Championship’s longest-serving manager will leave at end of the season after attempts to modernise style ran aground owing to a lack of investment, injuries and a loss of nerve
Mick McCarthy does not waste much time on sentiment but football’s circularity will not be lost on him when he emerges from the tunnel at Birmingham on Saturday. It was at St Andrew’s, on 3 November 2012, that he took the first small step towards creating a team Ipswich could feel proud of again; now his long goodbye begins there and the overriding sense, beyond the wildly contrasting opinions McCarthy’s reign has prompted, is of relief at the end of a saga that did all parties more harm than good.
As this season progressed and McCarthy moved closer to the end of his contract, which the club confirmed on Thursday would not be extended beyond this campaign, there was tacit acceptance the writing was on the wall. Ipswich began making inquiries about potential successors last autumn, both as standard contingency and in the knowledge their manager’s standing among supporters had nosedived.
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