MEMORIES OF….MICK MCCARTHY

Saint Anthony

For my sins, Manchester City were always my favourite English team. This was due to getting their strip as a Christmas present in primary school, a fine colour of Our Lady’s blue, as my mother used to refer to it. In the 1980’s I would travel down to Maine Road occasionally to watch them play and stay with a friend. City were struggling to regain past glories of the Bell-Lee-Summerbee era and the huge irony was that when I first went to see them in 1983, Celtic legend, Billy McNeill, was the City manager.

Big Billy knew a bit about centre halves, and after selling Tommy Caton to Arsenal, he bought Mick McCarthy to City from Barnsley. McCarthy was a rugged, no nonsense centre half who quickly became a City fans’ favourite, but after suffering relegation in 1987, Celtic stepped in to buy Mick for a cool £500,000, a lot of money and a club record fee at that time. When I saw him for City I had been struck by two things. Firstly, he was virtually unbeatable in the air, and secondly, you could actually hear him bellowing at his team mates from the terraces, in that distinctive, broad, Yorkshire accent of his.

Celtic had endured a miserable season when they had squandered a considerable lead to Graeme Souness’ new Rangers side. The Achilles heel of the side had been in central defence with a number of centre halves having failed to form an effective partnership with Roy Aitken at the back. Celtic manager, Davie Hay, was said to have his eye on McCarthy for some time, and was said to be happy with his new signing in anticipation for the coming season. Incredibly, just two weeks after signing McCarthy in May 1987, the Celtic board sacked Hay and appointed Billy McNeill as their new manager. McNeill was obviously delighted to find Mick as part of his new squad and both men were hugely familiar with each other from their time at Man City.

Unfortunately Mick was injured in pre-season and his debut was delayed until late September when Celtic travelled to Dortmund to play Borussia in the UEFA cup second leg in the Wesfalenstadon. Celts were holding a slender 2-1 lead from the first tie and an inexperienced Celtic side fought a rear guard action, organised at the back by McCarthy, until two late goals sealed their fate. It had been a gamble to play Mick, who was not yet 100% fit, but it had almost paid off.

This was a disappointment but Mick helped tighten the defence throughout the season and impressed the fans with his strength and organisational skills at the back. It has to be said thought, that the big man had a temper on him and could have a short fuse. This was best illustrated at Parkhead on 5 March 1988, when Falkirk’s Crawford Baptie was up against Mick. Baptie was recognised as one of the tallest players in Scottish football and when he tried to mix it with McCarthy, big Mick hit him with a right hook which a boxer would have been proud of, and laid Baptie out. It was an automatic sending off with a long suspension but he made it back into the team which clinched the league and cup double in May to round off a terrific season. You didn’t mess with big Mick.

In 1988-89, Celtic suffered a disastrous start to the season, when only Frank McAvennie and Anton Rogan could have been said to have played to form. Mick was impressive in the European Cup when Celtic beat Honved of Hungary 4-1 on aggregate, and in the next round it was West Germany again, when Werder Bremen came calling. Bremen won 1-0 at Parkhead and not many gave Celtic a chance in the second leg. McCarthy gave a terrific performance as Celtic kept a clean sheet and with a bit of luck the Celts could have taken it to extra time but it wasn’t to be.

The league proved beyond Celtic in the New Year so all resources were put into retaining the Scottish Cup. Mick scored his only goal of his Celtic career against Hibs in the 1989 Scottish Cup semi-final and it was a hugely important one. On the day when Celtic and Hibs fans stood in numb silence for the poor souls who had perished at Hillsborough just 24 hours earlier, Mick gave Celtic the lead with a thundering header from a Joe Miller corner after just three minutes, a goal which sent Celtic on their way to the final with an impressive 3-1 win.

The final against Rangers was played on 20 May 1989 on a tremendously hot day. There was a lot at stake for Celtic, it was their last chance of silverware with Rangers going for the domestic treble which Celtic were especially keen to prevent them from achieving. The game was a war of attrition with both sides putting the accent on the more physical side of their game. McCarthy was in his element and this was arguably his best Celtic game as he and a young Derek Whyte were impressive in containing the Rangers attack to help Celtic to a memorable 1-0 victory, especially late in the game when Celtic found themselves under huge pressure in the searing heat.

This proved to be Mick McCarthy’s last game for the Hoops. He’d enjoyed a terrific tournament at the 1988 European Championships with the Republic of Ireland, and when the French giants, Lyon, tempted Celtic with a £500,000 offer, the board decided it was too good to reject for a 30 year old going into the last year of his contract.

Mick crammed a lot into his two seasons at Celtic and was popular with the Celtic supporters. He was never the quickest, and could struggle against the likes of Kevin Gallacher and John Robertson, but what he lacked in speed he more than made up with in good positional sense, and he was strong in the tackle and good in the air. More importantly, he was a good organiser and motivator on the pitch. Somewhat surprisingly, he was suited to international football and was a great performer for Jack Charlton’s great Irish side for many years.

In later years Douglas Beattie was writing a book about Celtic’s 1987-88 centenary season successes. When he attempted to speak with Mick, who was then Wolves manager, he was rebuffed as Mick was always suspicious of the press. However, when he heard it was about Celtic, he was delighted to share a few hours reminiscing about his time in Glasgow at Parkhead and it was clear that he had thoroughly enjoyed his time as a Celt and still had great affection for the club.

Mick McCarthy can be proud of what he achieved with Celtic and is fondly remembered.