McCarthy: Ireland 'wouldn't have gotten out of the group' if Keane stayed in Saipan
Mick McCarthy has opened up about his relationship with Roy Keane in a candid interview with Eamonn Dunphy.
The newly appointed Irish manager was speaking to the pundit who fronts Paddy Power’s new programme Head2Head.
Keane was sent home after a row with the manager in Saipan during the 2002 World Cup and refused his invitation to return for the tournament.
Dunphy suggested that if Keane had played with the Boys in Green they would have gone a lot further than the last 16.
McCarthy disagreed saying: “If we’d have had him in the frame of mind and mood he was in when we played against Holland and Portugal yeah I agree with that.
“Having had him in the frame of mind and mood he was in [in Saipan], at the World Cup we wouldn’t have got out of the group. No chance.
“That’s what I believe — we’d have been home after three group games and I’d have been on my holidays a lot sooner.”
Dunphy probed further into what McCarthy's relationship with the former Irish captain was really like.
“Pretty shite to be quite honest," McCarthy said.
"I got on fine with him, I mean there was some suggestion from him that I couldn’t manage teams or manager players, but I’d managed him for five years."
