Thought it might be enlightening to list some comments about McCarthy when he was twice manager of Ireland.

Ireland during the 2002 World Cup were described like this: "...overall very combative and excellent in the air, good team spirit, discipline and a compact and well-organised unit".

Weakness were: "They encountered problems when forced to dictate the tempo of the game; little variation when attacking; physically-draining game plan". Only one tactical change was identified but it was successful. (From a FIFA report).

Despite the plaudits for Jack Charlton, McCarthy has been hailed as the best manager Ireland has had. This, despite inheriting an ageing team that had to be dismantled and re-developed. He had a public spat with Roy Keane which, even if he could have dealt with it differently, at least showed that he feared no-one - or their reputation.

McCarthy also significantly developed Ireland’s style of football. While he was not averse to using a Niall Quinn or a Tony Cascarino-type figure as a target man when necessary, he also ensured Ireland were a team capable of playing attractive, attacking, passing football, even against some of the best sides in the world. In the 2002 World Cup, Ireland had 58% possession in comparison to Germany’s 42% over the duration of the 90 minutes. Against Spain in the last-16, they had 55% of the ball. Ireland have not played better football arguably before or since.

He had a second spell as Ireland's manager replacing Martin O'Neill. This was one appraisal: 'Ireland had a more identifiable tactical approach and more of a willingness to have a go than we had seen towards the end of O’Neill’s reign.

Even allowing for the fact that Ireland had home advantage and something tangible to play for, the marked difference in statistics between two meetings with Age Hareide’s Danish side a year apart were telling. The end result might have been the same but the difference in mood among the players and the public when you know a team is trying to win rather than escape with a draw should not be underestimated.'

His football philosophy at the time was summed up by one critic as: " McCarthy apparently wants to get through the game for as long as he can at 0-0 and the thinking is that it simplifies the task - score one goal and go for it for a shorter period where it's less likely that they'll punish you for opening up. But it's also less likely you'll score with less time. The fundamental principle though is to make sure you only have one goal to score. To do that, you have to make sure they don't score. To do that, you have to play the guys you can trust to do that dog work."

Before a match against the Swiss in 2019, McCarthy said, "(I) no apology for the aggressive style that the Republic of Ireland will employ in tonight's Euro 2020 qualifier with Switzerland.....if it's good enough for Manchester City and Liverpool, it will be good enough for (me)...(my) team will seek to press high and make life difficult for the visitors."