Future as Ireland manager looks bleak for McCarthy

THE future is looking bleak for the man once known as Captain Fantastic.

Bookies are offering odds of 5/6 that Mick McCarthy will have vacated the manager’s seat by the time Ireland play Georgia in March in their next Euro qualifer.

Booed off the field in Lansdowne Road after the 2-1 defeat by Switzerland on Wednesday night, McCarthy’s days looked numbered.

Everyone from Sven Goran Eriksson to Roy Keane are being touted as replacements should McCarthy resign or be sacked.

Former Leeds boss David O’Leary has emerged as the favourite with his odds falling to 11/8.

Roy Keane remains an outsider at 25/1 even though he admitted in a recent interview the job might interest him at some point.

Other likely lads include Celtic coach Martin O’Neill, 5/1, John Aldridge 16/1 and sacked Ipswich boss George Burley 14/1.

One of the emerging hot tips for the job is the Luton Town manager Joe Kinnear priced at 7/2.

Brian Kerr, who guided the country to a World Cup bronze medal and two European Championship wins at underage level, is an 8/1 shot.

The high salary that McCarthy is earning, 560,000 annually, is unlikely to be offered by the FAI to his successor.

One figure who would suffer a big wage cut by taking the job is McCarthy’s arch critic, journalist Eamon Dunphy. He yesterday admitted that he’d like to do the job, but insisted he’s not making a pitch for it. Dunphy is viewed by the bookies as a long shot at 500/1.

Other big names linked with the post include: Niall Quinn 20/1, Liam Brady, 33/1, and Kenny Dalglish 20/1.

The former Arsenal, Leeds and Spurs boss, George Graham, is 12/1 to succeed McCarthy.

Interestingly Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson is priced at just 10/1 to leave the world’s biggest club and manage the boys in green.

Paddy Power has also slashed the odds on the country failing to qualify for the European Championship in Portugal to 1/2.

A phone-in to the Gerry Ryan show yesterday highlighted that the public has long forgotten about the good times in the Japanese and Korean sunshine.

“The overwhelming majority of callers wanted McCarthy to go, but we had so many calls that the software system collapsed; so we have no exact percentage,” a spokeswoman for the show said.