Mick McCarthy tonight gave an hour of his day to go to BBC Radio Newcastle and answer questions from Sunderland supporters, both local and exiled – and this is a summary of what he said…
When asked how far away from being a Premiership team he thinks we are, and which areas need strengthening:
Hopefully we’re fourteen games away! I’ve already brought in a few players to strengthen the side – Neill Collins has done a wonderful job for us, as have Liam Lawrence, Dean Whitehead and Stephen Elliott. Will they have enough experience to get us to the Premiership? I don’t know. (Mick was at pains during the entire interview to stress that he won’t take it for granted that we will go up, and we need to ‘wait and see’).
Are we still looking at new players for the rest of this season – or already looking forward to what we’ll need for next season? (question suggested Mickey Gray could come back, to bolster the left side)
Mickey Gray was booed out of this club – it’s amazing that people can now turn round and say ‘look how well he’s done’; but he’s no better than Julio Arca or George McCartney. Supporters are always throwing names at me – everyone thinks they can suggest someone who they know will improve the side but I’m not convinced. The players I really want just aren’t available, and the ones we’ve got are good enough.
Will the Whitley-Robinson combination be good enough for the Premiership?
I hope it’s working in the Championship! It’s unfair to look at the Premiership because we’re not there yet – what I want from Carl and Jeff is to get us up there; they’re my best partnership and nobody’s yet done enough to change my mind about that.
If we get promotion will money be available to strengthen the squad?
Again, people are pre-empting – we’re not there yet. If we do go up, we’ll HAVE to spend to stay up. We’ve got a huge debt still to clear but it’s going. I don’t want to go up and then on May 8th immediately become a dead cert for relegation. I find the job immensely rewarding and I love it. Everyone involved in the football side – and it’s not a one-man show (Mick paid tribute to Ian Evans at this point) – everyone has contributed but mainly the players, they’ve done wonders for the club – they’re young and ambitious, and even the older ones are ambitious to drive themselves on and become better players.
On Mick’s statement some time ago that he’d like two players for every position – the caller thought Sunderland were ‘crying out for a creative right-sided’ player:
Liam Lawrence has been terrific on the right and so’s Dean Whitehead – what astounds me is that I got them on a shoestring and I think they’ve played above their value, done better than I ever imagined – where the heck I’m supposed to find better…..! The good news is that Liam trained today, he’ll hopefully be back next week in a reserve game. I’m delighted we’ve got that sort of player in those positions.
On the need for creativity in centre midfield
Is the name Sean Thornton on anyone’s lips here?! I’ll play the best team I think I’ve got available. A lot of people have got a bee in their bonnet about Sean – remember there was a transfer request from Sean this season but credit to him he’s knuckled down, lost weight, proved himself. But this team that’s got us to third in the league has done a good job. Personality clashes don’t come into it – if I thought Sean could do a better job I’d play him, but at the moment I don’t.
Are we looking at any players from lower leagues?
We’re looking! I’m not going to highlight any one in particular but if I think anyone can improve us, they’re available and we can afford to sign, then we’ll sign.
Why isn’t Mickey Bridges getting games?
I can understand the adoration Mickey gets but it’s disproportionate to what he does, at times. Some players are very much maligned – like Marcus Stewart and Jeff Whitley for example, and they get stick – yet Arca can give a bad pass and he still gets the cheers. When they’re doing a good job, I’d expect them all to get cheers! I’ve got a good squad and they’ll all get games from time to time. Look at Watford last week – compared to previous weeks they suddenly played two right-backs against us to counter our left side but it didn’t work for them and we still got the goals. I’m delighted Bridgey re-signed for us – but look at the likes of George McCartney, he’s had a superb season and nobody mentions him!
On the need for a man in midfield who’s “two-footed and can put the ball through”
You’re talking about the likes of Frank Lampard and Stephen Gerrard – two-footed and got vision. Just take a good close look at Carl Robinson – there’s no better player in that position in our league than Carl, and he’s got the vision.
On Kyle’s absence and the need to replace him so we have a ‘big centre forward’
We’re as good a team as any in this league at the moment. But when you’ve played all your ‘pretty football’ yes it’s nice to have the option to just throw it in the box. Kevin saw his specialist today and hopefully we’ll have him back very soon.
On getting loan players in
We’ll only take them if they’re going to be beneficial to the squad and will improve us. The only players I really want to get on loan are from the Premiership, but we can’t get them; they’re really trying to keep their squads together at this stage of the season.
On what his best starting eleven is, and how he disciplines players
At the moment the side’s picking itself, we’re a winning side and playing with confidence. As for discipline, yes I have a set of rules – if people get booked for dissent, kicking the ball away, stuff like that, I fine them. It annoys me, things like Arca getting booked for celebrating then other players do it and don’t get booked. But I’m tough on them if they get booked stupidly.
Are there any younger players in the reserves or Academy who could make an impact soon?
If they can, they’ll get in the squad. We have an ‘old vs young’ game with the players every Thursday but 23 can count as old for that! Grant Leadbitter will be travelling to Brighton with us and Ben Alnwick – but yes Kevin Ball, Elliott Dickman and the Academy staff are working tirelessly to get new players in.
What do you do to relax?
Golf! But at the moment I’m going to work in the dark, going home in the dark, it’s raining and it’s cold…so there’s no chance of a game. I end up watching football on television – I can relax watching everyone else. I had a day off yesterday and went to watch Darlington v Huddersfield reserves. And my wife and family are still in Barnsley, so days off I go there, go out for lunch or whatever.
Caller phoned to say he couldn’t understand Mickey Bridges’ attitude, using the example of him sitting on the bus on his own when he wasn’t picked for the Preston game.
Bridgey was disappointed at being left out and I can understand that – but at the end he went to see the lads, he wanted to be with them all. Not everyone does their warmup outside with everyone else, some do a warmup on their own. Overall his attitude’s been first class, he’s a smashing lad – he might get the goal that gets us promoted and he’ll be a hero all over again!
On the crowd’s positive attitude to Bridges/negative attitude to Whitley being out of proportion:
I appreciate people like Jeff who come in and have a real go – he was one of the reasons we won the reserves’ league last year and that attitude rubs off on people. He and I know he’s not the best footballer but if I get into a scrap I’ll be taking Jeff with me – and he’ll be going in front of me! Him and Carl Robinson have attitude in abundance.
Wouldn’t it be better to let the players have another season or two in the Championship to develop before we go for promotion?
Well it’s a nice thought – but we’ve proved we’re as good as Palace…but is that all we aspire to? Going up is the first thing but can we emulate teams like Charlton – can we stay up, can we build, get players in? We almost need to ‘plan to come back down’ so we don’t have players with huge salaries but they’ve got a year’s Premiership experience then hopefully we’d go straight back up. But I want us to go up and stay up.
Will Stewart be offered a new contract?
He had a great spell early on, then a lean spell, and he’s playing out of his skin now. There’s no problem between me and him or him and the club and he’s in a good position to negotiate with these goals.
What’s the relationship like between you and the Chairman?
We have a very good relationship – if there’s not lots of money about, people tend to think you’ve fallen out. But the Chairman and John Fickling have always been very supportive.
Who do you think is the best player in the Championship?
We’ve got good players! Nathan Ellington and Jason Roberts at Wigan. Etherington at West Ham, Sidwell, Nicky Forster at Reading, Bent and Dean Bowditch at Ipswich – they were a real threat to us. Jimmy Bullard’s been impressive too.
Any chance of a return for Darren Carter?
Absolutely – I’m in pole position to ask the question if there’s a chance he’ll be released.
What’s happened to the reserves, there’s no strength any more – gone from winners to rock bottom
It’s turned on its head now, when we got relegated on a record low the reserves won the league, now it’s the other way round. I had to stand up at the North East Journalists’ Sports Writers’ Awards for winning the reserves when the first team had just gone down – I was embarrassed about that! Now we’ve changed – the first team is strong. We’re trying to address it and get players into the reserves but at the moment we’re concentrating on the first team.
Re the Gillingham game – they were down to 10 men and on paper we should’ve murdered them; if we don’t get promoted who will we get in? There’s nobody in central midfield to break down defences.
I watched Chelsea play Everton the other day and for everything Chelsea have got – their team, all their money – they couldn’t pick a hole in Everton even with a man advantage. When teams just sit back, it’s extremely difficult.
Why do players think they’re hard done by, playing two games a week, when normal punters put in five shifts a week at work before they play any sport?
I think that’s a fallacy – a lot of managers put the excuse out that the players are tired. None of my squad say they’re tired – they all want to play!
Many callers, during the course of the programme, made a point of congratulating the manager on the improvement in team morale and for doing a good job since he’s been with us; Mick thanked every person who made those points and seemed genuinely very grateful that people were pleased with the way things are going. He seemed genuinely interested to hear peoples’ views, whatever they were, and have the chance to respond.
Mick was interviewed by BBC Radio Newcastle’s Nick Barnes on Thursday 17th February, you can hear the interview again by clicking here. This article is an approximate summary of Mick McCarthy’s comments as opposed to a precise transcript.