Irish manager Mick McCarthy was quick to deliver a message to the section of Ipswich fans who “hounded him out” of the club as the Tractor Boys await relegation to League One.
McCarthy spent five seasons with Ipswich in the Championship, taking them from the bottom of the table when he arrived to 14th in his first campaign followed by subsequent finishes of 9th and 6th in his next two seasons.
After finishing 16th and 12th in his final two seasons at the club a section of the fans were unhappy with McCarthy’s reign and style of play and called for a change at Portman Road as the current Irish boss departed in April 2018.
Fast forward a year and Ipswich now find themselves relegated to the League One after 17 consecutive seasons in the second tier, in a campaign that has seen them win just four games under Paul Lambert and Paul Hurst before him.
Speaking to the media during the week, McCarthy expressed that he felt he was doing “a good job” by keeping the club in the division on a decidedly limited budget but hit out at the section of fans at Portman Road who “hounded” him out.
“I was doing a good job there. My job is to win games and stay in that league was my remit, and that’s what I continue to do.
“I’m sad that they’ve gone down. Some of the lads are taking huge cuts in wages who were with me and who were brilliant for me. The staff, I’ve no doubt people will be losing their jobs because of it so that’s going to be sad.
“It’s a great club and pretty much most of their fans were brilliant with me. The ones that hounded me out… I hope they enjoy watching the sexy football in the first division.”
McCarthy also gave an update on Patrick Bamford and outlined that he has not spoken to the Leeds United man since the striker told him he wished to focus on helping his club achieve promotion to the Premier League before deciding his international future.
“He told me he wanted to concentrate on his football so I let him do that and he wanted to [finish] his season because he’d been injured.
“Let him concentrate on that and he’s no chance of being involved in the summer because he hasn’t got his passport or his papers or whatever it takes to do it.
“So the only chance he’s got is if he tells me at the end of the season and it could be September, October [or] November.”
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