The speculation surrounding Mick McCarthy’s future will finally be put to bed this week.
Martin O’Neill is expected to be announced as the new Republic of Ireland manager with former Blues boss Roy Keane taking a surprise role as his assistant.
For a while, Ipswich Town boss McCarthy had been the short odds favourite for the job. He’d certainly done little to dampen such talk, continually refusing to rule himself out of the running.
The way he dealt with that situation, combined with a dip in form for the Blues, has seen the Yorkshireman’s stock drop among many Blues supporters just a few months after he saved the club from Championship relegation.
Having described his side’s 1-1 draw at struggling Bolton as their ‘worst performance of the season’, McCarthy then admitted that supporters were right to boo his team off the field after they were left clinging on for a 1-1 draw with lowly Barnsley at Portman Road last Friday night.
Those of a positive disposition will point out that the well-organised and hard-working Blues – rock-bottom of the table a year ago – have lost just two of their last nine games, with a solid platform in place to build for the future.
But critics will argue that a tactically predictable side short of creativity and invention have won just one of their last seven.
- Join Blues reporter Stuart Watson at www.eadt.co.uk for a live webchat at 1pm today.
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