Football: YOU WON'T FORCE ME TO QUIT

MICK McCARTHY yesterday stood defiant and warned his critics that he would not be hounded out of his Republic of Ireland job.

But already the Football Association of Ireland is preparing contingency plans should Ireland slump to a defeat against Switzerland on Wednesday and McCarthy decide the pressure is too great to stay.

David O'Leary and John Aldridge are the names currently heading up an emergency shortlist if McCarthy's reign comes to a premature end.

The manager has come in for ferocious criticism over the past month following his team's 4-2 defeat by Russia in Moscow.

And leaks of his interest in the Sunderland manager's job last week have only served to weaken his standing with Ireland fans.

Sources close to McCarthy say he would accept a decent offer from a Premiership club like a shot.

The 43-year-old is said to be fed up with the continuing fall out following his sensational bust up with Roy Keane last summer.

But in public at least, he continues to insist that his heart is in the Ireland job.

"I'm not going to let other people's thoughts and opinions drive me out of the job. No way, that'll be my decision," he said.

"I feel a downer has been put on the team and myself. And the only way we can turn it around is to win games. it's a results business.

"I can take criticism but when it becomes personal about me, my character and what I'm like as a man, I do take that differently.

"In the early days a lot of the criticism was results based. If we lost a game, I would get criticised. That is part and parcel of the job and I accept it.

"But taking away one bad result, in Moscow last month, I like to think our results have been very impressive.

"But still the criticism continues from certain quarters and that is something I cannot understand.

"I don't normally read the papers, but I have done since the Russia game and I have been surprised by the personal nature of some of the things I have read.

"But we have a very important game on Wednesday. I am still aiming for top spot in the group."

McCarthy is still haunted by his bust-up with Keane, and yesterday one of his long-term confidantes begged him to change his mind.

Niall Quinn, in Dublin for the signing of his autobiography, urged Big Mac to let bygones be bygones.

"Ireland is too small a country for a feud like this. It shouldn't be a case of either McCarthy or Keane. Surely they can work it out at this point," he said.

"Ireland needs both of them. It's just sad that this continues to cast a shadow over the whole team."

Quinn also took the opportunity to take a swipe at his Sunderland and Ireland teammate, Jason McAteer.

An ugly Premiership bust up between Keane and McAteer earlier this season, saw the Manchester United skipper being sent off. But Quinn says that McAteer was more at fault than the Cork man.

"I saw Jason at Roy for the whole match, trying to get rise out of him. Obviously it worked in the end. It really saddened me to see two Irish men behaving like that," he says.

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