McCarthy ready to restore reputation
Mick McCarthy will walk into Molineux on Monday insisting that a chastening experience at Sunderland last season has helped him become a better manager.
McCarthy, who will be unveiled as the new manager of Wolves on his return from holiday, was sacked by the Black Cats in March as a woeful campaign for the Wearside club neared its end.
Sunderland won just three league games and broke their own record for the lowest points total in the Premiership as they returned to the Championship, which they won a year earlier at a canter thanks to McCarthy’s mix of hard work combined with bargain signings.
On reflection, the former Republic of Ireland boss believes promotion came “too quick” and accepts his share of the blame for relegation.
“We won the Championship with players from the lower leagues and reserve teams who came in and did wonderfully well for us,” said the 47-year-old Yorkshireman.
“Maybe it was just a step up too quick and maybe there were mistakes made by all parties.
“But no, I don’t think for one minute it made me a bad manager, the experience has probably made me a better one.”
McCarthy remains confident in his own ability, telling www.leaguemanagers.co.uk: “I know it and that’s the main thing and I think other people recognise that.”
Wolves officials have pointed to McCarthy’s feat in rousing the Black Cats following their previous relegation, in 2003. He guided them into the play-offs in his first full season in charge and the title followed a year later.
Now he could be forgiven for arriving at Molineux with a sense of déjà vu, with Wolves having lost 11 first-team players over the summer after the end of the parachute payments which followed relegation from the Premiership in 2004.
The cutbacks prompted Glenn Hoddle to walk away on July 1, but McCarthy will go into the new campaign with his eyes wide open.
He said: “There’s no secret that the Premiership parachute payments have gone and they are the lifeblood for clubs that have gone up, come back down and been able to utilise that to go back up again.”
But he added: “You don’t get a job like Wolves when they’re top of the league and it’s flying do you? Jobs like that only come up I guess when they are having tough times, so they are relying on me to change that around, which I’ve done before.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge here and doing it again.”
McCarthy has no fears about taking over at a club which, like Sunderland, boasts large support with lofty expectations.
“It is one of those clubs. You can tell by the phone calls I’m getting from people ringing up delighted to see me back in the game and the underlying feeling of all of them is ‘what a great job, what a great club’.
“That’s from everybody; people inside the game and outside the game.
“The club’s huge and sometimes that’s a burden when people come in but I think overall, in terms of recruiting players, football clubs like Wolves help get players in because of this.”
Chief executive Jez Moxey warned Wolves fans to pitch their expectations lower than usual this season following the departure of players like Joleon Lescott, to Everton for £5m (€7.33m), and Kenny Miller, to Celtic on a Bosman free transfer.
It remains to be seen if veteran midfielder Paul Ince will extend his career at Molineux after missing out on the manager’s job.
Despite such an exodus and the warning from Moxey, McCarthy will “aim high”.
“It is what I’ve always done and we’re going to have a crack at trying to get promotion,” he said.
“Is it a realistic target? Who knows until we set off?
“It’s all well and good everybody saying it’s going to be hard and of course it is. I wouldn’t be getting the job unless it was going to be hard.
“But you set your targets high and I think sometimes if you make too much of it – ‘it’s going to be tough, we haven’t got players’ – it gives people excuses. I’m not looking for any excuses; the squad needs strengthening, we need players.
“I know the club got shot of 11 players from a squad that didn’t reach the play-offs; well that tells its own story doesn’t it?
“So it’s going to be tough, but let’s not start making excuses already, let’s go in there, get the players at it and see if we can be successful.”
Wolves begin their season at Plymouth on August 5, and McCarthy’s first task will be to address his players and tune them into his methods.
“Does that all happen in two weeks? Probably not, but it won’t be rocket science,” he said.
“It can’t be can it, in two weeks?
“We’ll get them working hard, trying to play football and being committed to it because from what I’ve seen, a lot of people have left and I’m sure there’s a bit of unrest. So let’s try to get that team spirit together firstly because, without it, we’re going to struggle.”
