Wolves boss McCarthy hits out at ‘mindless idiots’

MICK McCARTHY insists he has done “a great job” at Wolves as he hit back at the “mindless idiots” who called for him to be sacked during Saturday’s home clash with Swansea.

McCarthy is adamant he has the backing of his players and the Wolves hierarchy and also thanked the fans who have bombarded him with messages of support since the weekend.

But the former Republic of Ireland manager was also determined to make known his feelings towards the “dissenting voices” who turned on him before Wolves recovered from 2-0 down to force a 2-2 draw against the Swans. McCarthy said: “We’d lost five games on the bounce, we were 2-0 down, it was not a good position.

“Do I like being in that position? Of course not. No-one else does but it is not helpful (the fans’ reaction).

“Let me clear something up. It doesn’t help. Let’s not give them any credit. Let’s not give any of the dissenting voices, the mindless idiots that do it, any credit. Do not give them any credence or any credit for getting us playing well or getting a result.”

McCarthy added: “I’ve done a great job here. I came five years ago, there were only 10 players here and just a million quid to spend.

“Five years on, we are in our third year in the Premier League and building the new stadium, but we are having a tough time.

“Come on, give the lads a bit of support. Don’t be giving us aggravation. I think they have short memories.

“But I’ve also had unbelievable support this week, from the players, everyone at the club, and from fans writing and emailing in. There is solidarity there.”

Meanwhile Republic of Ireland striker Shane Long is feeling positive after a scan revealed his knee injury was not as bad as first feared, according to West Brom assistant Michael Appleton.

It was revealed Monday that Long was likely to be out for up to six weeks after suffering an injury in Saturday’s match against Aston Villa following a challenge by Alan Hutton.

That would mean Long will almost certainly miss both legs of the Republic of Ireland’s Euro 2012 play-off against Estonia, a significant blow for manager Giovanni Trapattoni given that Kevin Doyle is suspended for the first leg while Robbie Keane is battling to be fit in time for the games.

Appleton though is simply relieved by the news that Long could make his return in December, instead of a potential season-long rehabilitation.

“Shane’s obviously still a little bit sore from the tackle on Saturday, but he’s in a decent frame of mind,” Appleton said.

“Obviously when you have a knock on your knee like that your first fears are that it’s ligament damage and that was our first fear at the time.

Ultimately the scans have shown that’s not the case so we feel quite fortunate that if it is six weeks it’s not as bad as a six-month, nine-month job.

“So from that point of view we’re pleased and hopefully we can get him back on the pitch as soon as we can.”