James McCarthy M free agent b.1990

from football365 today: http://football365.com/mediawatch/0,...787322,00.html

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That's That Excuse Out Of The Window
Everyone, Fergie aside of course, seems agreed that the FA have made fools of themselves by not banning Wayne Rooney for his assault on James McCarthy.

They have, of course, hidden behind the Fifa directive that if a referee deals with an incident during play, the association is powerless to add any additional punishment, or do anything that contradicts the on-field opinion of the referee.

Many have cited the previous example of Ben Thatcher rearranging Pedro Mendes's face, but that was slightly different because it involved a ban additional to the standard three games for violent conduct.

However, one example not quite as many have recalled is that of Milos Krasic, the outrageously talented Juventus winger who flopped to the floor to win a penalty in a match against Bologna earlier this season - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-fQCZhwvOg

In that case the referee saw the incident, gave the penalty but after the Italian FA spotted the hilarious cheating, they intervened and banned Krasic for two games.

So that's that excuse out of the window then.

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I'm sure though they can appeal to higher if he had really wanted to, perhaps they were afraid to call fergies bluff by bending the rules.

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Originally Posted by Drumcondra 69er

Zero chance Rooney will get done for that elbow, different rules apply for Man U, refs and authorities in England are totally intimidated by Ferguson.

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ok we all know rooney got off this time .. but man u have been punished by authorites in england enough times in the past probally more because of high profile players so dont agree with you on this count .. will david luiz now get punished for his late and off the ball tackle on rooney in tonights game !!! also thought rooney had a brass neck to complain at end to ref after how he escaped punishment for his elbow on mccarthy at weekend

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Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

The FA have set a precedent here, that for any elbow to the head, a free kick is a sufficient response from the official

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the FA / FIFA all do the easy option hide behind the so-called referee's report take the easy option ... the perfect example alan shearer kicking neil lennon in the face newcastle v leicester 1998 when as captian of england 6 weeks before world cup started f.a. quote We're waiting to receive the match official's report before we decide what to do," the FA spokesman, Steve Double, said. "At this stage what course of action we take is totally dependent on that." hearing was brought forward and shearer even cleared to play in f.a cup final see link to incident http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss_7WGYa9nQ

Wigan's player of the Month for February:
http://www.wigan.vitalfootball.co.uk...e.asp?a=233634
71% of the vote too.

A couple of the other Ireland fan sites are reporting on an article in todays Sunday Times. Trapatonni and Tardelli met with McCarthy last weekend and everything has been sorted out. Set to be selected tomorrow. Can anyone on here verify?

Dan McDonnell said the same thing on the Twitter Machine just now: "Good news that Trapattoni met with James McCarthy to sort out confusion. Player content with how it went. We can all move on...."

Hope that this is true. I think YBIG is usually pretty good when they aren't talking racist crap like 3 year olds.
Really really hoping he gets picked and plays in the Mace game. Dude has 121 pages and he has never played a senior international. Has to be a record.

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Originally Posted by Crosby87

Dude has 121 pages and he has never played a senior international. Has to be a record.

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Oh but he has.... he got a run against Brazil in the Emirates.

Smart enough move if true. Hopefully the prelude to his inclusion in the squad tomorrow, sans third parties like Martinez on PR duties.

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Originally Posted by Sullivinho

Smart enough move if true. Hopefully the prelude to his inclusion in the squad tomorrow, sans third parties like Martinez on PR duties.

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Finally a smart move in this from Trap, if it all proves true. We were due a smart move from him in this saga, a mess entirely of his own making, just had to make the young guy feel wanted and not muck him about in U21 squads while picking dross by comparison ahead of him, a young guy who put up with God knows what in Scotland from the terraces in order to play for us.

I have lost a lot of time for Trap in all this, and the Ciaran Clark thing also, we can dredge up Championship players with one Irish grandparent at will it seems, but If Dunne didnt catch Clarks mothers accent the FAI would have been none the wiser, thats quite a blind spot in the scouting.

From tomorrow's Irish Times:

"James McCarthy seems likely to be included in Trapattoni’s squad following what is reported to have been a positive meeting between the two men in England last week. The Wigan midfielder is said to have assured the manager of his commitment to the Irish cause and would be expected to join up with the squad in the event he is included despite the suggestion he is under pressure from his club not to pursue his international ambitions at this time."
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...292063464.html

finally a bit of management from the manager.

From Wigan's point of view you can understand them not wanting to play internationals.
Mind you they look doomed at the moment, perhaps Martinez has thrown in the towel on
trying to prevent him playing, or is hoping the experience might improve their fortunes in
the league. Him getting a full cap might give the team a boost and ear them some respect
from the opposition. They need a change of some sort because maintaining the status-quo
seems to equate to relegation anyway.

From today's Independent: "McCarthy happy after clear-the-air Trap talks" - http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...s-2578176.html

They have no right to interfere in his career, he's a young man he can handle a few games ffs. Finally Trap has done what he is paid very well for - managed!

'The Ireland boss, in addition to his assistant Marco Tardelli, went to meet with the 20-year-old last week after an unnecessary furore around the last game with Wales where Trapattoni appeared to give weight to groundless speculation that McCarthy was contemplating a switch to play for Scotland'

McDonnell inadvertently admits that much of his own speculation was groundless, contributing to the unnecessary furore. His own standards of journalism, in relation to the varying issues around the team last month, dropped into the gutter of groundless speculation and sensation.

The role of Martinez in all the confusion last month is pretty alarming. According to the reports over the weekend James McCarthy met with Craig Levein towards the end of last year at Wigan's request. We've seen Martinez (who spent a brief spell as a player at Motherwell) sitting with Levein at a premier league game this season and the picture below shows Levein and Martinez chatting at a Scotland training session in October.

It seems that this goes way beyond "protecting" James McCarthy and looks more like a manager trying to influence his player towards Scotland.

Thankfully it looks like James is not falling for any of this guff. Wigan have no power to prevent a player from joining an international squad unless the player is injured so I'd fully expect to see James in Dublin next week for training.
http://c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0...d-training.jpg

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Originally Posted by EastTerracer

The role of Martinez in all the confusion last month is pretty alarming.

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That was a fairly substantial cat bomb he detonated on pigeon street alright. I wasn't aware that Levein's meeting with McCarthy was at the club's behest, thought that was all Levein's doing. I do remember him saying he received "no encouragement whatsoever" from McCarthy so I imagine Martinez was equally disappointed with how that went. Although he'll surely be more upset with his club's imminent relegation.

...and I'm not sure that McCarthy will be Martinez' concern for too much longer.