DATE OF BIRTH: February 7, 1959
NATIONALITY: British
MANAGERIAL CAREER:
2002 - present Sunderland
1996 - 2002 Republic of Ireland
1991 - 1996 Millwall
PLAYING CAREER:
1990 - 1991 Millwall (player - manager)
1989 - 1990 Lyons
1987 - 1989 Celtic
1983 - 1987 Manchester City
1977 - 1983 Barnsley
HONOURS:
Coca Cola Champions - 2005 (Sunderland)
Championship Manager of the Year - 2005 (Sunderland)
The towering figure of Mick McCarthy returned to club management in March 2003 when he was named as the new manager at Sunderland, ending a five-and-a-half year term in charge of the Republic of Ireland national side.
Born in Barnsley, he made his debut for his hometown club as an 18-year-old defender. He moved on to Manchester City in 1983 for £200,000 and won his first Ireland cap a year later. He left City in 1987 for Celtic and helped them to the Scottish League and Cup double in 1988 before transferring to France for a brief spell with Lyons.
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By March of 1990 McCarthy was back in England, initially on loan with Millwall. A year later, at the age of 32, he became Millwall’s manager and steered the Lions to third in the First Division in 1994, narrowly missing out on promotion.
In 1996, McCarthy took over from Jack Charlton as the Republic of Ireland manager, and while he rose to the challenge, his tenure could have benefitted from a little Irish luck. A slow start to the qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup saw the Irish finally book their place in the finals. It was this tournament that turned out to be the most dramatic period of McCarthy’s tenure as Ireland manager, including a well-publicised run-in with Roy Keane.
Despite receiving the backing of the FAI during the summer, McCarthy resigned in November 2002. Under his leadership the Irish side had risen from 54th to 13th in Fifa’s world rankings in just over five years.
Four months later he was appointed manager of a struggling Sunderland as an immediate replacement for Howard Wilkinson. The Black Cats went down that season, although McCarthy largely escaped the blame, and in April 2005, he secured Sunderland automatic promotion to the Premiership by winning the Championship title.