| Born in Barnsley, Yorkshire, on February 7th 1959, Mick McCarthy was a
rugged, no-nonsense central defender who played for Manchester City
between 1983 and 1987. He was signed from his hometown club for £200,
000 by manager Billy McNeill in December 1983 as a direct replacement
for Tommy Caton, who had been sold to Arsenal, and had previously played
right through Barnsley's climb from the fourth to the second division.
He made his City debut on December 17th 1983 in a 0-0 away draw at
Cambridge United, with City striving to return to the top division of
English football after relegation the previous May. Mick's first goal
came in a 2-2 Good Friday draw at Oldham Athletic on April 20th 1984,
and although having been joint-top of the table with Newcastle United in
early February a poor run over the next two months saw an eventual
fourth place finish, just out of the automatic promotion spots. Despite
McCarthy having made only 24 league appearances since his arrival, not
missing a game, his instant popularity with the fans was shown by the
fact that he was voted the club's Player of The Year. Further
recognition also followed when he made his international debut for the
Republic Of Ireland in a 0-0 friendly draw with Poland on May 23rd,
after becoming eligible for selection through his Irish father.
The expected push for promotion in the 1984/85 season seemed to have
ground to a halt by early January; the team sat tenth in the table and
had been knocked out of the FA Cup by Coventry and the League Cup by
Chelsea, McCarthy having bagged a goal in an earlier 4-2 second round
victory over Blackpool. A great run through February and March, however,
saw them go top but a late-season stumble meant they went into the last
game of the season needing a win over Charlton Athletic at Maine Road
to ensure promotion. Although McCarthy missed the game through injury, a
5-1 romp in front of 47, 000 people ensured the Blues went up in third
place on goal difference over Portsmouth. Mick had made 39 league
appearances over the season and now had the chance to play at the
highest level for the first time.
The 1985/86 season was always going to be one of consolidation and a
fifteenth place finish in the table was a reasonable effort, with
McCarthy in outstanding form throughout. Although City had suffered
defeats to Watford and Arsenal in the early rounds of the FA and League
cups there was a chance of glory in the inaugural Full Members Cup,
where the Blues had reached the final against Chelsea in March. In an
entertaining game at Wembley City went down 5-4, and an overall
satisfactory season concluded with McCarthy making 46 league and cup
appearances.
The following campaign would prove to be one of struggle and
ultimately Mick's last with the club. By the time of the derby match
with United on October 26th City were bottom of the table and manager
McNeill had left the club for Aston Villa, Jimmy Frizzell taking over.
Despite McCarthy getting City's goal in a creditable 1-1 draw they were
to remain in the relegation spots for virtually the whole season. With
only 8 wins out of 42 league games and round three defeats to Arsenal
and Manchester United in the League and FA Cups, relegation was
confirmed with a 2-0 defeat at West Ham on the last day of a miserable
season. This was Mick's last game for the club, and after a total of 163
league and cup appearances with 3 goals he was sold to Celtic on May
20th 1987 for a reported £500, 000 fee.
He afterwards went on to play for Olympique Lyonnais in France and
Millwall, where he hung up his boots to become full-time manager in
1992. During his career he had also won 57 caps for the Republic of
Ireland (22 of them whilst with City) and scored 2 goals. He was
appointed manager of his adopted country in February1996, taking over
from Jack Charlton, before going on to manage Sunderland and Wolves.
(David Redshaw)
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