Looks like a good promotion/relegation year for the Irish (Well done Mick!)

[eirebhoy]

Sunderland are up, thats a cert. Ipswich and Wigan fighting it out for second. The most realistic options to go down are Palace, West Brom and Norwich - One Irish player between them.

up:
Gary Breen
Colin Healy
Sean Thornton
Stephen Elliott

hopefully (if Wigan are promoted):
Kavanagh
Mahon

down:
Gary Doherty

Well done Mick! :)

[Eirambler]

Don't think Wigan will make it, they tend to tail off at end of seasons. Sheffield United are making a late charge though, often the team with good late season form tends to survive the playoffs (e.g Palace). Geary, Quinn and Kenny would go up if they made it.

[Stuttgart88]

Assuming anyone down to Sheff Utd is still a candidate for promotion, I'd hope for Sundereland (not yet a certainty!) and Wigan to get automatic, Sheff United to win the play-off. And don't forget Liamo Lawrence:)

Ipswich has no Irish in the senior squad though there's an Irish core in their FA Youth Cup semi-final team.

Preston, Reading, West Ham & Derby have no Irish that I know of (Jeff Kenna excepted).

Speaking of Healy, is there any chance he'll play for Ireland again? Will he even play again - any news?

[tiktok]

Stephen Elliott
Well done Mick! :)

McCarthy has done an excellent job at Sunderland, credit where it's due.

Quick Q though; isn't Elliot just on loan, any chance Man City will snatch huim back next season?

[Stuttgart88]

McCarthy has done an excellent job at Sunderland, credit where it's due.

Quick Q though; isn't Elliot just on loan, any chance Man City will snatch huim back next season?

No - permanent move. £125k I think.

[tiktok]

No - permanent move. £125k I think.

Cheers, I wasn't sure.

[tetsujin1979]

No - permanent move. £125k I think.

Fee had to be decided by a tribunal, he was out of contract, but under 24.

Sheffield United could be the dark horses for the play offs, Warnock has a fantastic record in them, last season against Palace was the first time he's ever not won promotion, when in a playoff.

Wigan are starting to tail off a bit, first time outside the top 2 since the start of the season, that defeat could take the wind out of their sails a bit.

End of season run in:

Sunderland and Ipswich both have 3 home games left, whereas Wigan only have 2, but Sunderland also have to play Ipswich at Portman Road

Sunderland:
Sat 09 H Reading
Sun 17 A Ipswich
Sat 23 H Leicester
Fri 29 A West Ham
May
Sun 08 H Stoke

Ipswich
Mon 11 A Wolves
Sun 17 H Sunderland
Sat 23 A Leeds United
Sat 30 H Crewe
May
Sun 8 H Brighton

Wigan :
Sat 9 A Cardiff City
Sat 16 A Leicester City
Sat 23 H QPR
Sat 30 A Preston
May
Sun 8 H Reading

[gufct]

for the amazing job he has done at Sunderland in almost 2 seasons with almost all his own players.He has signed a few gems this year including Lawerence,Whitehead and Elliot for little or no money . Who knows where next Man U. look like they will need a complete new squad when Alex bites the dust at the end of the season now wouldnt that be fun!!!!!!!!

[stojkovic]

McCarthy has always been an excellent manager - with second division players.

[blobbyblob]

Ipswich has no Irish in the senior squad


Daryll Murphy shortly

[thejollyrodger]

Its completely certain that Sunderland are in the priemership ? fair play mick. He has done very well with the players. I hope they dont end up in a relegation battle next season though. Nothing as bad for players as fighting a relegation battle all season. It might be the case with Wigan if they do get promoted. Still good news with all those irish players:):)

[gspain]

for the amazing job he has done at Sunderland in almost 2 seasons with almost all his own players.He has signed a few gems this year including Lawerence,Whitehead and Elliot for little or no money . Who knows where next Man U. look like they will need a complete new squad when Alex bites the dust at the end of the season now wouldnt that be fun!!!!!!!!

Yes with Roy as his assistant. :D

[Roo69]

McCarthy has always been an excellent manager - with second division players.

What ? McCarthy is not an excellent manager.

18 Players from his squad out of 27 have played in the premiership in the recent past. Ipswich have 4 or 5 at most and Wigan have 3/4.

Sunderland should be walking the league in fairness.

[davey]

What ? McCarthy is not an excellent manager.

18 Players from his squad out of 27 have played in the premiership in the recent past. Ipswich have 4 or 5 at most and Wigan have 3/4.

Sunderland should be walking the league in fairness.

A lot of those players were responsible for Sunderland going down in the first place. Credit to Mick where its due. I know it'll kill some people to give it :D With little money to spend though, I fear they'll struggle next season - Hope I'm wrong. Would love to see Thornton and Elliott prove themselves in the Premiership. May even see a recall for Breen :eek:

[FarBeag]

McCarthy..He is a good manager and has proved that over that last few seasons.Should be interesting when he meets up with Roy again. I don't think Healy will play again and if he does he wont be the same player.Breen is still there and to be fair does'nt do too much wrong for Sunderland.Elliot, lots and lots of potential would be nice to see how he copes in the premiership. Thorthon looks a good prospect....Liam Lawerence( 'irish wanabee')

[tetsujin1979]

A lot of those players were responsible for Sunderland going down in the first place. Credit to Mick where its due. I know it'll kill some people to give it :D With little money to spend though, I fear they'll struggle next season - Hope I'm wrong. Would love to see Thornton and Elliott prove themselves in the Premiership. May even see a recall for Breen :eek:

Breen's still getting into the squads, just not into the first team, O'Brien is Kerr's preferred choice to partner Kenny right now, and Dunne seems to have overtaken him as 3rd choice centre half

[eirebhoy]

What ? McCarthy is not an excellent manager.

18 Players from his squad out of 27 have played in the premiership in the recent past. Ipswich have 4 or 5 at most and Wigan have 3/4.

Sunderland should be walking the league in fairness.
Look at Leicester. Kept pretty much the same team they were relegated with and added players like Connolly, Joey Gudjonsson, Keown, Nathan Blake and recently Maybury, McCarthy, Stephen Hughes and Mark de Vries. They are 15th in the league. I'd say Mick would have got them at least a playoff place.

[Stuttgart88]

Whatever people think of Mick he often got performances from players over & above what they typically put in at club level. Look at Breen in Japan, Kinsella, Colin Healy & Steven Reid's early games...

I'm not sure you can say the same so far about Kerr though you're not comparing like with like - all of Kerr's players are playing at a high level now.

Maybe O'Brien plays better for us than he does at his club. Clinton was actually playing really well for Brum in December & January.

I'm glad for Mick. He's still a relatively young manager anyway. And anything that's good for Irish players is OK by me.

[NeilMcD]

I think you have hit the nail on the head with Mc Carthy been a young manager. I think he got the Ireland job way too early. I feel an international manager should be pretty experience in managing players for a long time. Mick was too close and played with a lot of the players. Ferguson recently gave advice to Mark Hughes that he was too young for international managment. I feel that some of the mistakes Mc Carthy made were through naivety and inexerience including the issues in Saipan. However he seems like a nice man and is doing a decent job at Sunderland. I think so far he has shown that he can get average players to play above their game. He creates good team spirit within a group of players. I think his level may be the top of the 1st and maybe the bottom of the Premiership, I feel he may be out of his depth with a larger clubs and with players with bigger egos. Also in Europe he may be found out. However for the moment he is certainly getting the best of the players that he has and should be given credit for it. Also he has a good few Irish lads there so the if they go up its good news for us.

[ken foree]

sort've related question: how has kavanagh been doing with wigan, anyone see his performances?

[eirebhoy]

Kav didn't have a good game last night but with the exception of JR did anyone? kav played in the Ipswich game, arguabley our best performance of the season. Then was probably our best player in the Millwall game. Played in two decent away performances at Brighton and Forest and was one of the better players in a bad performance on Saturday. In conclusion I do not agree that the arrival of Kavanagh has had a negative influence on the team.

I was one of the band of people who didn't agree with the signing of Kav but he has proved me wrong and really impressed in every game. How many times, both last night and Sat, was Kav the last line of defense, clearing any danger??. He even made a run (Ellington's job in that second hlaf btw) to pick up a thru ball to the corners while Duke was scratching his arse.He covered every blade of grass last night.

.....

[ken foree]

excellent! thanks. i am being further wooed by the prospect of a kav/keane partnership

[Slash/ED]

The most important thing that can happen for me is Wigan to come up, it'd be even better than Sunderland despite the amount of Irish they have. Kavanagh really needs premiership football now and this is one of his last few chances to get it and to be ready for it if he does go up. If he gets into the premiership he;ll force his way into our mid field beside Keane imo.

For Sunderland, I'd worry about Elliot. Alot of managers think as soon as they go up they need to sign a host of experienced players and it can hurt the youngsters, Elliot is first choice now but Kyle will almost certinaly get back into the team when he returns because Sunderland will have to play to their strenghts, I'd expect Elliot to partner him with their current crop but Mick could be tempted into signing an experienced striker with a proven record in the premiership. I honestly think Sunderland staying down and another season of division one football could help him alot, but it looks like it's not to be and massive credit to McCarthy for that.

Sean Thornton is another who could find himself down the pecking order even more if new signings are made.

[tetsujin1979]

Will Sunderland have that kind of money available for new signings?

[eirebhoy]

from Sunderland official website:

Kevin Kyle scored five times in front of Mick McCarthy as Sunderland Reserves moved off the bottom.

The big striker notched two goals before the break and three after - including a penalty - to complete a remarkable comeback game.

Michael Bridges scored the other two as the Black Cats beat Aston Villa in a 12-goal thriller in Durham.

McCarthy has said that Kyle is unlikely to play first-team football again this season because of his hip problem but even the Sunderland manager must have been surprised by this show.

Kyle opened the scoring in the fifth minute and scored his second before 12 minutes were on the clock.

Bridges also grabbed a first-half goal to give Sunderland a 3-2 lead at the break.

Kyle slotted home a penalty after a handball in the 47th minute to complete his hat-trick and Bridges got his second in the 66th minute.

Kyle scored twice in the last 10 minutes before leaving the field to a standing ovation.

Sean Thornton, who hit the bar in the first half, did not re-appear in the second half, needing two stitches in his leg after a challenge.

Matt Piper also played to hand McCarthy a boost but the night belonged to Kyle.

Villa, who twice clawed back a two-goal deficit, were reduced to 10 men in the 76th minute when Kevin Mulcahy (Irish) was dismissed for a foul on Bridges.

Gavin McCann, Villa's ex-Sunderland midfielder, played for 65 minutes as he makes a comeback from injury.

[Stuttgart88]

Kevin Mulcahy?

[livehead1]

seen kavanagh against forest, a club he turned down when leaving cardiff. he was simply a class above anything else that was on the pitch. ran the show for the whole game, he passing was first class and his movement off the ball and time he created for himself mean that he is definately a premiership player. he has more to offer to a club than the likes of holland, delap etc and i think that will be shown if wigan go up.

[livehead1]

someone said they think wigan will go down if they come up but i disagree with that. with dave whelan behind them (owner of jjb sports) there is no doubt in my mind that they will invest reasonably heavily in current premiership terms. i could see up to 8million been spent and they have a good young manager in paul jewell

[carnstien]

For Sunderland, I'd worry about Elliot. Alot of managers think as soon as they go up they need to sign a host of experienced players and it can hurt the youngsters, Elliot is first choice now but Kyle will almost certinaly get back into the team when he returns because Sunderland will have to play to their strenghts, I'd expect Elliot to partner him with their current crop but Mick could be tempted into signing an experienced striker with a proven record in the premiership. I honestly think Sunderland staying down and another season of division one football could help him alot, but it looks like it's not to be and massive credit to McCarthy for that.

Sean Thornton is another who could find himself down the pecking order even more if new signings are made.
One thing Mick is, and often to his detriment, is loyal to his players. Remember the likes of Harte and Breen when he was managing us? I don't think Elliot or Thornton have much to worry about. If they are 1st choice and playing well now, they will probably be 1st choice next season aswell.

[Stuttgart88]

Sunderland are up, thats a cert.

Hmmm, maybe not! :)

[razor]

Kevin Mulcahy?
Signed by Villa a few years back from Douglas Hall in Cork.
Don't know a whole lot more about the lad.

[eirebhoy]

Kyle scored another 3 the other night for the reserves against Bolton so thats 8 goals in his last 2 matches for the reserves.

[CollegeTillIDie]

Yes Wigan V Man City that's a real Manchester derby! :D

[OwlsFan]

"well done Mick"

But I'll never forgive you for cocking up my enjoyment of the last World Cup with your totally inept and arrogant display...

Got though to the last 16 and lost in a peno shoot-out to one of the strongest teams in world football, Spain with a team comprising for the most part of journey men like Harte, Breen, Holland, Kilsella, Kilbane etc etc. - doesn't seem "totally inept" to me but I'm not wearing red glasses.

Thanks for the memories, Mick - I'll never forget Robbie's last gasp equaliser against Germany (even if all my mates spillt their drink all over my new carpet when the goal went in - or the 1-0 over Holland). Magic. You're also the old Irish manager I've seen cry when we failed to qualify (in Brussels). Passionate about your country unlike some.

Best of luck with Sunderland - Dumpy and Laughing Bill thought you wouldn't be able to cope there. Great job done.

[Colie]

Yeah, well done to Mick & Ian & all the Irish players there, it'll be more top flight experience for loads of current & potential international players which is what they really need & can only be good for us. So regardless of whether you dislike McCarthy or not, you gotta want Sunderland (& of course Wigan) up.

I can see McCarthy & Evans back at the helm of the Republic in about 10 years, after Kerr decides to retire after retaining the world cup. :D

[RedX]

I was never a McCarthy fan and i am a huge Ipswich fan..how do you think i feel?..but in fairness McCarthy has done a very good job..he has built a very strong hard working side and they probably deserve to be right up there..it would be good for the Irish players there if they get promoted..If Ipswich go up there are at least half a dozen Irish in the youth set-up which is flyning right now..they have a fabulous academy and there connections with Ireland are getting stronger so Sunderland and Ipswich would be best for Irish fans..its hard to predict who would stay up if promoted..deends how they start and of course who's signings work for them..

[Colie]

:D :ball: Yessssssssss. :D :ball: :)

They're up! Mick & Ian are legends.

And Ipswich won the youth cup (3 Irish I think?)

[Green Tribe]

Well done Mick! :D Look forward to seeing him getting into the limelight again (stop laughing Eire06 + Peadar ! ;) :D He deserves some positive feedback.

:D

[pete]

Well done on Mick McCarthy securing promotion today. Must be one the biggest turnarounds for a long time.

[Donal81]

Thriving on the Wear and tear
23/04/2005


Mary Hannigan finds Sunderland and its denizens enchanted by the gruff charms and winning ways of manager Mick McCarthy


Promotion Close? "Yeah - and Midfield Drive." Na? "Honest." Na.

So Ian Laws, the Sunderland Echo's chief soccer writer, takes a detour on his way back in to the city from the club's training ground, through the streets that once led to Roker Park, and points to the sign at the entrance to the rows of townhouses now occupying the site of the old stadium.

Promotion Close. And Midfield Drive. And Turnstile Mews.

"Needless to say," he adds, "when the Echo ran the competition to name the new roads Newcastle fans tried to sabotage it." Their offering? Relegation Close.

Well, it was probably, much to the amusement of the inhabitants of Sunderland, the last footballing laugh they had down the road in Newcastle. Events there in recent weeks have become every Sunderland fan's favourite soap opera. That's when they're not preoccupied with their own drama. As the sign says, "Promotion Close".

So close it could be clinched today, if results go their way. It would be the club's third promotion in a decade, a period that has also seen them relegated from the Premiership twice and lose out in penalty shootouts in two promotion play-off games.

"That's a lot of heartache for any supporter to endure," says Martin McFadden, the man behind the independent Sunderland website a-love-supreme.com.

"Before Mick McCarthy it was two years of rubbish and the supporters are still bitter about it. They were left heartbroken, a bit like a bad relationship with a woman. Now they're almost being emotionally forced back into the relationship, but the trust isn't really there, they're probably just waiting for it all to go wrong again.

"So, yes, promotion's close, and we'll only miss out if we mess up on a big scale . . . but Sunderland are probably capable of doing just that," he laughs, nervously reflecting on the team's last two games, when they lost at home to Reading and drew away to Ipswich, where they missed a penalty and conceded a last-minute equaliser. The supporters, then, are barely able to look.

"My stomach's sick," says the taxi driver, echoing McFadden's reluctance to take promotion for granted. "It's so close you can almost touch it, but you start thinking how it could go wrong. What if we lose to Leicester and Ipswich beat Leeds, and then we lose to West Ham and . . . ?" He forgets to turn right and we're heading for Gateshead. "Sorry about that," he says.

In an attempt to lift his spirits we mention Norwich City's 94th-minute winner against Newcastle the night before. His reaction is much the same as was witnessed in Fitzgerald's pub in the city centre when the score flashed on the big screen during the Chelsea-Arsenal game. In time the staff will mop up the spilt beer, toppled by dozens of heavily tattooed, shaven-headed men in red-and-white-striped shirts when they catapulted from their seats to deliriously hug each other before dissolving into riotous laughter that reached decibel levels probably akin to the famed "Roker Roar" of old.

As McFadden put it, "Newcastle's demise has been entertaining, to say the least."

Back in the taxi the driver finds the demise so entertaining his shoulders are vibrating violently, while he cites the day Lee Bowyer threw punches at Kieron Dyer as one of his most cherished footballing memories.

Up there with beating Leeds in the 1973 FA Cup final?

"Aye," he laughs, "but I was only three then. I'll actually be able to tell my grandchildren about Bowyer and Dyer."

Which leads to him proudly contrasting the state of the neighbouring clubs and, specifically, the attitudes of the players.

Newcastle? "Overpaid, spoilt prima donnas with no pride in the shirt."

Sunderland? "A great bunch of lads who'd die for the club."

And who is responsible for this spirit?

"Mick McCaaaaarthy! He's fan-tastic!"

And that, it seems, is the consensus in Sunderland.

"There's genuine admiration and respect for the job he's done here," says Laws. "You've got to remember he took over at Sunderland when the club was on its knees. It had been on the slide for 18 months. Then Mick came in, with nine games to go. Lost them all. We were relegated. Then we lost the first two games of the next season - 11 games lost in a row. How many managers survive that? But the fans never turned on him - there were sections, obviously, who were frustrated and angry, but there was never a movement doubting that he was the man for the job.

"Howard Wilkinson (McCarthy's predecessor at Sunderland) hadn't been a popular appointment. He never connected with the supporters. When he went the man at the top of everyone's wish-list - which seems to be the same at every club - was Martin O'Neill, but that was never going to happen. Mick was available, he had the calibre, people respected him for dealing with that hellish situation with Roy Keane."

"Anyone who could deal with that psycho was alright by us," says the taxi man, who - while remaining reluctant to tempt promotion's fate - promises a warm welcome for Keane should he turn up with Manchester United at the Stadium of Light next season.

"Mick picked Ireland up when there was the pressure of taking over from Jack (Charlton). He had to rebuild and he did that," says Laws. "He's done the same at Sunderland - and this club needed to be rebuilt. The first thing he had to do in the summer, because of the financial problems, was get rid of around 25 players, an amazing clear-out. And this season his buys have been phenomenally successful: people like Dean Whitehead, Liam Lawrence and Stephen Elliott."

"Wilkinson was the most ridiculous appointment - he was a nightmare," says McFadden, still, like most of his fellow supporters, trying to decipher some of Wilkinson's statements when he was at the club.

"We did not deserve to lose today - we weren't beaten, we lost," he once said, before comparing Sunderland's relegation battle two seasons ago to "trying to push custard up a hill".

Even in the deepest south of England that class of talk wouldn't endear a manager to the supporters, but in the northeast uphill battles with custard - well, no. They like their managers to be blunt, straight, to the point, tough and honest, and to leave custard out of it. And in McCarthy, says McFadden, they've found the man who fits the bill.

"When he came in he shook every one up, called a spade a spade, talked straight, and he was respected for that. He had to get rid of our best 22 players but he made do, coped, got on with it, no complaining.

"I know Ireland was split about McCarthy, but he's been brilliant for us. He treats the fans well; there are lots of stories about him taking the time to talk to them, even when he's out having a meal with his wife. And he's good-natured with them. 'Right, tell me what I'm doing wrong' - that kind of thing."

[Donal81]

Thursday morning, 8.45 sharp: McCarthy's weekly press conference at the club's training ground. If at times he appeared to relish dealing with the Irish media as much as his oft-mentioned backside might have savoured a brush with a bacon slicer, he seems more at ease in this company. Yes, say the 15 or so assembled local press, radio and television journalists, he's been tetchy at times and there's been the odd run-in, but they've no complaints. Not least because his team has been good to cover all season.

"You'd like to be closer, you like to be close to every manager, go out and have a beer, a bit of crack, and when we heard the former manager of Ireland was coming here we maybe thought that's what it would be like, but it hasn't quite turned out that way," says Laws. "But that's not a criticism of Mick. He's just very driven by his job in football and sees the media side as a secondary part. He's not looking for mates in the media. He'll survive or fall on his results on the pitch and he's happy with that.

"I wouldn't say he's got to be pally with many of the local press but again you can't criticise him for that - while we would love to be getting loads and loads of inside information and feel we're right in with the manager, while he's doing the job he's doing you've got to hand it to him. He's producing a team that's good for us to cover.

"He's definitely more Yorkshire than Irish, without making sweeping generalisations about Yorkshiremen or Irishmen. What does he call himself? A Yorkshirish man? Mind you, I've been to places in Ireland where they're just as suspicious and closed.

"But yeah, more Yorkshire than Irish. He's focused. Is stubborn a fair word? Possibly not. He's quite a fair guy. He disagreed with a couple of things I wrote and we just had it out. It wasn't a simmering feud; we talked about it and that was it finished. And I think he's dealt with his squad in the same way. People get a second chance with him. He's quite a fair guy - a decent man who's been very good for the club so far.

"There's respect for any manager when it's going well but it's when it's going badly that you learn just how much respect you've earned in the good times and I guess we don't know that yet. He has been relegated, there were those 11 defeats, but people didn't blame him because it wasn't his mess.

"Once he started cleaning it up he brought his personality into the place. There's a lot of talk about the togetherness of the squad; he's obviously picked people that will help create that sort of atmosphere, people who work hard, who are driven and, in some cases, have something to prove."

Injury updates, team news, and then one of the radio people asks: "How would you feel if Sunderland won promotion?"

"That's a ridiculous question really," McCarthy sighs. "It's like asking me how would I feel if I broke my leg - I wouldn't know until it happened."

A mass outbreak of giggling. The radio man grins, conceding he'd asked for it.

"Do you have any superstitions, just in case we need a bit of luck against Leicester?"

"No, touch wood."

Silence. Then more laughter.

"With all this pressure now, and these huge games to come, are there any people you ask for advice, ask how they coped with the pressure in similar circumstances?"

"No. It's not new to me, you know, coping with pressure. What if I rang someone and they said they dealt with it by getting rotten drunk? Or by going fishing? I don't fish. No, I don't talk to anyone, except Taff (Ian Evans, his assistant at Sunderland). There's no need to be going anywhere else."

"What do you do to relax?"

"Dinner with my wife. Ride my bike. Play a bit of golf."

"Do you have a handicap?"

"Nine. But it was a lot easier to maintain when I had 12 games a year as Irish manager, as opposed to 12 games a week here."

"Have you been getting a lot of support from the fans the last few weeks?"

"Yeah, they've been great. Six months ago everyone ignored me in Sunderland, but now, well, I didn't realise we had so many fans. They've been great, wherever I go it's the same - 'Are we going up?', all that. I met one lovely old guy, George, at a charity golf day yesterday, he told me he'll be getting his bones out and putting them in squares and circles and all sorts on Saturday, anything to bring us a bit of luck. He makes you realise what it means to supporters."

(Eh? "Voodoo," explained the radio man. Right.)

"What's the situation with your contract?"

"It started out as a six-month rolling contract, which suited me perfectly, and was changed to a 12-month rolling contract last summer. That's fine, that's how I like it."

"Would you be on a bigger contract if the club was promoted?"

"Absolutely. But that's the way. If - and it's a massive if - we're promoted the players will get a bonus. If we don't get promoted they'll get f*** all, excuse my French. But listen, this is all ifs, buts and maybes - if you've no questions about real things I'll go."

"Thanks, Mick." And he's off.

That was a good day?

"Oh aye, he was in good form today," says one of the radio men, tapping his tape, happy with his morning's work.

Across the city is the Stadium of Light, built on the site of the old Wearmouth Colliery, the last colliery to close in County Durham, back in 1994. A Premiership ground languishing a division below. It might never have the soul or romance of Roker Park, nor, the supporters will tell you, the atmosphere, but it's a wondrous sight.

In the club shop at the ground a life-size poster of Stephen Elliott, the young Dubliner, adorns the wall opposite where T-shirts sporting the images of Sunderland legends Raich Carter and Len Shackleton hang. You'd almost think Elliott, Carter and Shackleton were team-mates. In some ways they are, if you go by the timeless nature of the locals' devotion to their club.

Outside there's a bronze statue of a flat-capped Sunderland fan, who probably watched Shackleton from the Roker Park terraces. Generations bridged, a club indebted to the loyalty of its supporters through the years, regardless of highs and lows.

Back across the Wearmouth Bridge, in the city centre, the billboards are filled with General Election posters. Labour are pledging that Tony and Gordon are the best of mates; the Liberal Democrats are promising to shorten NHS waiting lists; the Conservatives are vowing to deal with what they view as the three major issues of the campaign: immigration, immigration and immigration. If any of the candidates could promise three points from today's game against Leicester City, while guaranteeing Ipswich would fail to win at Leeds, well, he or she would spend much of the next five years commuting between Sunderland and Westminster. A city with its priorities right.

Meanwhile, the presses of the Sunderland Echo are ready to roll, an 80-page promotion special all set to go - if and when promotion is clinched. How many pages devoted to McCarthy? A fair few, most probably.

"He's been here two years," says McFadden, "he's taken us to an FA Cup semi final and the promotion play-offs - if he takes us up this season he'll have done an amazing job. I, personally, couldn't speak highly enough of him, but the demands are always high here, so whatever he achieves this season he will be reassessed in a year's time - if we win promotion and come straight back down he'll be deemed a failure. That's the way it is. Like with Peter Reid.

"The thing is most Sunderland supporters believe we are a Premiership club, with one of the best stadiums in the country, so that's where we should be. So if we go up McCarthy will be bought a couple of drinks, but he won't get the keys to the city just yet."

But if they survive in the Premiership? And beat Newcastle at some point along the way?

"I hereby rename the Wearmouth Bridge the Mick McCarthy Bridge," the Lord Mayor may well declare. Both structures made of steel.




© The Irish Times

[Plastic Paddy]

Well done Mick Mac and all the lads at Sunderland. About time you enjoyed some success - you deserve this for your work over the years. :)

:ball: PP

[Superhoops]

Well done Mick Mac ........About time you enjoyed some success - you deserve this for your work over the years. :):ball: PP
Yea, agree. Mick ended up being badly treated by Ireland. He made an outstanding ocntribution to Irish football as a player and a manager and I am glad to see him getting the plaudits at sunderland where he has proved his managerial qualities.

[FarBeag]

Fair Play to Mick but did anyone see Alan Maybury's goal? What a beauty.

[OwlsFan]

Not a comment from Laughing Bill on the Premiership. As someone who encouraged vitriolic attacks on Mick by the poison dwarf when Sunderland were relegated, I thought he might have the decency to compliment him. No doubt if they struggle next year it will all start up again.

[Donal81]

Yea, agree. Mick ended up being badly treated by Ireland. He made an outstanding ocntribution to Irish football as a player and a manager and I am glad to see him getting the plaudits at sunderland where he has proved his managerial qualities.

I don't think he was badly treated by Ireland (without smashing open that can of worms...) but he always gave everything, as a player and as a manager. It's great to see him do well again.

[boysingreen]

Well done Mick and the lads. Looking forward to cheering himself and the rest of the Irish contingent on in next season's relegation battle.

[Stuttgart88]

Yeah fair play alright, though he must be grateful that neither Ipswich nor Wigan was able to really put the pressure on when Sunderland refused to take charge. Hopefully France & Switzerland will do the same for us!

In addition to the Irish already there I wonder will he be tempted to try and pick one or two others up on the cheap: Clinton, Miller, Steven Reid maybe. Partridge even.

Is there any chance Colin Healy will play again?

[Stuttgart88]

I meant to add that by the sound of things Lawrence has come into his own in the run-in. Has there been any definitive statement on his eligibility?

[tetsujin1979]

I'm delighted for Mick, he was on a hiding to nothing when he took over at Sunderland, between the mess Wilkinson left them in, and having to sell their best players, and then having to take a chance on bargain buys.

Next season will take care of itself in due course, for now just bask in the glory!

Did anyone else see Sean Thornton's rapping on Sky Sports??