Mick McCarthy to leave Ipswich at end of season by mutual consent

FROM a cold, hard, business perspective, Mick McCarthy and Ipswich Town were a match made in heaven.

Here was a guy who could virtually guarantee Championship survival - and perhaps even more with a bit of luck – on a shoestring budget.

The season they made the play-offs in 2015, losing to arch-rivals Norwich in the semi-finals, the most McCarthy spent on a player was £100,000 to take Freddie Sears from nearby Colchester.

No wonder owner Marcus Evans liked him so much.

Evans had splashed the cash in the first five years of his tenure and got nowhere, with the likes of Roy Keane failing to make a return on his boss’ relatively sizeable investments.

With McCarthy, Evans knew he could scale back the spending and still annually retain Championship status, a bit like how Arsene Wenger used to deliver Champions League football every year despite modest outlays.

The one problem was the football was, to put it kindly, not great to watch.

The last five home games have seen the team score no goals.

Couple that with the fact that the seasonal ambition of Ipswich – club that have had their fair share of years in the Premier League – became just to stay up, and fans soon became frustrated.

That led to attendance drop-offs and calls for a change at the top.

And when McCarthy appeared to swear in the direction of his own fans at Norwich last month – though he denied afterwards his obscenity was aimed at them, before later apologising – it felt like the beginning of the end.

Five and a half years is a hell of a long time for any manager to stay in one job these days and for that McCarthy deserves tremendous credit.

But this did feel the right time to say goodbye.

Now Town fans can appreciate Mick for what he is and what he has done for them over the final few weeks of the season, safe in the knowledge that a new regime is one its way.

But investment is badly needed for whoever comes next.

This team has been crafted in the image of McCarthy, full of grafters low on technical quality but high on work rate.

To expect them suddenly to produce champagne football risks doing a Birmingham post Gary Rowett.

Unless Evans gets his cheque-book out again for the new man, I fear Town next season could be in the relegation battle McCarthy so consistently managed to avoid.