Sunderland are up, thats a cert. Ipswich and Wigan fighting it out for second. The most realistic options to go down are Palace, West Brom and Norwich - One Irish player between them.
up:
Gary Breen
Colin Healy
Sean Thornton
Stephen Elliott
hopefully (if Wigan are promoted):
Kavanagh
Mahon
down:
Gary Doherty
Well done Mick!
Don't think Wigan will make it, they tend to tail off at end of seasons. Sheffield United are making a late charge though, often the team with good late season form tends to survive the playoffs (e.g Palace). Geary, Quinn and Kenny would go up if they made it.
Keane O'Shea Given Best Smallbone
Assuming anyone down to Sheff Utd is still a candidate for promotion, I'd hope for Sundereland (not yet a certainty!) and Wigan to get automatic, Sheff United to win the play-off. And don't forget Liamo Lawrence
Ipswich has no Irish in the senior squad though there's an Irish core in their FA Youth Cup semi-final team.
Preston, Reading, West Ham & Derby have no Irish that I know of (Jeff Kenna excepted).
Speaking of Healy, is there any chance he'll play for Ireland again? Will he even play again - any news?
McCarthy has done an excellent job at Sunderland, credit where it's due.Originally Posted by eirebhoy
Stephen Elliott
Well done Mick!
Quick Q though; isn't Elliot just on loan, any chance Man City will snatch huim back next season?
Cork City: Making 'Dream Team' seem realistic since 2007.
No - permanent move. £125k I think.
Cheers, I wasn't sure.
Cork City: Making 'Dream Team' seem realistic since 2007.
Fee had to be decided by a tribunal, he was out of contract, but under 24.
Sheffield United could be the dark horses for the play offs, Warnock has a fantastic record in them, last season against Palace was the first time he's ever not won promotion, when in a playoff.
Wigan are starting to tail off a bit, first time outside the top 2 since the start of the season, that defeat could take the wind out of their sails a bit.
End of season run in:
Sunderland and Ipswich both have 3 home games left, whereas Wigan only have 2, but Sunderland also have to play Ipswich at Portman Road
Sunderland:
Sat 09 H Reading
Sun 17 A Ipswich
Sat 23 H Leicester
Fri 29 A West Ham
May
Sun 08 H Stoke
Ipswich
Mon 11 A Wolves
Sun 17 H Sunderland
Sat 23 A Leeds United
Sat 30 H Crewe
May
Sun 8 H Brighton
Wigan :
Sat 9 A Cardiff City
Sat 16 A Leicester City
Sat 23 H QPR
Sat 30 A Preston
May
Sun 8 H Reading
Maybe at last Mick will get some credit
for the amazing job he has done at Sunderland in almost 2 seasons with almost all his own players.He has signed a few gems this year including Lawerence,Whitehead and Elliot for little or no money . Who knows where next Man U. look like they will need a complete new squad when Alex bites the dust at the end of the season now wouldnt that be fun!!!!!!!!
McCarthy has always been an excellent manager - with second division players.
Daryll Murphy shortly
Who is this guy, Trapper Tony?
Its completely certain that Sunderland are in the priemership ? fair play mick. He has done very well with the players. I hope they dont end up in a relegation battle next season though. Nothing as bad for players as fighting a relegation battle all season. It might be the case with Wigan if they do get promoted. Still good news with all those irish players
Yes with Roy as his assistant.
What ? McCarthy is not an excellent manager.
18 Players from his squad out of 27 have played in the premiership in the recent past. Ipswich have 4 or 5 at most and Wigan have 3/4.
Sunderland should be walking the league in fairness.
A lot of those players were responsible for Sunderland going down in the first place. Credit to Mick where its due. I know it'll kill some people to give it
McCarthy..He is a good manager and has proved that over that last few seasons.Should be interesting when he meets up with Roy again. I don't think Healy will play again and if he does he wont be the same player.Breen is still there and to be fair does'nt do too much wrong for Sunderland.Elliot, lots and lots of potential would be nice to see how he copes in the premiership. Thorthon looks a good prospect....Liam Lawerence( 'irish wanabee')
Breen's still getting into the squads, just not into the first team, O'Brien is Kerr's preferred choice to partner Kenny right now, and Dunne seems to have overtaken him as 3rd choice centre halfA lot of those players were responsible for Sunderland going down in the first place. Credit to Mick where its due. I know it'll kill some people to give it
Look at Leicester. Kept pretty much the same team they were relegated with and added players like Connolly, Joey Gudjonsson, Keown, Nathan Blake and recently Maybury, McCarthy, Stephen Hughes and Mark de Vries. They are 15th in the league. I'd say Mick would have got them at least a playoff place.
Whatever people think of Mick he often got performances from players over & above what they typically put in at club level. Look at Breen in Japan, Kinsella, Colin Healy & Steven Reid's early games...
I'm not sure you can say the same so far about Kerr though you're not comparing like with like - all of Kerr's players are playing at a high level now.
Maybe O'Brien plays better for us than he does at his club. Clinton was actually playing really well for Brum in December & January.
I'm glad for Mick. He's still a relatively young manager anyway. And anything that's good for Irish players is OK by me.
I think you have hit the nail on the head with Mc Carthy been a young manager. I think he got the Ireland job way too early. I feel an international manager should be pretty experience in managing players for a long time. Mick was too close and played with a lot of the players. Ferguson recently gave advice to Mark Hughes that he was too young for international managment. I feel that some of the mistakes Mc Carthy made were through naivety and inexerience including the issues in Saipan. However he seems like a nice man and is doing a decent job at Sunderland. I think so far he has shown that he can get average players to play above their game. He creates good team spirit within a group of players. I think his level may be the top of the 1st and maybe the bottom of the Premiership, I feel he may be out of his depth with a larger clubs and with players with bigger egos. Also in Europe he may be found out. However for the moment he is certainly getting the best of the players that he has and should be given credit for it. Also he has a good few Irish lads there so the if they go up its good news for us.
In Trap we trust
sort've related question: how has kavanagh been doing with wigan, anyone see his performances?
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