Settling into the role of television pundit, Mick McCarthy retains a distinction between the two; 'I can give you my pundit opinion, or I can give you my manager opinion.'
After watching the Republic of Ireland eke out a 0-0 draw against Denmark last night in the UEFA Nations League, there was a palpable need for both.
Speaking in the Virgin Media Sport studios this evening, the former Irish manager and captain was left unimpressed at what he witnessed in the Aviva Stadium last night.
Urging calm after the 4-1 defeat to Wales last month, McCarthy insisted that turning against Martin O'Neill and his players would solve little.
With his manager's hat firmly on, he could see the logic behind O'Neill's somewhat conservative approach.
"I'm looking at Martin and I'm thinking, right, they lost 5-1 to these at home, they go to Wales and get well beaten in the first game [of the Nations League], and they've had a good result and a better performance in Poland.
"I thought yesterday, whatever you do, don't get beaten, don't lose that game."
Conceding that irrespective of any external factors the management team could celebrate yesterday's game as something of a positive step, Mick McCarthy, attiring himself in that scarcely used pundit hat, dwelt on the sense of fatalism surrounding this current Irish set up.
"Unfortunately, it's not exciting, it's not sexy, it doesn't please people who are watching."
One of the potential candidates to replace O'Neill should the current Irish manager find his tenure in charge brought to an end, McCarthy is keeping unsurprisingly quiet about such rumours and placing no additional pressure on the current man in charge.
