McCarthy coy on possibility of Ireland return

Ipswich boss Mick McCarthy won’t rule himself in or out of the running for the vacant Ireland manager’s job until he’s asked whether he is interested in the role by the FAI.

Speculation that the 54-year-old, previously in charge between 1996 and 2002, might return to his old job has increased in recent days but he says he’s received no contact from the FAI: “No, I haven’t.”

Does he rule himself out of the running?

“If somebody ever asks me the question as to what I’ll do, I’ll tell them. And I think anybody who wants to ask me the question should ask (Ipswich owner) Marcus Evans the question first anyway because I’m under contract here until June 2015.”

McCarthy, who has previously admitted that he’d like the job again at some point in the future, says he can do nothing about the ongoing speculation.

“I can’t help what’s going on. If they ever ask me the questionofficially, I’ll tell them.

“They haven’t and until it happens, I’m not even going to talk about it, because I just get sick of it.

“We can all speculate and talk bullshit and listen to bullshit and read bullshit about it and nobody’s actually said anything to me. Nobody.

“Then of course you’ll ask me, ‘Well, what if?’ It doesn’t matter what if. I haven’t got answers to what ifs because I don’t deal with all that.”

McCarthy says he’s happy with life at Ipswich, who are currently 11th in the Championship, and is preparing for today’s home game against surprise leaders Burnley.

“I love being here, I love my job,” he said. “I do love being here. I’m not asking for it (the Ireland job), I’m not courting it, I’m not trying to do anything with it.

“I’m going to be there in that dugout breaking my bollocks to beat Burnley for me and everybody else associated with the club.”

He added: “It might be that I’d just like to be asked and I say yes, or I might like to be asked and say no. But I haven’t been asked.”