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Thomas Telford

Mick McCarthy's career from 'captain fantastic' at Italia 90 to Saipan fallout

Former Republic of Ireland Manager Mick McCarthy is set to appear on tonight's episode of The Late Late Show on RTE One.

McCarthy will appear on the Late Late in aid of Daffodil Day, and will share stories about both of his parents who left such an imprint on him.

And the former Republic of Ireland captain remains one of a select club t have played for, captained, and managed his country.

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Where is Mick McCarthy from?

Michael Joseph McCarthy was born in Barnsley, UK, on February 7, 1959 making him 63 years old.

He's an Irish citizen since birth thanks to his Irish-born father, Charlie McCarthy.

Club career

McCarthy's first foray into professional football was with his hometown club Barnsley in 1977. He won promotion with them before moving to Manchester City.

In his first full season at City, he won promotion to the top division in England. A mid-table finish the following season was followed by relegation in City's third season.

However, McCarthy had already moved to Glasgow Celtic by the City were relegated. In his time at Celtic McCarthy won one league title and two Scottish Cups.

An unhappy short spell at Ligue 1 side Olympique Lyonnais was followed by two years at Milwall after which he announced his retirement from football.

International career

But it was in the international arena that McCarthy became a household name.

He made his debut for the Republic of Ireland in 1984 in a friendly versus Poland and would soon go on to become a key player over the next decade playing in all three Euro 88 games.

Italia 90 would be the highlight of McCarthy's career as he captained Ireland to a quarter-final showdown against hosts, Italy.

International managerial career

In 1996, McCarthy took over from Jack Charlton as Irish manager and after failed attempts to qualify for World Cup 98 and Euro 2000, he guided Ireland to 2002 World Cup in Japan/Korea after a 2-1 play-off win over Iran.

Unfortunately, a fallout with Roy Keane over facilities and training program led to McCarthy sending his captain home.

Ireland reached the round-of-16 but lost to Spain on penalties.

The fallout from the Keane affair would follow McCarthy for the rest of his time as manager of the national team. After a poor start to the Euro 2004 qualifying campaign, McCarthy resigned.

After a successful spell at Sunderland in which he guided the club to the Premier League, McCarthy also guided Wolves to the Premier League in 2009.

He returned to the Republic of Ireland managerial hotseat in 2018, but left the job to Stephen Kenny in 2020.

He has since had unsuccessful stints in Cyprus with Apoel, and with Cardiff City.

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