McCarthy 'happy' with quit decision

Mick McCarthy has insisted he is ‘‘completely happy’’ with his decision to quit as Republic of Ireland manager.

McCarthy resigned today after coming under increasing pressure following the infamous bust-up with Roy Keane prior to the World Cup and two straight defeats at the start of Ireland’s Euro 2004 qualifying campaign.

McCarthy said he would look back on his years as Republic boss with ‘‘immense pride and pleasure’’.

He said: ‘‘It was the right decision and I’m completely happy with it. It was my decision.

‘‘It was for the good of the team as much as everything.

‘‘I think not so much my presence as some of the stuff going on around my presence was affecting team performance.

‘‘I don’t feel any sense of betrayal at all - it’s my decision.

‘‘I feel immense pride and pleasure at being allowed to do the job and being given the opportunity to do it.

‘‘The FAI were strong enough to back me. I’m very proud of being allowed to do the job and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.

‘‘I’ll walk away with my head held high and I think I’m entitled to do that.’’

McCarthy revealed he made his mind up to walk away after seeing his men lose their second successive Euro 2004 qualifier, against Switzerland.

He said: ‘‘It wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction but that was my feeling after the game. At the end of last week and the start of this week I decided.’’

McCarthy refused be drawn into criticising Keane’s impact on the Republic squad, focusing instead on the team’s achievement in reaching the second round of the World Cup.

He added: ‘‘After the World Cup we came back, we had such a good World Cup and we had 100,000 fans to welcome us back. There’s no point in me getting angry with anybody.

‘‘I’ve spoken to a few of the players today and they are disappointed.

‘‘As a manager of either a club or a country you inevitably carry a weight of expectation and that’s no different with me.

‘‘It was made greater by things over the summer but we got on with it and achieved a lot over the summer.’’