AS transitions go, the appointment of Mick McCarthy to succeed Jack Charlton ought to make it a reasonably seamless one. Changes there will be, but the boat should not be rocked unduly and at least they will be made by a familiar face who is familiar with everything and everybody around him.
Hence, there was inevitable satisfaction with the official start of a new era in Irish football yesterday. Phil Babb, one of the new kids on the block barely two years ago, who will now become one of the pillars of the new team, welcomed the FAI's choice.
"I think of all the candidates he's probably from an Irish point of view the best qualified. When you consider the rival claims of the likes of Harry Bassett, I think Mick's the man. He'll do a good job. He's been around for 10 years as an international player and he was a great servant to the Irish team. He knows what it's all about and I think he'll do alright."
McCarthy has intimated that there will be a change in style more in tune with the modern game. As his successor himself admitted, the Charlton way was ultimately confounded by European opposition which benefited from refereeing diktats which almost made the game a non contact sport.
Babb, himself being inculcated with the passing style at Liverpool under Roy Evans, also welcomes some modifications on the old way. "I would have thought there will be. Mick's got the lads at Millwall playing attractive football, which is what's needed at international level now. The past few results would justify that claim. Ever since the Liechtenstein game, I wouldn't say it all went sour but a different approach might have produced better results."
The timing of the new appointment and the prospect of perhaps as many as five friendlies by the season's end, before the start of the 1998 World Cup qualifying campaign, provides an ideal opportunity to expand the team's style.
"I'm sure Mick will relish the challenge," said Babb, who expressed the belief that "the sooner the lads get together with Mick the better, perhaps for a weekend get together when the English league programme is called off to accommodate an English friendly. It would be good to get us together again as quickly as possible, and then we can all talk to Mick one on one.
Kevin Moran, a former teammate of McCarthy but ultimately his closest rival for the Republic's managerial reins, did not attempt to completely disguise his disappointment, but was first obliged to declare "I would like to wish Mick the best and every success in the job."
As Moran saw it "The most important thing is that we qualify for the World Cup in France. That was why I went for the job, to try and get us to France. More so than the disappointment of not getting the job myself, that's what I fervently wish for now. And whoever got the job shouldn't even look for any more than that."
By extension therefore, Moran refutes the notion that McCarthy should have received more than a two year endorsement. That's all he would have wanted. "If you didn't qualify for the World Cup then you shouldn't even be entitled to an extension to a two year contract. Whereas if you do qualify for the World Cup finals, then a new contract goes without saying.
As for his own position, Moran is not inclined to change tack in seeking to cut his teeth in club management, maintaining that "club football is not necessarily any preparation for managing at international level. Look at Graham Taylor. He was the classic example of why one doesn't necessarily follow the other."
Nor therefore, would he be inclined to accept the prospective role of full time manager to the Republic of Ireland under 21 side. "I wouldn't be interested. When you aim for the top job then you don't settle for something less than that. That's what wanted, to manage the full senior team." Moran also argues that the under 21 job should not be seen as a stepping stone to the senior team.
For all of the above and more, Moran maintains that McCarthy's experience as a player will now be more valuable to him than his tenure as manager at first division Millwall. "He gained an awful lot of experience through his 57 international caps. When you look at a club manager, he's dealing with a completely different class of player and a completely different sort of game.
I honestly believe that what Mick has done at Millwall is no guarantee of success at international level, but having said that, I believe he will do very well and 1 hope he does. I want nothing more than for Ireland to qualify for France.
"It will help that he's coming into it with a great group of players. We should qualify but certainly it will require hard work, providing we knuckle down to it. And Mick is quite good at that. He'll be good at making sure there'll be no lazy attitude. Mick, will make sure that there will be no complacency, which I felt did happen in the latter stages of the last European qualifying campaign.
Moran was touted as a nominal assistant to McCarthy by a teammate of both in their playing days, John Aldridge, who said that "Kevin is the perfect man to be Mick's right hand man. They stood beside each other in defence for Ireland for long enough."
"At this stage that's up to Mick," said Moran. "I wouldn't be presumptuous as to start touting myself for the job. But my door would be open if he wanted" to talk to me. I would be interested to hear in his way of playing and whether we would think alike. But that is a decision that" only Mick McCarthy can make."
It's also unlikely that McCarthy will choose anyone other than his, assistant at Millwall, Ian Evans.
The aforementioned, notional change of style is something that Moran welcomes. "Mick has intimated that he will change the team's style and I'm totally delighted with that. The hardest period will be the time it takes to adapt to that change.
"The most difficult period for Mick will be the first few months. There will be a lot of friendly games to play and they are going to be tough games to play. The results mightn't always go our way but if they don't go well, it's important the head doesn't drop for him and that he still believes in the way he wants the game to be played.
"There is bound to be a period of adjustment but I believe that by the time the World Cup qualifying campaign comes around, it will be nicely adjusted."
Not surprisingly no one expressed more confidence and gave McCarthy a more ringing endorsement than his predecessor.
"Mick's the right man for the job," said Charlton last night. "For me he was a real motivator a driver of men the type the team has been lacking. But don't fall into the trap that just be he was my Captain Fantastic he will want to play the game exactly as I did. He was never a pretty player himself but I know he always felt we could have got the ball down and played a bit more.1 We argued about that.
"The game is a bit different nowadays. As a team we struggled to adjust to the change, but Mick will put a few new ideas into the set up. He knows the players and think it is a good thing that they haven't brought somebody from the outside into it instead. If he, ever needs my help, he knows I will be sitting by the phone."
Paul McGrath, who soldiered with McCarthy for seven years and saw service with him in the 1988 European Championship finals as well as the World Cup in Italy two years later, said he was delighted with the appointment.
"Many people have said that it will be impossible for anybody to follow Jack Charlton in the job, but if anybody has a chance of doing it, it has to be Mick McCarthy," he said.
"He is a born leader of men as he proved so often when he was playing. I can vouch for that at first hand.
On the question of the likely tactics which McCarthy would employ, McGrath said "He'll have just as much self belief as Jack, but I think he'll do it differently. As a player, he took no prisoners, but since taking charge of Millwall they have become a very attractive team."
