Paddy McCarthy

from mcfc.co.uk

The future of defender Paddy McCarthy at City could be discussed at the next board meeting.

The central defender's current deal at Manchester City will run out at the end of this season.

He spent a period on loan at Boston United last year and is a regular in the Republic of Ireland U21 squad.

His international career started when he was captain of the Ireland Under 16 side that played in the European Championships in 2000 while he was still a member of the Stella Maris club in Dublin.

A regular in the City reserve side he is currently on international duty as the Republic of Ireland U21s prepare for their European Championship qualifier against France on Friday night.

But the former Academy player has yet to break through into the City first team and his club future could be decided in the coming months.

"If I don't pretty soon involve Paddy somewhere, then I have got to allow him to leave," said Kevin Keegan.

"That's the sort of deal I agreed with him when he signed for another year and what I told the board.

"We like Paddy, who has done well, because he has leadership qualities. His situation is one for the board to consider at the next meeting.

"Do they give him a bit longer here now that he is right on the fringes because we have not got a big squad now."

I like the look of McCarthy a lot. Would be a real waste if Keegan lets him go. Especially with the limited options Man City have defensively. If he chose to he could easily get his game in a Championship team though.

saw him play against cyrus recently and he was a rock - very quick and two good feet

Signed for Leicester for 100k.
Probably a good move for him as he was down the pecking order at City.

http://www.eleven-a-side.com/acrosst...p?newsid=16284

Very good move for him, if Leicester have only 2 centre halves he should get a game.

Goes against Keegans idea of not letting his young players go on the cheap after Elliott went though

No substitute for first team football, assuming he gets it.

I'm surprised you beat Tetsujin to posting this! He must be away. :)

saw Mccarthy a couple of times for u-21's, strong, good in air and not slow, Keegan is making another mistake as in my opinion he should've held on to Elliot a lot longer as well.

Apparently Leicester are also on the verge of signing Darren Kenton on loan, so he may have more competition than I thought

Great news. Keegan really ought to learn that you have to try out the acadamy players. Willo Flood has only made 2 sub appearances since the Birmingham game in November.

As a man city fan I'm ****ed that another young, promising Irish player has had to move on to get regular first team football after Elliott and Whelan in the summer - and Paul Murphy and Stephen Paisley before that - but as an Ireland fan it's good that one of our promising U-21's could be getting regular first team football from here on in.

Report on man city's page here
Report on leicester's page here

Thought he had more than 4 caps for the U-21s? Probably closer to 14!

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

I'm surprised you beat Tetsujin to posting this! He must be away. :)

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Err, bit busy at work at the moment.

I too have seen McCarthy play for the U-21's and can't believe Keegan is letting him go like Elliot, when will he learn!

Man City aren't exactly brilliant at the back and I definately think McCarthy is as good as anything they have there at the moment.

He's great in the air, has good feet and passes the ball well. I am sure he will find his way back into the Premiership.

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Originally Posted by carnstien

Man City aren't exactly brilliant at the back

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Give or take a couple of goals and Man U and Chelsea are the only team with a better defensive record this season. They have no back up at centre half though which is the reason I find it strange.

Its even more strange how he does not pick Willo Flood on the right and move Wright Phillips up front,espically with not having a goalscorer.Keegan seems reluctant to give yougsters a chance.

Lets hope he's another Elliot and proves Keegan wrong (again).

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Originally Posted by Slash/ED

Lets hope he's another Elliot and proves Keegan wrong (again).

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I don't think either Elliott or McCarthy would be proving Keegan wrong. Keegan rates both highly but just won't try them out. Bradley Wright Phillips would be getting a lot more games at other midtable premiership clubs considering the (lack of) competition he faces.

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

Give or take a couple of goals and Man U and Chelsea are the only team with a better defensive record this season. They have no back up at centre half though which is the reason I find it strange.

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Nedum Onuoha was keeping Paddy McCarthy off the bench, which was odd, seeing as he's only 18 and Paddy is 21. Think he might have thought his chances were limited after hearing for so long that his time was "coming" so he left.

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Originally Posted by byrnie20

Its even more strange how he does not pick Willo Flood on the right and move Wright Phillips up front,espically with not having a goalscorer.Keegan seems reluctant to give yougsters a chance.

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Pretty much the same reason Duff doesn't play up front - most effective player being played out of position. I expect SWP to be sold this summer, probably to Arsenal, if/when he goes Willo will get his chance. He's a regular on the bench, and at his age he probably couldn't ask for more.

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

Bradley Wright Phillips would be getting a lot more games at other midtable premiership clubs considering the (lack of) competition he faces.

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Hard to call on this one, Keegan has said he won't experiment wih the side between now and the end of the season, the team has gotten to 10th in the table, with a decent defensive record, if he changed it now and it all went pear shaped, he'd be castigated for changing a winning team (ok, performing well more than winning) and he's probably not going to take that risk.

Disagree with you there S W P was a striker as a youngster and his goal scoring record is very good for a winger(in a average premiership team) he has the ability to play upfront at the highest level. I must admit I would like Willo Flood to play more because Ireland lack a natural right footed winger so Iam biased.I also belive Duff played amazing upfront in the 2002 world cup when he was given the free role.By the way Nedum Onuoha is very good and can play a few postions.

If Flood was to get his game it would be at the expense of Musampa if anyone. He can play on the left wing too so I Musampa better be on his toes.

Seems like he's going to play now, S W P out for 6-8 weeks.
eirebhoy - I did not know he could play left wing as well.

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Originally Posted by byrnie20

eirebhoy - I did not know he could play left wing as well.

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yeah, seen him play there in the second half against Norwich. Played well.