You’ve probably had many people commenting both internally and externally, but thought I’d give my opinion on the appointment of Mick McCarthy as an Ipswich Town supporter. Obviously this is heavily influenced by one spell in his career - my view of Paul Cook will be very different to that of a Wigan fan for example - but given that he spent nearly six years at our club, I felt like offering my two cents.
In summary I think he’s a really good short-term appointment for where you are this season. When he came to Portman Road we were dead last in November and we finished the season in 14th. Even though his stint at Cardiff ended in disaster, he took a team from a relegation battle to the edge of the play offs within a few months. Given that your aim is presumably to finish 21st, he’s as close to a sure fire bet as you’ll get. That’s not to say he can’t sustain it longer term - we overperformed relative to budget in 5 out of his 6 years with us - but the contract length indicates that someone else may be in the hot seat next season.
Tactically, it’s very functional as you’d probably expect - with us he relied on a big target man such as Daryl Murphy or Joe Garner running the channels. However, he also likes to give a free role to one flair player who will be relied upon for moments of individual brilliance even if they tactically aren’t the strongest; Bersant Celina and Tom Lawrence were given this responsibility. In Josh Bowler and Morgan Rogers you’ve probably already recruited that player.
Players are also generally very fond of him. His relationship with the fan base sours after a few years (it did with ourselves and Wolves) but he takes the rap for bad performances and never throws the squad under the bus. His senior players held him in very regard right until the end, even after he’d lost connection with large swathes of the fan base.
However, if he’s given the job long term and builds a squad in his image, the next appointment will need to be evolution rather than revolution. Our relegation was largely down to poor recruitment but it didn’t help that both Paul Hurst and Paul Lambert tried to implement a possession-based style with a squad which had spent the last few years lumping it long towards a target man. It also reinforced how well he had done without any money to spend.
Overall, it seems like a good fit. From an outside perspective, it appears your budget isn’t one which will sustain a promotion push any time soon but when you’re looking for someone to put out fires and work without significant financial resources, he’s the man.
Not sure if any of this was new information but thought I’d offer it up anyway - I’m always interested to hear from other clubs when we appoint an ex-manager of theirs. I’d like to see your boys stay up, felt sorry for you during the Oyston era so I’m glad things are at least a bit better than they were back then.
In summary I think he’s a really good short-term appointment for where you are this season. When he came to Portman Road we were dead last in November and we finished the season in 14th. Even though his stint at Cardiff ended in disaster, he took a team from a relegation battle to the edge of the play offs within a few months. Given that your aim is presumably to finish 21st, he’s as close to a sure fire bet as you’ll get. That’s not to say he can’t sustain it longer term - we overperformed relative to budget in 5 out of his 6 years with us - but the contract length indicates that someone else may be in the hot seat next season.
Tactically, it’s very functional as you’d probably expect - with us he relied on a big target man such as Daryl Murphy or Joe Garner running the channels. However, he also likes to give a free role to one flair player who will be relied upon for moments of individual brilliance even if they tactically aren’t the strongest; Bersant Celina and Tom Lawrence were given this responsibility. In Josh Bowler and Morgan Rogers you’ve probably already recruited that player.
Players are also generally very fond of him. His relationship with the fan base sours after a few years (it did with ourselves and Wolves) but he takes the rap for bad performances and never throws the squad under the bus. His senior players held him in very regard right until the end, even after he’d lost connection with large swathes of the fan base.
However, if he’s given the job long term and builds a squad in his image, the next appointment will need to be evolution rather than revolution. Our relegation was largely down to poor recruitment but it didn’t help that both Paul Hurst and Paul Lambert tried to implement a possession-based style with a squad which had spent the last few years lumping it long towards a target man. It also reinforced how well he had done without any money to spend.
Overall, it seems like a good fit. From an outside perspective, it appears your budget isn’t one which will sustain a promotion push any time soon but when you’re looking for someone to put out fires and work without significant financial resources, he’s the man.
Not sure if any of this was new information but thought I’d offer it up anyway - I’m always interested to hear from other clubs when we appoint an ex-manager of theirs. I’d like to see your boys stay up, felt sorry for you during the Oyston era so I’m glad things are at least a bit better than they were back then.
