FAI and McCarthy set to call it quits

FAI OFFICIALS are ready to meet with Mick McCarthy this week to discuss the departure of Ireland’s team manager after six years in the job.

They will not attempt to enforce the contract McCarthy signed in June, which was to run until February 2004.

McCarthy is currently on a round of promotional assignments in England to sell his recently-published World Cup diary and is scheduled to begin a tour of Irish venues at the end of the week. Included in his schedule is an appearance on Friday’s ‘Late Late Show’.

FAI officials yesterday remained tight-lipped on reports McCarthy was about to step down. They have not received any notice from the manager or his agents of his plans but they accept the repeated stories in the newspapers and on radio/tv that McCarthy is ready to go.

The FAI officer board was totally supportive of McCarthy during the World Cup and in the fall-out that attended Ireland’s losses in the European Championship to Russia and Switzerland. Now a majority accept it is probably in everybody’s best interests that the manager departs.

The negative reaction of fans during and after the match against Switzerland last month was a severe shock to McCarthy and senior FAI officers. They did not expect to hear supporters boo the team and the manager when Ireland were losing for the first time in 17 competitive matches at Lansdowne Road.

An FAI source yesterday said: “Clearly the manager was deeply upset by the reaction of the supporters as we all were. This was our first game at home since the World Cup, remember, and we were justified in expecting something more positive from the supporters.

“But the manager has said now that the negative background surrounding his position affected the team and obviously, if that is the case, then something must change.”

McCarthy has said that when other issues not directly linked to the performance of the team impact upon it, then it is time to go. And the suspension of the European Championship qualifying tournament until next March offers an opportunity that will not be lost.

Ireland play two friendly matches before then: Greece in Athens in two weeks time and in February they travel to Glasgow to play Scotland.

It is highly unlikely the FAI will be able to appoint a new manager in time to take charge of the team against Greece. It is much more likely that Don Givens, manager of Ireland’s U21 team, will be asked to fill the post on a temporary basis, probably with the help of Ireland’s goal keeping coach Pat Bonner.

The FAI will be anxious to have a new man installed for the match against Scotland, however. There is still an outside chance of Ireland qualifying for the European Finals in Portugal in 2004, but the new man will face a huge challenge when Ireland play Georgia in Tbilisi on March 29.

The only issue to be resolved between the FAI and McCarthy when they sit down is the financial one. McCarthy’s representative, Liam Gaskin, said this week money would not be an issue but some details must be agreed.

The FAI could, theoretically, look for compensation if McCarthy were to accept a club post while his contract was still in place; likewise he could seek compensation if the FAI wanted to cancel it.

McCarthy received a bonus of £100,000stg (156,000 euro) from the FAI for Ireland’s achievement in qualifying for the second phase of the World Cup finals. There is a volume of opinion within the higher echelons of the FAI that they cannot afford to pay him anymore.

Cancelling the contract would probably assist McCarthy in securing a club job. A future employer would not have to consider compensating the FAI. With both parties anxious for an amicable settlement, it is virtually certain McCarthy’s reign will end with a handshake.