James McCarthy M free agent b.1990

[Colbert Report]

Ian Harte is sh-ite altogether but he tries as well.

Back on topic, it would be nice to have a cental midfielder eligible for Ireland who's on the books at Barcelona. We're very very short in that area, and it's the most important position on the field.

We had Roy Keane come on the scene in 1991, Given in 1996 and Duff and Robbie Keane shortly thereafter. We haven't had any other world class players (bar maybe Finnan), so it's safe to assume that we're due a class player every five years or so. Terry Dixon looked like the business but he might be done for good, sure McCarthy is only sixteen but we can hope can't we? I agree with the previous poster, he should leave in January, forego first team football for two or three years and learn the game from the best coaches in the world. What I don't understand is why his team in Scotland can only get a hundred grand or so for him, similar players of the same age in Brazil are going to European giants for millions.

[Ireland4ever]

Why? It's true.

No, i think it says more of the muppets in charge of LOI teams than anything else. To even compare Kilbane and Keane in the same paragraph is laughable. I like Kilbane, was a great servant for Ireland but even he would laugh at the nonsense your talking.

[ken foree]

we need garvan to keep maturing for central midfield as well. he is a hope. though i had similar hopes for sean thornton there and look what happened. and on the subject of sh!te, harte could score some bombing free kicks..

[citizenerased]

Why? It's true.

h..ahahahahahah your gas!!

get off the anti-keano/dunphy bandwagon and swallow some of that bitterness

[eirebhoy]

I'm always reading Hamilton forums since I heard about this guy and I still find it strange that he's one of the hottest properties in Britain yet he doesn't seem to be setting the world alight at Hamilton. If he hadn't been linked with a move to Barca since he broke through at Hamilton I think their fans would laugh if they saw him being linked with them now tbh.

I'm fascinated by that and I'd love to see a lot more of McCarthy. If someone has superb technique it's as obvious to a fan as it is to a scout. If a player has tremendous pace it's also obvious to everyone. I could list off everything but the one thing that makes a good scout is his ability to tell how intelligent a player is. It's the one thing that can't be measured easily. It's also probably the most important part of a footballer. I know I always go on about it.

I'd love to know why he's regarded so highly by people in the game yet a lot of the fans wouldn't think too much of him if it wasn't for the hype. I've come to the conclusion that Jamie McCarthy is an absolute genius.

[Colbert Report]

He played 87 minutes today and his team were knocked out by Dundee Utd. I'd like to see him called up and capped in our next friendly, let's see what he can do.

[Kivlehan]

I wonder if Sunderland will sneak in and try to grab him. He's said Roy Keane was his favorite player in interviews. Sunderland would be wise to try to exploit that whenever possible with promising young Irish players since it is one of the few edges they have in the marketplace.

[Dodge]

I'm always reading Hamilton forums since I heard about this guy and I still find it strange that he's one of the hottest properties in Britain yet he doesn't seem to be setting the world alight at Hamilton. If he hadn't been linked with a move to Barca since he broke through at Hamilton I think their fans would laugh if they saw him being linked with them now tbh.

I'm fascinated by the guy too. but mainly because I think he has the hardest working agent in world football. Barcelona have 100s of scouts and look at kids all over the world all the time. They probably sign 5/6 at most for their youth teams each year. I'm not saying the guy won't be great but how many wonderkinds have we seen come and, unfortunately, go. For two solid years this kid has been linked with barca, Chelsea and Liverpool. If he was that good, they wouldn't allow him to rot at Hamliton, and the longer he stays there, the more he'll rot.

[cheifo]

Has he turned 17 yet?Getting a regular start and improving his game can only
help him then it will be a case of him either having the talent to move up.I remember Sean Caffery saying that McCarthy wasnt the type of player that does lots of tricks so will be interesting to see how he develops.

[Torn-Ado]

Wait til the lad is old enough to drink and shag burds. Then we will see how good he turns out to be.

[jbyrne]

Leave it out will ya! If some of our players had the heart and drive of a Kilbane we might be a few points better off in that group. He may not have the ability of some of them, but by Christ he tries. I'd like to remind everyone that this is the same lad who was called for England trials at 16, pressured into going by PNE, and turned up in Ireland kit. And you people knock him?

did he actually turn up to the england trial in an Ireland kit? ....... class!

[Dodge]

He didn't go to England trials. Kilbane was called up to an English underage side but refused with "I can't go, I'm irish"

[dr_peepee]

I'd like to remind everyone that this is the same lad who was called for England trials at 16, pressured into going by PNE, and turned up in Ireland kit. And you people knock him?

I heard he turned up in an ireland kit wearing a ballaclava!!!

[citizenerased]

yeah true... i heard he was a staunch irish republican, votes sinn fein, he was at their ard fheis in the RDS a few months back making a speech

[cheifo]

No I think your getting him mixed up with Clinton Morrison.

[Paddy Garcia]

If the rest were half as committed as Kilbane we would have qualified. Chipping in with a couple of key goals as well.

[Plastic Paddy]

Yet another of those tiresome (yet understandable) articles aimed at persuading McCarthy to renege his Irish declaration and choose Scotland. Unfortunately, from the tenor of this one, it sounds like they might get through. He's only to look at the example of Aiden McGeady, pilloried by the meeja and supporters of other clubs (and plenty on here, it seems) for pursuing his Ireland career, and it's not hard to fathom why he might choose to change his allegiance.

PP

---

http://www.theherald.co.uk/sport/hea...823405.0.0.php

Bright future for McCarthy, but in whose colours?
GRAEME MACPHERSON
November 10 2007

At an age when most of his classmates are choosing their Highers, pondering over which university to attend or mulling over whom to add to their Bebo page, James McCarthy is preparing for some life-changing decisions of his own.

That the precocious Hamilton Academical midfielder will progress to enjoy a long and prosperous career in football is virtually unquestionable. In whose colours - in terms of both club and country - he savours that success remains rather less clear-cut.

McCarthy was still only 15 when he made his first-team debut for Hamilton 14 months ago, emerging as a second-half substitute in a 1-1 draw with Queen of the South.

By the end of that campaign, he had emerged as a pivotal figure in Billy Reid's young side and had attracted the attention of clubs of the stature of Celtic, Rangers, Reading and Tottenham Hotspur.

It was Liverpool, though, who seemed to covet McCarthy above all the rest and it soon became a mutual love affair.

The Anfield club have twice this year tried to sign the coltish central midfielder - "I see myself as a box-to-box player" - and also brought him to Liverpool for a week's trial where he further boosted his burgeoning reputation and added a few extra noughts to any future transfer fee by scoring from 25 yards past Jerzy Dudek in a bounce match that included Luis Garcia, Robbie Fowler and Peter Crouch.

It would be enough to put a strut in any teenager's stride but McCarthy, a genuinely nice, grounded kid from Castlemilk, is not one to brag.

"It was great being at Liverpool. The facilities were great and everyone was fantastic with me.

"We had a bounce game with the first team and I scored a goal. So that was good. I learnt a lot. Their touch was amazing and you always had a pass to make."

The opportunity also rose during that trial week at Liverpool's Melwood training ground for him to have a natter with his hero, Steven Gerrard. "We just chatted. Not really about football, just other stuff really. I would love to be as good as him."

Liverpool will undoubtedly come calling again in the summer but they won't be the only suitors.

McCarthy will just wait and see what happens. He is contracted to Hamilton until 2009, by which time they could be a Clydesdale Bank Premier League club if they continue the sparkling start they have made to the Irn-Bru First Division, where they proudly top the table after 12 matches.

McCarthy's recent contribution to that ascent earned him the accolade of the Irn-Bru Phenomenal Young Player of the Month and he proudly clutches his award trophy and a bottle of the sponsor's ginger as he discusses his future.

"I don't see myself going anywhere in January, I'm quite happy at Hamilton just now. It's Billy Reid who has given me my chance and I think he's a great manager to work under. I wasn't really ready to leave home before but I think if I leave I will probably go down south in the summer as I've grown up a bit since then. We'll need to wait to see what happens."

Following today's match at home to Partick Thistle, McCarthy will bid adieu to his Hamilton team-mates and head off on international duty with the Republic of Ireland under-18 squad for two friendly matches in Germany.

The 16-year-old qualifies for the Irish via his grandfather from Donegal and chose to represent them after being overlooked by the country of his birth.

He has until under-21 level to decide where his international future lies and yet, somewhat surprisingly, no-one from the Scotland youth squad has yet been in touch to try to persuade him to swap emerald green for dark blue.

"Scotland didn't pick me," he reveals with no sign of regret or malice. "Scotland never came in for me last season and Ireland did so I went for them.

I'm not that bothered.

I'm just happy to be playing international football. You've got up to under-21s to change your mind but I don't know what I will do.

"Nobody from Scotland has been in touch, although I think they have been to watch me. If they want to pick me, they pick me. It's not up to me, is it?"

[Colbert Report]

I think we should pick this guy for the Wales game, throw him on in injury time, just to cap him. He kinda sounds like he would be willing to play for Scotland, doesn't he? Why risk it? We don't have too many sixteen year olds who qualify to play for us getting looked at by Barcelona, do we?

[Kingdom]

Its crazy and when you hear about kids, and thats all he is, a kid, saying things like that, you've got to wonder has Wenger got a point about the future of International football.
I know we have a history of players with tenuous links to the country but once they've made the decision to represent us most have shown 100% commitment, but this guy seems to be not exactly total in his desire to keep playing for the country. Bit sad really, just hope his comments were taken out of context or something.

[geysir]

Yet another of those tiresome (yet understandable) articles aimed at persuading McCarthy to renege his Irish declaration and choose Scotland. Unfortunately, from the tenor of this one, it sounds like they might get through. He's only to look at the example of Aiden McGeady, pilloried by the meeja and supporters of other clubs (and plenty on here, it seems) for pursuing his Ireland career, and it's not hard to fathom why he might choose to change his allegiance.

PP

Good point PP. McGeady is an exceptional Irishman. A player who I most want to succeed in an Irish shirt.
McCarthy doesn't seem that bothered, said he hasn't even been approached by the SFA. Looks like he just was called up for us first.