Mick McCarthy ‘It Can’ Meme: Saipan Feud and Career Explained

Anyone who has watched a football press conference spiral knows the feeling: a manager decides the only honest answer is two words. Mick McCarthy made that famous in 2013 with a deadpan “It can,” and the clip now trails a career with two Republic of Ireland tenures, a 2002 World Cup, and a Roy Keane falling-out that BBC Sport (football desk) recalls as one of the ugliest chapters in Irish football.

Total managerial career: 25+ years · Managing career highlights: Republic of Ireland (twice), Sunderland, Wolves, West Ham, Cardiff City, Ipswich Town · Major feud: Roy Keane (Saipan 2002) · Birthplace: Barnsley, England (7 February 1959) · Viral quote club: Ipswich Town (2013) · World Cup appearances as manager: 1 (2002)

Ten rows, one pattern: a career built on surviving chaos rather than collecting trophies.

What is Mick McCarthy known for?

Ask most fans today and they will say two words: “It can.” But the meme sits on top of a long, stubborn career, and the same deadpan delivery that made the clip famous shows up in every chapter of it.

Is Mick McCarthy a Leeds fan?

• Yes. McCarthy, born in Barnsley, has been open about supporting Leeds United.
• His dry Yorkshire humour fits the club’s self-image — the same traits that later powered his punditry.

Who has Mick McCarthy managed?

• Republic of Ireland (twice), Sunderland, Wolves, West Ham, Cardiff City, and Ipswich Town.
• The same career also includes a 2002 World Cup run that ended in a last-16 penalty shoot-out loss to Spain (The Conversation (academic analysis)).

No league titles sit on that list. What it does contain is a habit of walking into difficult situations and steadying them — and occasionally telling the world, in two words, exactly what is coming.

The pattern: McCarthy’s CV is not about trophies; it is about clean-ups, one crisis at a time, which is exactly why fans trust his deadpan read of a mess.

Who did Mick McCarthy manager when he said “It can”?

The clip that broke the internet’s brain came while McCarthy was manager of Ipswich Town. In a 2013 press conference, a journalist suggested a poor run could not continue; McCarthy paused and delivered two flat words.

How did the quote become a meme?

• “It can” turned a routine press conference into football folklore because it was so on the nose: a manager staring at an awful run and refusing the usual media comfort.
• Fans adopted the phrase as shorthand for “this is going to get worse before it gets worse.”

The clip outlived his time in the Ipswich dugout and became a badge of cynical, affectionate fandom — the full story is in Mick McCarthy It Can: Meme, Keane Fallout, Career Explained.

The implication: the internet did not discover McCarthy in 2013; it just found the most honest two-word answer in football history.

What happened between Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy?

The row that still dominates Irish football barstools began in May 2002 on the Pacific island of Saipan. Ireland’s squad had gone there to prepare for the World Cup in Japan and South Korea, and almost everything that could go wrong did.

The Saipan timeline

• The camp was criticised for a hard training pitch, missing equipment, and early sessions without balls or proper goalkeeping facilities (BBC News (UK state broadcaster)).
• Keane initially threatened to leave before being persuaded to stay, with Alex Ferguson reportedly among those who influenced him (ESPN (football analysis)).
• Keane gave interviews to The Irish Times’s Paul Kimmage and Tom Humphries during the camp (The Irish Times (Ireland’s newspaper of record)).
• The interview criticised Ireland’s preparation and intensified the dispute (BBC Sport (football desk)).
• McCarthy called a squad meeting after seeing the interview, and the confrontation took place in front of the Ireland players (ESPN (football analysis)).
• Keane was sent home from the training camp (BBC News (UK state broadcaster)).
• Ireland still reached the last 16, losing to Spain on penalties (The Conversation (academic analysis)).

Even the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, was reported to have offered help in resolving the dispute (The Irish Times (Ireland’s newspaper of record)).

Are Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy friends now?

• They have publicly reconciled; the exact state of the relationship today is private.
• The dispute divided public opinion across Ireland at the time (RTÉ (Ireland’s national broadcaster)).

The reported quote that became legend

• The line attributed to Keane — “I didn’t rate you as a player, I don’t rate you as a manager, and I don’t rate you as a person” — is repeated all over the internet.
• Looking back decades later, The Irish Post treats the exact wording as a reported quotation rather than a primary transcript (The Irish Post (Irish diaspora outlet)).

Does Mick McCarthy consider himself Irish?

Yes. McCarthy was born in Barnsley, England, but he has never let geography define him. His father was from Cobb, County Cork, and under the parentage rule he chose to play for Ireland.

Where in Ireland is the McCarthy family from?

• County Cork — specifically the Cobb area, according to McCarthy’s own account of his family roots.
• That connection made him eligible for Ireland under the “granny rule” used in his playing era.
• He represented Ireland as a player before later managing the national team twice.

Who is Mick McCarthy’s father?

• His father was from County Cork; public detail beyond that is limited.
• McCarthy has said he feels completely Irish, a line his own punditry now repeats with trademark deadpan.

The pattern: McCarthy has spent his whole career being read as an Englishman by some and an Irishman by others, and resolves it by insisting, flatly, that he is Irish.

Where is Mick McCarthy now?

McCarthy stepped away from the technical area in 2020 and walked into a second career as a pundit. He works regularly on RTÉ and with UK broadcasters, where his timing and bluntness made him an immediate fan favourite.

Where does Mick McCarthy live?

• He divides his time between Ireland and England; the precise split is private.
• His media work keeps him visible in both markets.

Who is Mick McCarthy’s wife?

• He is married, but keeps his family life deliberately out of the spotlight.
• The public record on his wife is thin, and that is by design.

What this means: for viewers, every appearance is a chance to watch a man who already said the shortest possible version of the truth — and now gets paid to keep saying it.

Timeline: from Barnsley to Saipan to “It can”

Eight dates, one throughline: a manager who kept getting up after being knocked down.

• 7 February 1959 — Born in Barnsley, England, to Irish parents.
• 1996 — Appointed manager of the Republic of Ireland.
• 2002 — Leads Ireland to the World Cup; the Saipan dispute with Roy Keane dominates the camp; Ireland reaches the last 16 and loses to Spain on penalties (The Conversation (academic analysis)).
• 2003 — Leaves the Republic of Ireland post.
• 2006–2012 — Manages Sunderland, Wolves, and West Ham.
• 2013 — The “It can” press conference at Ipswich Town goes viral.
• 2018–2020 — Second spell as Republic of Ireland manager.
• 2020–present — Retires from management and becomes a full-time pundit.

The pattern: every low point — Saipan, relegation scraps, a meme built on a bad run — became material for a more resonant public role.

What’s confirmed, what’s still unclear

The internet treats the whole McCarthy story as one funny clip, but the record has clear lines between what is established and what is embellished.

Why this matters: the meme is safe to enjoy; the history is worth getting right.

Quotes that defined the feud

Three lines tell most of the story: Keane’s fury, McCarthy’s deadpan, and the retrospective verdict.

“I didn’t rate you as a player, I don’t rate you as a manager, and I don’t rate you as a person.”

Roy Keane, as widely reported — exact wording contested by The Irish Post (Irish diaspora outlet)

“It can.”

Mick McCarthy, Ipswich Town press conference (2013)

“Vicious and unjust” — McCarthy’s later description of Keane’s tirade, quoted by RTÉ (Ireland’s national broadcaster)

Mick McCarthy, quoted by RTÉ

The takeaway: one man’s anger met a manager who refused to blink, and Irish football has been replaying that moment ever since.

The takeaway

Mick McCarthy’s “It can” is funny because it’s true, and his whole career has been a working demonstration that he means it. Saipan tested him in front of the world; the meme celebrated him after the fact. For Irish football fans who lived through 2002, the choice is clear: laugh at the two-word answer now, or stay locked in the 20-year argument — McCarthy himself chose the laugh years ago.

Frequently asked questions

The questions people keep asking when the clip resurfaces.