming from anyone employed with this club, and especially when obviously directed at those that in fact make their fat salaries a reality, namely its's fans! And thus we have yet to hear a ULTRA LAME explanation / excuse of this too "ehhhh just being directed at no one in particular" (read: meaning inferred = it too was directed SOLELY at the 'damn' East Anglian air hovering over Carrow Road LOL!) and 3) in said contact with Evans or through Milne MM was told to apologies! Cause I seriously don't remember MM ever apologizing for anything to do with his behavior or etiquette during his managerial career entirely on his own accord! And 4) imho apparently ALSO told that he will not 'Get the Boot' between now and until the end of the season (i.e "the next 14 games"). Now considering the severity of everything self-imposed "misadventurous" or simply just bad happening SINCE that December 16 win over Reading including all the counterproductive dispositions of his (just to name the worst: vs. QPR aka the scary Juggernaut where he practically forfeited any attempt of winning a sizable chunk of the 2nd half as he quote "was ever soooo afraid they (and close friend & tactical genius Ollie Guardiola) might nick it"; The utter humiliation vs. Sheffield U's reserves in the FA CUP; Failing to motivate or readying his 'proper blokes XI' who was then played of the park by also Juggernat-like last place Burton; Setting up ultra hedgehog with 8-9 defenders in the entire game in our biggest game of the season namely vs. the arch rival Budgies and that in a "must win game"! nevermind the fact we were seconds away from Grand-Larceny-nicking all 3.) and outright damaging things said by MM towards the fans in this calendar year alone, well then one can ONLY assume that means he will not 'Get the Boot' by the nowadays utter 'cohones less" Marcus, pretty much no matter what happens performance & result-wise and no matter how poorly he treat the customers from here on!!! ....In other words indirectly he is thus being giving the 'Green Light' for the absolute **ultimate** form of managerial FREEWHEELING I can recall in professional football in many many many many years!

1

cat added 13:47 - Feb 21 MzT, interesting analyse of all things M.E, but I strongly believe McCarthy will not be here next season, but, if anyone is stubborn enough or strong enough to stay around and pretty much say ‘up yours' AGAIN to the fans then it's McCarthy. I don't tend to dwell to much on M.E as it's purely assumptions and guess work which imo is a complete waste of mental energy, as we know sweet ‘FA' about the bloke. “Marcus the mute” as you refer to him (lol) needs to step up this summer, as failure to remove “Mick the Nick” (lol) will result in nothing short of a revolt next season. BTW - Watching sky sport news extracts on the McCarthy interview last night, suggest nothing else to me than our wonderful (used to be honest) Mick is simply lying through his ‘nashers' which I have never doubted for a second.

3

Bluejayzus added 15:09 - Feb 21 I can't really blame MM. Yes he is negative in style, and when we do have skill players that dont play is a real frustration. He is limited with what we have. The real issue is Marcus Evans. No clue what he is trying to achieve. It is clear he is not going to invest anything for the future , so its time he sold up, before the club winds up in league 2 or completly out of business.

0

ronnyd added 18:30 - Feb 21 Bluejayzus, Evans doesn,t dictate the style of play and that,s the frustrating thing that most fans are upset about. That is purely down to McCarthy.
0

MicksZzzTactics added 18:33 - Feb 21 @Cat Aye on all that we can surely agree ...but as I just happens I have so much surplus mental energy, these last few days ('Red Bull' poisoning??? lo), that ohhhh well I decided to waste some more on it on the mysterious ME :-) :-) .... ME who as you correctly imply @cat at least at some point in his career simply MUST have been a very savvy & shrewd businessman i order to accumulate that staggering net worth of over £ 700 mill!, but a Marcus Evans who in recent years seems to not only have lost some of his "Midas Touch" but also some of his "Marbles"!!! (not the least in regard to all the various mind-boggling ticket scam accusations which just don't seem to go away!) and personally I additionally suspect to fundamentally just having grown sooo **indifferent** to just about ANYTHING ELSE beside his utter happy-clappy complacency with MM's grandiose accomplishments of keeping his club floating unambitious around in the 2nd tier on minuscule funds, cause then he apparently thereby gets maximum corporate tax- deductibility from owning it & it's ever growing yum-yum deductible debt of course! Any which way, what all that uncertainty about MM's future HERE also brings with it, imho anyway, is that sadly any ITFC fans that desperately want new blood in the managerial seat this summer, more or less have to succumb to doing the very UNETHICAL & TREACHEROUS thing :-) :-) and that is to hope & prey that Mick's team doesn't win many if any at all of these remaining 14 games! Why??? Because most seriously I personally believe that: A) Marcus is to a certain degree intimidated by MM! Which of course would explain a LOT of things in recent years! :-) :-) (MM is an awful lot of things, but stupid in the normal sense of the word certainly ain't one of them! So whether by accident or not, MM 'sitting on' somewhat comprising info about the more shady side of ME over the years, isn't complete fantasy imho!) B) and that any 3 pointer and/or 'big scalp' from here on will just give MM more & more "LOOK MARCUS! I DID THIS! & BRILLIANT ALL THINGS CONSIDERED!" leverage & ammunition in his upcoming 2 -year-contract-option talks with the utterly football-clueless, 'nuts-missing' & just plain WEAK appearing Marcus! PS: Ironically the likelihood of Mick's ITFC actually not only winning a good share of these remaining 14 games but also **entertain** it's starved fans, increases manyfold by the REALITY that basically we have nothing more to play for this campaign, and thus only in light of that very fact the normally ultra wimpy & undaring MM might HENCEFORTH very likely take some serious atypical chances tactically, plus letting certain players play more freely & in their natural position etc. and of course also give playing time to some of our most exciting & offensive-minded youth. Very ironic indeed! lol

1

cat added 19:15 - Feb 21 MzT - Don't quite agree with your view point ref ‘the mute one' being in the slightest bit intimidated by the foul mouthed gruff northerner Dino McCarthy. In business it's all about power, not brawn, and I'm pretty sure M.E has come across plenty more hard core & bad arsed ‘associates' than the proper bloke, proper mans - man, call a spade a spade and stick it good and proper up the fans McCarthy. Wasting some of my mental energy here, how about this - Evans employed M.M with a 5 year plan, telling him there will be very limited funds and to steady & stabilise the good ship ITFC, whilst in the meantime M.E recoups some of that wasted investment from the Keane/Jewel years. I'm pretty sure M.E's making a loss, you don't buy a football club to make a profit, heard that many times before, whether it's tax deductible or not, but you simply cannot keep spunking your hard earn money up the wall, chasing the ultimate prize which is the PREM, without trying to balance the books at some point. Like I say, it's pure speculation and we will have to wait until April or when we are mathematically safe before we start to laugh or blab like babies. Who's knows, M.E might make a tidy, but very ‘moody' profit from the forth coming World Cup, thus investing millions in our team. Good to dream, hey pal!

0

MicksZzzTactics added 19:40 - Feb 21 Obviously is all power over brawn in BIG BUSINESS, or at least it use to be /or normally is for the in regard to *anything* ITFC = nowadays very sissy-like & anemic appearing Marcus .... 'Just saying' that in my view it isn't outside 'The Realm of Possibilities' that MM could somehow be in a position where he is quite capable of grabbing ME around those minuscule ballzzzz of his! :-) :-) Hmmmm say like for instance MM has seen Marcus in a glittering 'Blue Dress' etc. somewhere sub-culturish doing his 'Dame Edna' impersonation ... and then some! :-) lol :-) Otherwise I'm in tune with YOUR finer *pragmatic* side! .... this in addition to my own slightly overboard (with a purpose mind you!) but nevertheless fairly well-founded Sherlockian conspiracy theories! :-) lol :-)

0

Skip73 added 20:06 - Feb 21 I think its probably time for a change but I get the feeling that some on here would moan whoever we got.
0

Lightningboy added 16:34 - Feb 22 I'm just wondering whether our owner has said to Mick: “Look,i'm not putting anymore money into this football club because i've got no interest anymore,so it's upto you..there's a new contract if you want it & it'll save me having to hire a new manager”. Would not surprise me at all.
0

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls