1000 games up for Mick McCarthy who seems to be ageing like a fine wine

Mick McCarthy marked his 1000th game in management on Friday night with a 0-0 draw away to Huddersfield. This result extended his unbeaten start to life at Cardiff to 11 matches now and came after Yaya Sanogo missed a second-half penalty for the home team.

The draw did mean that McCarthy’s side missed the chance to move into the play-offs, despite his side moving up to 7th position.

The penalty miss from Huddersfield could prove costly in their battle to stay in the Championship, with that being their third spot-kick miss this season, scoring none.

In what was a pretty dull affair for Cardiff on the pitch, it was sure to be a memorable night for their boss McCarthy as he took charge of his 1000th game in management with the Bluebirds taking a point back to the Welsh capital.

City almost opened the scoring with just a few minutes on the clock as captain Sean Morrison went close but his show was saved well by Schofield in the Huddersfield net.

With chances few and far between all night, it was both keepers who helped to keep the game goalless and were ready when called upon.

Juninho Bacuna went close for the Terriers with a free-kick that was well saved by Phillips, whilst Will Vaulks impressive volley from 25 yards was tipped away by Schofield just before the break.

Huddersfield did have a huge opportunity to win the game as Aaron Rowe was brought down in the area, however it was Sanogo the ex Arsenal man who stepped up and dragged the penalty wide with the game ending in a stalemate.

This point in West Yorkshire maintains Cardiff’s impressive unbeaten run since McCarthy took over back in January.

Upon arrival, the Welsh outfit were struggling and had suffered six consecutive losses with talk about potential relegation candidates looming.

McCarthy was brought in to steady the ship and to utilise his experience at this level, instead he has turned the Bluebirds into high-flying promotion candidates – a feat no one saw coming.

Registering seven wins and four draws in 11 outings so far, the Irishman has well and truly turned City’s season around and put them in good stead heading into the crunch part of the season.

Initially brought in on a six month short-term deal, the Cardiff hierarchy have been so impressed by his start that they have secured the services of McCarthy for another two years. Having fended off competition from a host of other clubs, this week he put pen to paper extending his stay in South Wales.

The Story of Mick so far –

Mick McCarthy, who was born in Barnsley but had an Irish dad, opted to take the nationality of his father and would go on to both play for, and manage his national team.

His managerial career began in 1992 as he took charge of Millwall, initially as a player manager during his first season. He almost led them to promotion in 94 however his side lost out to Derby County in the semi-final of the play-offs.

During the 1995-96 season McCarthy became the prime candidate for the vacant Republic of Ireland manager and he did eventually take the job being appointed on the 5th February 1996.

After narrowly missing out on qualification for both the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000, he did eventually guide his nation to the 2002 World Cup held in Japan and South Korea.

It wasn’t the fairytale McCarthy hoped for as he clashed with captain Roy Keane on the eve of the tournament, often referred to as the ‘Saipan incident’.

The boss was reported to have called Keane out for faking an injury, with the captain furiously hitting back causing chaos in the Irish camp. McCarthy sent Keane home prior to the World Cup starting and never played for his country again, while McCarthy was in charge.

Still to this day, Roy Keane’s name is forbidden in the McCarthy household.

We have a bit of a competition in our house that anybody who mentions Saipan or that other fella (Keane) wins the D*** of the Day Award

He did eventually leave the role of his National team in 2002, before going on to have successful spells at Sunderland, Wolves, and Ipswich. McCarthy guided both Sunderland and Wolves to Championship titles in 2005 and 2009 respectively.

In 2018, he was reappointed as manager of the Republic of Ireland with this stint not involving half as much controversy as his first spell. He did step down in April 2020 amid the global pandemic, later being appointed by Greek club Apoel however McCarthy only lasted eight games before facing the sack.

Over the years McCarthy has provided valiant entertainment and has become somewhat of a wordsmith with his famous one liners.

No nonsense –

Speaking after a 1-1 draw with Leeds United, the former Republic of Ireland boss gave reporters a piece of his mind. One journalist asked, ‘Some people might think that is two points dropped?’, Mick replied –

Some people can F*** Off

Careless Whisper –

One of the famous clips surrounding Mccarthy is the video of him looking seductively into the camera with George Michael’s ‘Careless Whisper’ song playing over the clip.

A bit of Careless Whisper Mick McCarthy just because it’s #StPatricksDay pic.twitter.com/UbP7OxXfjM

— Soccer AM (@SoccerAM) March 17, 2017

MM –

During his first press conference as Wolves manager, McCarthy had just 13 fit players at his disposal, one reporter asked if he had any solutions to the problem?

My initials stand for Mick McCarthy, not Merlin the Magician

Team bus –

Ahead of Ireland’s 2-0 victory over Gibraltar, their preparations faced somewhat of an inconvenience as the team bus broke down on the way to the game:

Mick McCarthy asked what happened with team bus before the game.
“It broke down”
“Can you expand on that?”
“It wouldn’t go any further.”

— Daniel McDonnell (@McDonnellDan) June 10, 2019

No yellow cards?

When asked about his team receiving no bookings during a particular game:

No and I asked all the lads to go out there and knock seven bells out of everybody as well like I normally do. Shame that isn’t it? They went out there and played free-flowing football and were rampant for 45 minutes. What were they playing at?

Mick McCarthy is not everyone’s cup of tea as a manager, but one thing for sure is that he has produced a sheer amount of entertainment over the years, with his witty Yorkshire humour always giving us something to smile about.

Currently flying at Cardiff, McCarthy has reminded everyone that he is still capable of managing at the top and is aiming to take the Bluebirds back to the Premier League this season.

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