Mick McCarthy has blasted the decision to name Declan Rice as the Republic of Ireland’s young player of the year.
The FAI announced that the 20-year-old would be given the award earlier this week, despite deciding to switch his international allegiance to represent England recently.
And Ireland boss McCarthy has admitted that he is not too pleased with the decision.
As quoted in the Mirror, he said: “I wouldn’t have given it to him. Would I heck! Initially, I said it should be given to someone that deserves it, and that was wrong, but he was playing and if he was the best player, then he deserved it.
“In my view, the decision should have been changed and the award given to someone who would really appreciate it. He is not going to appreciate it. He probably feels slightly embarrassed by it.
“I would rather there was not an award that to give it to him. I said that if there is no one else, then don’t give the award.”
OPINION
You can understand McCarthy’s indignation over the decision to award Rice the title. Calling a spade a spade, what does it actually achieve to give him the accolade? All it really does is make the FAI look desperate, remind everybody that they have lost one of the brightest young talents in the English game, and probably mortify Rice in the process. It would have been better to just give it somebody else, but now that the cat is out of the bag, how can they atone for the shocking lack of judgement? Rescinding the award would look bitter, but to push ahead and hand it, especially when it has been announced that Rice will not be attending the ceremony to collect the accolade, will look a little bit tragic. It really is a catch 22, and one entirely of the governing body’s own making. At this point they have to just own their error, push on with the ceremony as planned, and hope that people don’t make them a laughing stock for too long afterwards.