Seven straight league defeats have manager clinging to his job as he faces popular predecessor Neil Warnock’s MiddlesbroughLast week Neil Warnock borrowed Forrest Gump’s famous line, comparing the unpredictability of his Middlesbrough team to a box of chocolates. “You never know what you’re gonna get,” he said, doing his best impression of Tom Hanks. On Saturday he visits his previous club, Cardiff City, whose form is anything but irregular after seven straight league defeats for the first time since 1934, an alarming run in which they have scored a solitary goal – a Sean Morrison header from a corner when trailing 4-0 at Blackburn – and conceded 17. If Derby had not been docked points for entering administration, Cardiff would...
Mick McCarthy leaves the Portman Road club in far better shape than when he arrived but that was still not enough for some fansAfter announcing two weeks ago that he would be leaving his post at the end of the season, Mick McCarthy could be forgiven for thinking Ipswich fans might finally give him a break. An increasingly toxic atmosphere has permeated the fabric of Portman Road in recent seasons and the unsustainable mutual antipathy of a hardcore section of supporters and their manager meant a parting of company was quite obviously best for all concerned.Having finally got what they wanted, those in the stands could have contemplated the good times – and there were good times – under a...
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 nerveMick 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...