Mick McCarthy returns to the Republic of Ireland dugout on Saturday for their Euro 2020 qualifier in Gibraltar.
The Irishman is back for a second spell with the Boys in Green after replacing the management team of Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane.
McCarthy and Keane were involved in a furious bust-up ahead of the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan that resulted in the then Manchester United star being sent home.
Clinton Morrison has lifted the lid on the the high-profile spat that rocked Ireland’s preparations.
“Roy wants things done professionally,” Morrison told talkSPORT .
(Image: Reuters)
“He was at Manchester United and he said when it comes to the World Cup, he wanted things done properly.
“But the first day we got to Saipan was a nightmare. Our kit went missing and the training facilities were not the best.
“If Roy waited a day, we went to a place called Chiba [near Tokyo, Japan] and it had the best facilities, the pitch was like a carpet. But he’d lost his head the day before, he’d gone mad.
“I used to get on with Roy. I used to like getting in his brain and I still speak to him now, I think he’s a wonderful guy. He told me: ‘Make sure you’re here not to make up the numbers, Clinton. You’re here to play.’
(Image: PA Photo:Kirsty Wigglesworth)
“We spoke for an hour and then we went for dinner and we always had a sing-song, so I’m there signing my Irish songs, as I do, and Mick comes in with a paper.
“Roy had obviously had a moan [to the press] about the facilities, and Mick said: ‘I told you not to do any interviews, so why have you done this?’
“Roy said: ‘I did an interview because I wanted to. The set-up, the surroundings, they have not been good enough’.
“They started arguing. I’m thinking, hang on a minute, our best player, the best player Ireland have probably produced for many, many years is there arguing with the manager and the whole squad is watching it.
(Image: PA Archive/PA Images)
“He said to Mick: ‘You were a bad player anyway, you had a rubbish first touch and you’re a poor manager. The only manager I respect is Sir Alex Ferguson‘.
“Then he said: ‘And you’re English, you’re not even Irish!’
“As soon as he said that, I think most people who were born in England put their head under the table. I know I did. I was thinking, please don’t come for me!
“I don’t know if it would have come to blows, but Roy was steaming!
“I think Mick could have done it in a different way, spoke to him one-on-one, because Roy was always ready to blow back then, always fighting things and always ready to go into one.
“They got separated and Roy stood there and said: ‘Go on, Mick. What are you going to do? Make a decision.’”
