So what's the verdict then? Is he the messiah or just another very naughty boy?
Printable View
So what's the verdict then? Is he the messiah or just another very naughty boy?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/spo...cle1685857.eceQuote:
From The Times
April 21, 2007
McCarthy takes talk of Chelsea and Celtic in his young stride
Graham McColl
There are few signs in the demeanour of James McCarthy that he could be on the brink of becoming the most illustrious player produced by Hamilton Academical.
As he wanders around the club in sweatshirt and shorts after a morning training session, the 16-year-old appears like any other well-disciplined, slightly bashful young hopeful taking their first tentative steps in an unpredictable game. A grazed knee only emphasises the suggestion of ordinariness.
The prowess and potential of McCarthy, though, has already attracted interest from, among others, Barcelona, Chelsea, Deportivo La Coruña, Celta Vigo, Liverpool, Reading and Celtic. That is despite it still being less than six months since his debut for the club and with him having only 22 first-team appearances to his name — almost half of them as a substitute.
Such interesting destinations are not currently at the fore-front of McCarthy’s mind — a greater preoccupation for him is the spasmodic thigh strain that kept him out of last Saturday’s home match with Gretna and that he hopes will have eased enough to enable him to participate in Hamilton’s match at Dens Park today, where they face Dundee.
“Sometimes I just block it out and just get on with it,” McCarthy says of dealing with the variety of options concerning his next potential club. “Sometimes I have to sit down and talk about it and I do that but then I just get back to my football afterwards and don’t think about it.
“At the start of the season, I was hoping I could break into the first-team but I didn’t think I’d have come this far; to have played near-enough 25 games. I’m very happy about that.
“I’ve trained with Reading, Celtic and Liverpool. I trained with the first-team at Celtic and at Reading and I felt comfortable at all three clubs and enjoyed it but I’m not sure I’d rush to sign with Reading or sign with anybody, like Celtic or Liverpool, because I wouldn’t go right into their first-team; I don’t think.
“I’m really not sure yet whether I’ll be moving in the summer; I don’t know. I’ll need to sit down and talk about it with my parents and my family. I’m really enjoying it here at Hamilton and I wouldn’t mind staying for another season but we’ll see what happens.”
It is a big help to McCarthy that he is in a supportive environment at Hamilton. He is one of several first-team youngsters being nurtured gently by Billy Reid, the manager, while Braveheart Promotions, the player’s representatives, are also mindful of his youth and of the necessity to tread carefully with the talent entrusted to them.
“It is entirely up to the boy what he does,” George Gray, of Braveheart Promotions, says. “He is a bit of a homebird, so he may decide to remain at Hamilton and, to give credit to the club, they have turned down good offers from clubs and are not pushing to sell him. I will sit down with the boy in the next week or two to discuss it.”
A midfield player blessed with vision and good passing ability, McCarthy, from Castlemilk in Glasgow, made an immediate impression on his teammates because of a level of technique rarely seen in a player of his age. He became the youngest goalscorer in Hamilton’s history when he scored against Livingston in January at the age of 16 years and 55 days and it says much about McCarthy that he found it difficult to celebrate the feat too greatly because Hamilton went on to lose that Tennent’s Scottish Cup tie 4-2.
In an era in which a dearth of naturally talented players is lamented widely in Scotland, he is also special in being almost entirely self-taught. “Since I was four, I’ve been playing football,” McCarthy says. “There used to be a pitch across the road from my street and I would always be playing football when I was young.
“My two big brothers played football. Brian used to play for Partick Thistle and Paul played Junior football. My dad, Willie, used to be with Kilmarnock. My mum, Marie, was always driving me to games when I played boys’ club and if it hadn’t been for my mum and dad supporting me and taking me to football, I wouldn’t be in this position.”
An under17 international with Ireland, McCarthy recently impressed in the European Championships for that age level, in matches with Germany, Greece and Scotland. Victory over the latter emphasised the sharpness of the Irish in spotting McCarthy’s talent and bringing him into their set-up — he qualifies for them through a grandfather from Donegal. Scotland had failed to offer him international football.
Hamilton are currently encouraging McCarthy to attend weight-training sessions in the gym to develop his upper-body strength. He finds it a grind at times — but while he may require extra muscle for the bustle of modern football, this slightly-built youngster has ability in bulk.
"James McCarthy has rejected a move to Liverpool that could have earned Hamilton Accies £1m for the 16-year-old midfielder, his agent has claimed.
Celtic, Rangers, Reading, Sheffield United and Tottenham Hotspur were also interested in McCarthy.
Agent Bill McMurdo told The Sun: "Liverpool wanted to take him to Italy for a tournament last week.
"They agreed to meet Hamilton's asking price, which would have earned them around £1m if James made the grade."
McCarthy has made 24 appearances for First Division outfit Accies after breaking into the first-team at New Douglas Park.
"Sheffield United were also desperate to sign him and said they would put him straight into their reserve side," added McMurdo.
"They said he would be in the first team within a year.
"Reading and Spurs were also after James, while here, Rangers and Celtic are interested.
"But he has decided that he wants to stay with Hamilton for another year.
"I can't fault his judgement. He has only just left school and is from a close family.
"If he feels happier waiting for another season then that is the right thing to do."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...al/6638285.stm
His agent must be raging. :D
He looks about 12 years old in the picture.
That seems to me to be a pretty mature decision for someone so young. If he's as good as people say there will be as many clubs after him in a year as there are now. It'll do him no harm at all to play another season of first team football.
We shall see. We were also told that McGeady was the new superstar. He was alas hopeless in the recent Old Firm game. Kept slipping (changed his boots), muscled off the ball, running down blind alleys. Very disappointing.
I really hope he'll make it but I am beginning to have serious doubts.
He's been dissapointing for the last couple of months. Especially for Ireland against SlovaksQuote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
I'm thinking Cherno Samba here, I'm sure Millwall regret not selling him to Liverpool when they offered a million. (not the exact same circumstances, I know)Quote:
Originally Posted by Paulie
im a fan of mcgeady he was cletics best player in the two matches against milan..as for mccarthy, he is better off staying another season with hamilton.
Don't rate McGeady meself, all flash no end product. He needs to improve big time. And he wasn't Celtic's best player against Milan by any stretch of the imagination in either leg.
Cherno was a legend in Championship manager though!! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by SaucyJack
Dont rate McGeady either myself, alot of hype but not alot of foundation to imo.
McGeady was by far and away the best player in the SPL up until he got injured in October. He had 7 assists (6 in the league and 1 league cup) and was motm in the majority of games. Since then he has got just the 1 assist, but has scored 4 more goals. He has been poor recently but we know how good he can be now.
Strachan was talking about him in an interview recently. He said McGeady feels he has to try and produce brilliance every time he gets the ball. Strachan wants him to play is simple a lot more and produce 3 or 4 moments of brilliance in a match. Strachan will sort him out.
The difference with McGeady and McCarthy (although I've not seen McCarthy) is that McGeady hasn't got a great football brain. McCarthy is apparantly a bit of a genius in terms of intelligience. If you have a great passing ability/technique, a good football brain and a good attitude then you're already a player imo. ie. I don't feel there's much risk of McCarthy not "making it" if reports on him are to be believed. Anthony Stokes has the first 2 but hopefully Keane sorts his attitude out. I think it's very rare for players so young to have the intelligience on the pitch that Stokes and McShane have (things like positional sense just come naturally to those guys), hopefully McCarthy is the same and we've a spine for the future. :)
I agree re-Strachan being the right guy to get the best out of him.
I thought McGeady was a liability against Slovakia, his passing was dire and lost us possession countless times. That said, with only Doyle to aim for his job wasn't easy but most of his misdirected passes were careless rather than anything else.
I'd prefer him to receive the ball static far less. It's a pity he can't make the US trip as I feel he's still anxious every time he plays for Ireland & he's yet to settle in any way.
McGeady was trying to be flashy against Slovakia and seemed desperate beat defenders and dribble like he does at Celtic. If he concentrated more on passing and the players around him, he would have faired better.
I still think McGeady will be a quality player for Ireland. He just needs more intelligence
I dunno... He wasn't great against the Slovaks, but I was impressed with how when he got closed down in possession or when on attack he seen nothing on he was able to play around and get the ball back to a defender to start an attack again, something I've not seen from any of our players up to this. I'm used to players running into walls or playing into corner in the hope of a set peice...
McGeady always seems to have a way to get out of trouble which is really down to his technical ability, he does try for the killer pass but you know he can do it but it isn't always going to work, is it better to take the option of a safe pass to O'Shea or Kilbane who trip over it or hoof it? I think the team needs to work to get McGeady into more advanced positions before he receives the ball. He really has so much potential you have to be excited about his future.
I still think that I can be a top neuro-surgeon. I just need more intelligence.Quote:
Originally Posted by Torn-Ado
:p
I still think Staunton will be a quality international manager for Ireland. He just needs more intelligence
:p
I still think George W. Bush will be a quality leader for the World. He just needs more intelligence
:p
Unfortunately intelligence is something you generally have or don't have, it is not acquired. You can gain experience and learn to play more intelligently but you just can't 'get more intelligence'.....unfortunately!!
Maybe he needs more Omega 3 fish oils in his diet?
spot on qwerty , it's not that mcgeady isnt good enough , it's that he needs to be utilised , he could be every bit as duff used to be if we could fit him into the system.
McGeady plays for 2 teams, I'd argue in neither has he set the world on fire. For us he's been poor, for Celtic inconsistent and even at best he is nowhere near Duff's level. So there is no evidence apart from blind hope that there is a system whcih would suit him.Quote:
Originally Posted by RogerMilla
It's the pro Celtic brigade desperately hoping he'll be our next superstar that keep hyping him up. I always have this argument with them. I was watching the Slovakia match in a pub full of them and all they could say was how great McGeady was playing. Blind to the facts.Quote:
Originally Posted by cavan_fan
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Tried them. Don't work.
Now what was I saying :confused:
Don't be silly. It wasn't until the start of this season that I felt McGeady was good enough for us, and there's no doubt in my mind he was. Fans have bad memories, most Celtic fans forget how good he was earlier in the season too.Quote:
Originally Posted by youngirish
I've still yet to make up my mind on O'Dea even after keeping Milan scoreless for 180 minutes, while I'm certain McShane will be a top player.
I can make up my opinion on a player without bias getting in the way. I watch Celtic every single week. No matter what opinion I give on a player or what facts I give you ignore them. I trust Owlsfan's opinion on Glenn Whelan and CraftyToePoke's opinion on McCarthy. Maybe you should just take the slightest thing I say into consideration. McGeady atm is playing nowhere near as well as he was at the start of the season. With Strachan coaching him he'll get the best out of his abilities. He's a top coach.
Wasn't referring to you eirebhoy so no need to take it so personally. I refer to the be all and end all Celtic brigade that watch the Ireland games in me boozer and hype McGeady (and to a lesser extent O'Dea) up beyond all reason. Even when he is crap.Quote:
Originally Posted by eirebhoy
I do listen to what you all say but I've seen all the said players mentioned above numerous times and followed their progress and I tend to take my own opinion first if it contradicts with someone else's. My knowledge of all things Irish and football related is frightening I tell you. It's a curse not a gift.
A curse.
Don't get me wrong, of course take your own opinion on top of anything but I think maybe you should check Celtic forums after watching a Celtic match (or ask me) to get the fans reaction to how well McGeady played. If McGeady put in his best performance there's no way you couldn't be impressed. ;) If you thought he played poorly with little end product I think you'll find that those on Celtic forums would agree with you.Quote:
Originally Posted by youngirish
kerrydalestreet.co.uk is the one I'd recommend btw. I tend to keep plenty of forums bookmarked when keeping track of Irish players at different clubs.
I'm having one of those deja vu moments.
geysir obviously feels he's not progressing. :) We won't see the best of McGeady til he's about 29 or 30 tbh so it's a long wait. ;)
Go suck a lemon ya pedantic bastart.;)Quote:
Originally Posted by galwayhoop
how off topic has this become!! :eek:
Quite bitter.... looked a tasty yellow and smelt nice but boy was it bitter. not to be recommended :D :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Torn-Ado
Just scored against Kilmarnock in the CIS Insurance Cup.
Hope he stays at Hamilton for another season or two and gets some 1st team football under his belt. I think it would be a step back for him to join one of the Premiership clubs who were chasing after him earlier this year and end up playing in the reserves/youth team.
And again !!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Irish_Praha
Quote:
Originally Posted by youngirish
Just wondering why you dont go to the games.
No that was McArthur :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Paddy Garcia
O yeah -sorry - ran away with it!Quote:
Originally Posted by Irish_Praha
I do go to some of them but not all of the games. I was right about McGeady being pure sh*te though. Terrible player, nowhere near good enough for International football.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
It was no surprise to me how McGeady performed for Ireland recently but anyway, let's keep this on topic.Quote:
Originally Posted by youngirish
OK but surely we should have a separate thread titled Youngirish: "I told you so"...Quote:
Originally Posted by eirebhoy