McCarthy departure ‘no victory for Keane’- FAI chief

FAI treasurer, John Delaney, tonight insisted the departure of Mick McCarthy as manager of the Republic of Ireland had not been a victory for Roy Keane

McCarthy resigned today after six and a half years at the helm, but ultimately it was his highly publicised bust-up with former Republic skipper Keane rather than results which forced the 43-year-old Yorkshireman out of his job.

Delaney admitted McCarthy’s departure had been ‘‘inevitable’’ following the row which erupted in Saipan in May, when the manager banished the captain from the World Cup squad. But he refused to hail Keane as the winner at the end of the fight.

‘‘Certain people who want to will perceive it that way, and that is there prerogative, but I wouldn’t see it like that,’’ said Delaney. ‘‘Mick will be judged on his six and a half years of management of Ireland, and that is what he should be judged on - not on the events of Saipan.

‘‘Mick has been a very loyal, good and honest manager for Ireland. When history judges Mick McCarthy’s time in charge it will show he had a very successful time.

‘‘When we look back on his six and a half years we have got to look at the success, and the fact he took us to the World Cup finals and got us to 14th in the world, which is a phenomenal achievement.

‘‘I have enjoyed working with Mick during the 18 months I have been treasurer and I am very disappointed he has gone, but I think it was somehow inevitable.

‘‘Football is a strange business. Only a couple of months ago 100,000 people met the team in Phoenix Park to welcome them back from the World Cup, and now this.

‘‘Mick deserved better from certain sections and he felt disappointed the supporters to a certain degree turned on him on the night of the Switzerland game. But the FAI were always supportive of him in Saipan and again in the past couple of weeks, and he has acknowledged that.’’

Don Givens, the manager or Ireland’s Under-21s, will take charge of the senior team for the friendly in Greece on November 20 and the FAI expect to have a new manager in place before the next Euro 2004 qualifier in Georgia at the end of March.

Delaney will be heavily involved in the search for a successor to McCarthy, which will begin next week, and although the door is now open for Keane to return to the team, he insisted the Manchester United star would not be consulted.

‘‘That is a question for the next manager,’’ said Delaney. ‘‘Whether the next manager picks Shay Given, Gary Kelly, Robbie Keane or Roy Keane, that is his decision.

‘‘When we look at our next manager there will be many things to look at, not just whether Roy Keane will come back.

‘‘This is the end of a chapter and we have a process to take care of now. We have to go about getting ourselves a manager, but we are fortunate that we have a bit of time because March is our next competitive game.

‘‘We have an international meeting of the FAI on Monday night when the officers will be convening, and there is a board meeting scheduled for early next week when we shall discuss the process of how we go about achieving our next manager.

‘‘I am in favour of a consultative approach and I am not going to set or deadline otherwise I’ll be tied to it, but certainly we hope to have someone in place by the time we play Georgia.’’

Whoever succeeds McCarthy will inherit a team which has lost the first two games of the Euro 2004 qualifying campaign, and must pick up the pieces and try to get the campaign back on track.

Joe Kinnear has emerged as the early favourite with the bookies and is is one of several names who will be considered for what Delaney believes is still one of the best jobs in the business - and one which he said did not necessarily have to go to an Irishman.

‘‘Whoever the new manager is will come into a group who have lost their first two games, so there are not going to be high expectations of him and he might be fortunate in that respect,’’ said Delaney.

‘‘He has four tough games coming up in Georgia and Albania both home and away. But if he wins those four games we are back in the group with a home game against Russia to look forward to.

‘‘There are a lot of positives in managing Ireland. It is a young side with players like Shay Given, Robbie Keane, Steve Finnan and Stephen Carr who are going to be around for the next five years, and I have no fears that we won’t get a suitable candidate - although it certainly doesn’t have to be an Irishman, there are no set rules on that.’’