Ipswich expect McCarthy to stay

Ipswich Town joint-managing director Ian Milne says he doesn’t expect Mick McCarthy to leave the Championship club for the vacant Ireland manager’s job.

Milne says he is not aware of any contact from the FAI regarding McCarthy, who previously managed Ireland between 1996 and 2002.

“The last time I spoke to him was a couple of weeks ago when it first came up and he said, ‘Look, I’m not going anywhere’. We don’t want him to go,” Milne said.

“You don’t know what’s around the corner, things may change and what have you, but I think he likes the day to day running of a team and it’s quite a different job doing an international role.”

Jonathan Symonds, Ipswich’s other MD, added: “We’re clearly keen to see him stay. We enjoy his style of football and the way the team is performing.

“Although we’ve not had the best set of results at the beginning of the season, we’ve had some difficult fixtures, but we’re playing better football and more entertaining football as well.”

Everton, meanwhile, have confirmed midfielder Darron Gibson will undergo knee surgery after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury during Ireland’s 3-1 win over Kazakhstan on Tuesday.

The 25-year-old tweeted yesterday: “I’m devastated, but would like to thank all the fans for their messages, long road ahead but I’ll be back fitter and stronger! #COYB.”

Earlier, a statement on the club’s website read: “The scans did confirm to Everton’s medical team that no additional damage was sustained to the structure of the right knee.”

Irish interim manager Noel King speculated yesterday it could be six months or even longer before Gibson would be able to return to action.

“It was horrible, he was in agony,” said King. “It looks like it might be a few months and with the season the way it is it’s not going to be easy for him to get back this season, I don’t think.”