'I went mental...' - Mick McCarthy opens up on furious moment as Sunderland boss after major setback
The manager guided Sunderland to promotion in 2005, but not before a huge disappointment.
Former Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy has revealed that he went “mental” with midfielder Jeff Whitley following his penalty miss in the 2003/04 Championship play-off semi-final.
The Black Cats saw their promotion hopes come to a cruel end in front of their home crowd at the Stadium of Light as the Northern Ireland international had his timid spot kick saved against Crystal Palace, ultimately ensuring that the Eagles went on to contest the final for a spot in the Premier League.
And while McCarthy has sung Whitley’s praises, he has also admitted that the red mist very much descended in the immediate aftermath of Sunderland’s setback. Speaking on an episode of the Undr The Cosh podcast, he said: “It's strange to say now, [Whitley was] not as technically gifted and as good a footballer, but I know who you’d want on the pitch in the Championship. You could trust him, certainly on the pitch - except for taking penalties in the play-offs, of course...
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“I remember, because I went mental afterwards at the way he took the penalty. Not for missing, it was the way he took it. We'd been taking them in training, and everybody stood up, and I said, ‘Whatever you do, just make sure you hit it, good contact, stick your head down, whatever you do...’. And of course he runs up and he's looking at the keeper, and he goes and chips it right into the keeper's hands, and it's like, ‘Oh no!’ and we lose it. I went mental at him, I have to say, I rang him and apologised for me ranting to him afterwards.”
McCarthy added: “It was funny - well, it wasn't funny - because I went in the little room, the coaching room, and somebody gave me a cup of tea, and I threw it at the wall, and there was a great big dint in the wall, and I remember them coming in saying, ‘We'll repair that for you, Mick, don't worry’. I said, ‘You leave that. Leave it as it is, and when we get promoted next year, you can repair it.’ Anyway, we did, thankfully, and we got it repaired, but I think I was saying it more in hope than believing it at the time, but anyway, there was always this big dint in my office, if you like, where we used to go.”
Despite missing out on promotion in 2004, Sunderland would bounce back to storm the Championship the following season, winning the division and leading second-placed Wigan Athletic by some seven points.