Its a terrible shame that so many idiots have to go back to the age old argument of who's Irish and who isn't. Its all been said before and gets tiresome when some narrow-minded individuals can't make a valid case as to why some player isn't classed as Irish, when what it says on his passport is:
Nationality: Irish
As regards Mick's position at Sunderland, he definitely over-achieved last season and didn't have adequate funds to build on what he brought up. It was a double-edged sword in a sense, as if he hadn't gone up people would have thrown up the same tripe that he couldn't cut it. Now that he has come up, and is struggling with an awfully weak squad, people are still sharpening the knives. Wigan and West Ham strengthened with international players like Camara and Benayoun to name two, and it has certainly born fruit. Sunderland had to make do with has-beens and never-beens, like Alan Stubbs and Andy Gray. Mick deserves to see out the season and, hopefully, put up a good fight, regroup and bounce back even stronger the following season.