Does Mick The Man Have A Master Plan?

The is little doubt that Mick McCarthy is very much his own boss. That does not mean to suggest that he does not listen to other people but he has a clear insight into the way things should be.

The reason that professional footballers respect him so much is because of his transparency. He tells it the way it is and I think to some of the younger players coming through, he is seen very much as a father figure and he does not blindly follow rules.

I am absolutely sure that if he had been running the show in the days of Jordan Rhodes, he would have fought tooth and nail to keep him at the club and if reluctantly he was forced to part company with him, it would have been at the right price.

Owner Marcus Evans has described our manager as a miracle worker and when you consider the dire straights we were in when he took over less than two and a half years ago, this is indeed an honest appraisal.

McCarthy has intimated that when we found ourselves bottom of the table and seven points adrift of the rest, he wondered whether taking on this challenge was a step to far? After all, he did not want a relegation on his curriculum vitae and he knew it would be an enormous challenge.

Once he had spoken to Marcus Evans however he quickly realized that this was a man he could work with and agreed to take on the mammoth task.

I have to say that at the time I was hugely disappointed with this appointment because it suggested to me a lack of ambition by the club after the appointments of the likes of Roy Keane.

How very wrong I was! Mick McCarthy and Terry Connor have indeed worked miracles in their relatively short tenure in charge and the manager’s honesty is quite truly a breath of fresh air in the modern game.

Perhaps he is old school but there is nothing wrong with that because it his man management skills and dogmatism that have got us thus far and like a good craftsman he has made the very best of the tools at his disposal, to the delight of everyone concerned.

He has a lovely sense of humour too and very little seems to faze this gritty Yorkshire man. Having seen him interviewed on so many occasions over the last few years, what strikes me most is his pragmatism. Simply put, he sees thing in black and white and there are no grey areas to contend with in the McCarthy psyche!

In a two part interview for the East Anglian Daily Times he explains that losing impacts on him in a greater way than winning.

If his side are victorious then he will go out for a meal and relax with his feet up, later perhaps watching Match of the Day.

If his team loses then it is beans on toast in the house and a sleepless night!

That is the passion of the man and in terms of what he has done for the Tractor Boys since he took charge it really has been like turning water into wine!