Yesterday Ipswich Town chairman Marcus Evans announced that Mick McCarthy is set to leave his role as manager of the club at the end of the current season, when his contract expires with the Championship side.
The 59-year-old has had a tempestuous relationship with some sections of the Portman Road faithful as of late, but has said that this is not the reason for his departure at the end of the season:
It’s not the abuse that has forced me out. Both Marcus and I just think it is the right time for us both to have a fresh start. When I leave here I’ll be waiting for the phone to ring with the offer of a new challenge.
McCarthy was asked whether he thought the criticism from the stands was warranted given that the former Ireland manager got them to the play-offs in 2015:
Journalist: Do you think you've had the respect you deserve, should you have banked more 2012/13 and the year you got town into the play-offs?
Mick McCarthy: I don't know you'd have to ask the numbskulls who have been giving me the abuse, because I think that's what they are to be quite honest... It's not everybody, that comment is for the people who have been doing it and actually it has been, I think, ruining games at Portman Road and making it hard for the players to play.
McCarthy reminded journalists that the club he took charge of has seven points from 13 games when he took over in 2012 but admitted that despite the club is in a 'far healthier state now' that Ipswich Town were not progressing and that the club were at a standstill.
McCarthy looked far from a broken man his press conference although you could sense the disappointment in him when speaking about how his time at the club has come to a close:
My shift here is done. It is time for someone else to have a go but I am proud of what I achieved here. I’ve worked with a modest budget and had some success, like the play-offs in 2015.
Ipswich currently lie in 12th place with eight games left to play, ten points off the play-off positions.
