McCarthy move imminent

THE FAI will look for substantial compensation, maybe as much as €1m, from Sunderland if they move to appoint Mick McCarthy as successor to Peter Reid.

McCarthy is a short-odds favourite with some bookmakers to fill the job left vacant by Reid’s dismissal on Monday, though there were also indications yesterday that the Black Cats have another high-profile figure in mind as their preferred choice.

As speculation continued, with one bookmaker suspending betting on the subject in anticipation of McCarthy’s appointment to the Stadium of Light hot seat, it is believed all parties likely to be affected by a transfer have tacitly agreed not to take matters any further until after next Wednesday’s European Championship qualifying match against Switzerland in Dublin.

The FAI insisted yesterday that Sunderland had not made any approach, but the perceived wisdom is that

officials will be pragmatic if an approach is made after the Swiss match and will be concerned only with reaching an acceptable financial settlement for releasing McCarthy.

McCarthy signed a two-year contract with the FAI in the course of the World Cup tournament in South Korea and Japan in June. The two parties had agreed the broad outline of the contract several weeks before, but he did not sign the completed agreement until Ireland were in the Far East.

The contract was designed to cover the upcoming Euro Championship qualifiers, concluding in February 2004. McCarthy, who is already the longest serving international team manager in Europe, will have served for eight-and-a-half years if the contract runs its course.

However, a source close to the Irish manager said yesterday it was increasingly unlikely that McCarthy would stay in the job. The fallout from the Roy Keane issue in Saipan was growing increasingly intolerable: “He will be very tempted to take a club job, if a suitable one is offered. Sunderland would come into that category and I will be surprised if McCarthy does not take the job if it is offered to him.

“The reaction in the newspapers to the defeat by Russia in Moscow was dreadful and made a huge impression. Some of the things that were said in the newspapers were unacceptable and very personal. He knows now that there are people in the media who will drag the Keane issue up whenever Ireland lose or fail to reach the standard to which we have become accustomed.”

McCarthy admitted for the first time at a conference in Dublin on Tuesday that the Keane issue was an on-going problem. He has always said he did not take note of what was written in newspapers, but he said in Dublin that he had read newspaper reports after

Ireland’s defeat by Russia and the personal nature of some of the criticism was unacceptable.

It is a fact that a number of newspaper reporters have taken a policy decision to campaign for the recall of Roy Keane. This, effectively, is a policy that can only be processed if McCarthy is removed from office, because Keane has repeatedly said he will not play for McCarthy.

The Keane book was a huge source of irritation to McCarthy and the revelations by Niall Quinn in his book were not calculated to ease the pressure on the manager. Preparations for the match against Russia last month were adversely affected by the controversy that surrounded the publication of Keane’s book and it is clear other issues are impacting upon the preparations for the Switzerland game.

Interestingly, however, yesterday’s Sunderland Echo newspaper denied that McCarthy will be named as the club’s new manager.

“While McCarthy has worked wonders with Ireland and commands a great deal of respect at the Stadium of Light, the Echo understands he has not and will not be approached to be offered the job. Sunderland chairman Bob Murray wants to appoint a new boss before the club’s next Premiership game at home to West Ham a week on Saturday, and an announcement may be made before this weekend.”

A BBC report indicated that a managerial team of McCarthy working with Quinn is the main option being considered by Sunderland’s board. Bookmakers William Hill have closed the book on McCarthy’s appointment. Spokesman Graham Sharpe said:

“McCarthy was backed down to odds-on favourite and was being heavily supported, with bets of up to £700, by some well-connected punters.

“We have been informed by a reliable source that maybe this race is not as competitive as it may have seemed.

“We took the decision to close the book, at least until we could get confirmation one way or the other that the job wasn’t already being offered to a leading contender.”

Joe Royle says he would jump at the chance to manage Sunderland: “I would like the job. Of course I would, but there has been no contact. I get on well with (club chairman) Bob Murray, when I have met him, but that has only ever been when I took a team there.”

George Graham, John Gregory and Gary Megson have all been ruled out.