Analysis/Mark Lawrenson 'Qualifying for the World Cup was as big an achievement as that of any Irish manager.'

I saw Mick McCarthy last Thursday night at the Celtic v Blackburn game and I knew then it was over, so yesterday's news came as no surprise. He was completely fed up, you could see it in his eyes, he just said "that's it", it was past the point of no return. The crowd reaction after the Switzerland game, the general opinion in Ireland, the reaction to the whole Roy Keane business. . . he felt very hard done by, felt really down, he'd had enough.

His intention was to try to stay on, but the job had become impossible. By the sounds of the reaction to the news it seems as if some of his so-called "enemies" feel almost sorry for him now - and they should do.

In his tenure as manager he has got his players to over-achieve on a fabulously consistent basis and his results have been better than anyone before him and, probably, anyone who will succeed him. I have tremendous sympathy for him because I honestly believe he has gone for non-footballing reasons.

I think, though, that he will feel relief to be out of it, even if he will feel hard done by at the hands of a certain section of the Irish media - he's a Yorkshire boy, he's stubborn, he'll feel "bugger, I've let them win".

Only he will know, when he looks himself in the mirror, whether he could have done any more, and I don't honestly think he could.

In his time as manager we've had one world class player - who's unavailable, anyway, at the moment - two or three very good players, one or two good ones, and the rest? Average. Qualifying for the World Cup was as big an achievement as that of any Irish manager.

He said himself that the day he turfed Roy Keane out would haunt him forever, and he's been right. What followed was a McCarthy witch-hunt, and that was the end. There's no doubt from day one there was a section of the Irish press that didn't like him. For me though, whether you liked him or loathed him, you couldn't argue with his results and that was all anyone was entitled to judge him on.

Much has been written - and will be again - about the Saipan business, but Mick did exactly the right thing when he discovered his best player had no interest in playing for him. All these people who say he was glad Keane went home, well, he might have been glad that Keane the person went home, he certainly wasn't glad that Keane the player left.

Mick's initial 18 months were a real learning curve and he made some mistakes, which he admitted to - he tried different formations and it took him a while to realise that 4-4-2 was the way to go. But I honestly believe he did really, really well. I used to say about Jack Charlton that if Plan A didn't work he reverted to Plan A - with Mick we had a Plan B and, at times, a Plan C, and we played as good football as we did under anybody.

The greatest praise you can give him is that on a regular basis he got players to play above themselves, and as a manager you can't do any better than that. Yes, you can say that at the end he was a little bit too loyal to one or two players, but in the greater scheme of things that didn't mean a lot. He will be remembered, primarily, for qualification for the 2002 World Cup, which was just an outstanding achievement.

He'll have no problem getting a job in England. Over here they cannot believe some of the things that have been written and said in Ireland. People here, after the World Cup, said "Christ, didn't he too well" and you said "Christ, you'd want to be in Ireland - they think he's hopeless."

He'll get mentioned in connection with most jobs, his star certainly isn't on the wane.

There's no one outstanding candidate as a successor - I, personally, would look at Joe Kinnear, John Aldridge, who seems to be the big tip at the moment, and Peter Reid, possibly with Niall Quinn as his assistant.

But there's no rush to do anything - you never know who might become available in the next couple of months.

Roy? He plays next time, doesn't he? It's written. The team desperately need him - I don't agree for a moment with what he did in Saipan, but he has to come back and play. Blank sheet of paper, everyone starts again.

Mick? Yeah, to be honest, I'm fed up about it all because I think he did a really good job - his results will stand against anyone's and that's what I'm miffed about. All managers' reigns come to an end, but for me this one has ended for non-footballing reasons. Tell you what, though - he can walk away and say, proudly, "I did a bloody good job".