Former Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy has made a surprise return to football, making a deal to become the new Cypriot side boss APOEL Nicosia
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Former Sunderland and Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy has made a surprise return to football with APOEL Nicosia
The 62-year-old has accepted on the Cypriot side until May 2022 and will work again with assistant Terry Connor, relaunching a partnership seen at Wolves, Ipswich Town and with the Irish national team
McCarthy has left football since leaving his post with Ireland in April and has not worked at club level since his dismissal by Ipswich in May 2018
APOEL has won the Cypriot national title 28 times but had a poor start to the season and was eliminated from the Europa League play-offs by Slovan Liberec
Former coach Marinos Ouzounidis was shown the exit door after a four-game winless streak, and McCarthy becomes the club’s 13th permanent coach since 2015
A club statement on the APOEL website reads: « We wish them both at APOEL and we want them to immediately help the team return to good and substantial performance so that » she can achieve her goals, which are to win titles »
McCarthy was named Howard Wilkinson’s successor at Sunderland in March 2003, but was unable to stop the Black Cats’ slide in the championship
Sunderland suffered a painful penalty shootout loss to Crystal Palace in the playoffs, but won the title the following season
However, the Black Cats struggled to return to the top flight and McCarthy was sacked after a three-year stint in the dugout
Mick McCarthy, APOEL FC, Ipswich Town FC, Cyprus, Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, Republic of Ireland National Football Team, Cypriot First Division
World News – UK – Mick McCarthy appointed new boss of APOEL Nicosia
