Piers Morgan and Mick McCarthy engaged in a light-hearted war of words as they re-opened an old feud dating back almost 17 years ago – with the former labelled a ‘w****r’ on Monday.
McCarthy was a guest on Morgan’s Sports Uncensored show as they reviewed England’s World Cup quarter-final win over Norway before previewing Wednesday’s semi-final showdown with Argentina.
However, while speaking about Jude Bellingham’s and Thomas Tuchel’s contrasting views in the aftermath of beating Norway, attentions quickly turned to a sticking point between Morgan and McCarthy.
The incident in question stems from McCarthy’s time as Wolves manager on December 15, 2009 when he chose to rest 10 outfield players during a midweek 3-0 Premier League defeat at Manchester United.
McCarthy decided to rotate the team after a 1-0 win at Tottenham three days before and was later vindicated that following weekend with a 2-0 win over Burnley and by ultimately avoiding relegation at the end of the season.
However, staunch Arsenal fan Morgan was unhappy with McCarthy’s approach with his side competing with United in the title race at the time. His mood was worsened as a day after Wolves’ loss, Arsenal were held to a 1-1 draw at Burnley.
Piers Morgan (left) and Mick McCarthy clashed on air as they rehashed a long-standing feud
As Morgan, 61, quipped that McCarthy knows he was right in his criticism of him at the time, the 67-year-old replied: ‘You’re never right, mate! You just antagonise people with your comments, which you’re doing on this show quite clearly.
‘My job is to win games. We went to Spurs the Saturday before, we won 1–0 with about 35 per cent possession. We’ve got Manchester United on the Tuesday. I went there, I dropped 10 players. I have a squad of 22. If I’m a manager, it’s my right to manage that team how I see fit and get results.’
‘And it’s my right as an Arsenal fan who was directly impacted by it,’ replied Morgan.
‘Because you weren’t good enough!,’ retorted McCarthy. ‘Because you weren’t good enough to win the title, and Sir Alex [Ferguson] won it again. And you weren’t good enough, so you blame me, which is real bad on your part.’
In response, Morgan said: ‘Now I know what Roy Keane’s problem was!’ alluding to McCarthy’s infamous spat with Keane which saw his then-Republic of Ireland captain leave their 2002 World Cup squad in Saipan, Japan before the tournament had begun. ‘Just to be clear: by dropping 10 players, you let United walk all over you, which had a direct impact on my team’s chances of winning the league. I thought that was an appalling abrogation of your duty as a manager to entertain the fans with the best available team.’
Morgan allowed himself a laugh before McCarthy continued his defence: ‘Let me clear you up. My duty was to beat Burnley on the Saturday. And we did. And from Tottenham away, Manchester United away, and Burnley at home, I took six points out of nine. I thought it was a fantastic piece of management work!’
After being accused of throwing ‘the white flag of surrender’, McCarthy refuted those claims adding: ‘We stayed up! We stayed up. The club got £100million. My chairman at the time wasn’t happy when we got beat at Manchester United, but when they got the £100m at the end of the season, let me tell you, he was deliriously happy!’
With co-host Simon Jordan caught in the middle of the debate, Morgan asked McCarthy: ‘How would you have felt if it had been completely reversed, and Arsenal had a game which, if they won, it meant you would have stayed up, right? And we rested the entire first-team squad and got beaten 2–0? How would you have felt then? Be honest.’
As the debate wore on, McCarthy called Morgan a ‘w****r’ to which they both laughed about
Morgan also found it funny after being called a ‘b***h’ as he called out McCarthy’s hypocrisy
‘I’m going to moan like a b***h, like you do!’ McCarthy replied as all three burst into laughter, to which a chuckling Morgan said: ‘Exactly! Exactly! There it is. There’s the hypocrisy!’
As both continued to see the funny side, they finally aligned on one thing as McCarthy agreed: ‘There we are right there, we’re all hypocrites! And I’ll be honest.’
As the disagreement ends on a positive note between the pair, McCarthy ends it on how happy he is to cross paths with Morgan for one reason.
‘I’ve been waiting how many years? 15 years to say it. You know, I’ve been waiting 15 years to call you a wanker, so happy days!’ he concludes that debate in a deadpan manner – to the hilarity of Morgan.
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