Mick’s cup loses cheer

WITH his game-plan reduced to tatters within 90 seconds and his players adding next to nothing for the rest of the afternoon Mick McCarthy still put on a performance — the one he always plays — as a Yorkshire curmudgeon.

On a day when Liverpool had been humbled at Anfield by his home-town club Barnsley, the ex-Republic boss was still in no mood to be fanciful.

Surely a non-Premier League name would soon be engraved on the famous trophy for the first time in nearly three decades?