Mick McCarthy interview: Reaching 1,000 games in management, Cardiff, Cyprus and champagne on planes
Sky Sports exclusive: Mick McCarthy discusses his "honour" of reaching 1,000 games in management, Cardiff, his spell in Cyprus and some of his career highlights
Friday 12 March 2021 09:57, UK
Mick McCarthy looks back on his landmark moment in management in exactly the manner you would expect.
"I have to tell you, you may think in your 1,000th game that you'll want to go and win it 3-0 or something," he tells Sky Sports, after winning the Sky Bet Championship Manager of the Month award for February.
"But it was Huddersfield away and we had just played Wednesday, Saturday, Tuesday and then Friday. It wasn't the performance I would have liked, but the lads were really feeling it and they were brilliant.
"I would have taken 0-0 all day long."
It's a perfect summation of the pragmatism and realism that has served McCarthy, now 62, so well in a career that has spanned nearly 30 years, taking in stops at Millwall, Republic of Ireland, Sunderland, Wolves, Ipswich, Ireland again, APOEL and now Cardiff.
"I am thrilled to have managed to reach it," he says. "It was something I wanted to achieve since I got to 900-odd games. There are some incredible people in that club, like Sir Alex Ferguson, who I know is on a whole lot more than me! It is an honour and I am humbled to be in that company.
"There are also a few more coming along the way who have been my peers around me for a long time too, like David Moyes and Steve Bruce.
"But I'm not stopping just yet. I'm going to keep going!"
I ask him to reflect a little more on his career, which is not something easy to do for a managerial mind lodged firmly in the present.
"The promotions were incredible with Wolves and Sunderland, winning the Championship with both," he says. "Then there was the World Cup, and that late Robbie Keane goal to draw against Germany in the group stage. Strangely enough, we qualified for the tournament after losing 1-0 in Iran, because we had beaten them 2-0 in the first leg.
"We were all sat in the airport waiting to catch a flight, and nobody had a drink until the plane was out of Iranian airspace, then we cracked open a bottle of champagne.
"It was amazing, and those things can never be taken away. But it was still all history. The most important thing to me right now is the last draw we had. I didn't want to get beat in my 1,000th game, obviously, but the most relevant results are the most recent ones.
"Nobody gives you anything in this game for a great result 20 years ago. The only thing that keeps you going is the next result. It is unbelievable to have these memories, but I'd much sooner be beating Watford on Saturday than reminiscing on some victory I had in the past."
Cardiff will be especially glad that McCarthy is still so motivated. He has breathed new life into the Bluebirds since his arrival in January.
When he took over they had lost seven on the bounce, under him they have won seven and drawn four, and are now back in touching distance with the play-offs.
"Not much can surprise me in this league anymore," he says. "But when we were 2-0 down at Barnsley in that first game I must admit I didn't see it happening!
"I knew the quality was there, but in the way we got back level I could see the fighting spirit was there. I saw a willingness not to give in, and it was similar in the next game against Millwall when we came back from 1-0 down.
"We have some good players and a good spirit, but I'd be lying out of my back teeth if I said I thought we'd go on and win seven and draw four! We'll keep chipping away to try and win as many as we can, and we'll see where it takes us."
If things had gone a little differently in his last job, McCarthy would not even find himself at the Cardiff City Stadium.
He, and long-time assistant Terry Connor, only made the move to join Cypriot First Division club APOEL in early November of last year. But after just eight games in charge - culminating in four defeats on the bounce - they were sacked in early January.
McCarthy says he thoroughly enjoyed the experience and does to some extent wish it had worked out differently. But APOEL's loss has very much been Cardiff's gain.
It is funny how some things work out.
"It was a different culture there and a different way for me of managing a team," he says. "You are the coach there, and they have other team managers who run the club.
"It was all going okay until we had 19 players out with Covid-19 and lost four on the bounce. I ended up having to play some kids for a few weeks.
"I didn't want it to happen, of course, and training in shorts and a T-shirt in December is unheard of! But we said it might be the best sacking we ever had because there might be someone having a bit of a tough time who might need us, and we got more publicity coming back than we did going out there.
"I was coming back from Nicosia on the plane with TC and I said to him it might be an opportune moment for us. I got the call [from Cardiff] and I was free and willing to take the job until the end of the season. It worked out in our favour."
McCarthy was out of work for just a couple of weeks in January, until Cardiff came calling with a contract, at the time, until the end of the current campaign.
Even at this stage of his career, and with two Championship titles under his belt, McCarthy still has a burning desire to show what he can do.
"I took the job being prepared for it to just be until the end of the season, to see what we could do and to prove my credentials," he says. "I've got a pretty good record in this league, and a lot of experience in it.
"The hope was then to get a new contract for me and TC, and it's happened so we're delighted. It's a fabulous club and I've said before that I'm surprised that people who have been here have not said that to me. It's so professional, everything has been laid on and we have been looked after really well. And that was from day one, even prior to the seven wins!"
McCarthy is also keen to give credit to his predecessor Neil Harris, who took Cardiff to last season's play-offs, but couldn't get things quite right this year and was eventually sacked after a run of seven straight defeats.
"Neil did an amazing job here," says McCarthy. "He got to the play-offs last season and just missed out on getting to the final. How it goes wrong after that, I have no idea. But he put in a great foundation and brought in some great players.
"But when it does [go wrong] you have to come in as a bit of a fire fighter. You have to tell people how you want things done, and there are no rooms for discussions or negotiations.
"Then you just have to hope it works, and fortunately for us, it has! First you just have to stop getting beat, because they had lost seven on the bounce, which happens sometimes. Someone went to Cyprus after our four defeats and got a win. For whatever reason sometimes you just can't get a result."
As he approaches game number 1,001 in management, McCarthy is still just as passionate about the game as he was when he managed his first in 1992, and even when he first made his playing debut in 1977.
He still even takes a loss just as badly, and feels the same relief after a win.
"I always enjoy being involved, and the build-up to the game," he says. "But winning games just helps you lead a pretty normal life. You can get up in the morning without thinking about everything that went on in the last game, and you can rest and sleep a little easier, and speak to your family more civilly!
"We don't walk around with big smiles on our faces when we're winning, but when you lose it's a horrible feeling. It affects you, you get angry and frustrated, and you need to get to the next game."
The next game is Watford on Saturday and a real opportunity to keep their unbeaten run going and lay down a marker of their play-off credentials against one of the best sides in the Championship.
The natural question to finish on is how far McCarthy thinks Cardiff can go this season, even though I know what he is going to say. He is far too canny for me at this stage.
"My aim is always to get as high as I can, and win as many games as I can," he says. "I know that's a pretty bland answer but you know you're not going to get the answer you want!
"I know our next few fixtures before the international break, but I couldn't tell you who we are playing afterwards. If you start thinking too far ahead you're going to trip yourself up really quickly."
It's a classic bit of Mick. The Championship missed him, and football in this country is a better place with him around.
