What have the managers said?
Middlesbrough manager Neil Warnock:
"[Mick] was my apprentice at Barnsley. He was the same old Mick McCarthy back then. He could play a bit.
"He did my boots for a year - not very well.
"You couldn't have got anybody better at Cardiff, I spoke to him and said 'you've got a great group of lads'.
"It will be interesting seeing those message boards, all those who wanted pure football.
"When we played them last year, when they'd changed their style, I'd never seen so many long throws and free-kicks.
"It doesn't bother Mick.
"When I was at Cardiff he was one of the panels as a pundit on the TV. I was getting criticism about the style, he said that's rubbish, there are no laws or legislation, what's the hassle? He's winning games.
"It's appropriate he's got the group and they're winning every game
"Especially how he left Ipswich. The grass isn't always greener, they haven't pulled up any trees and neither have Republic of Ireland."
Cardiff City manager Mick McCarthy:
“He is a good mate of mine, Warny [Warnock]. Obviously for 90 minutes on Saturday he won’t be and it will be the same feeling for him.
"We are very similar in how we see things."
"Thanks to Neil, I am at Cardiff today, but all that goes out the window tomorrow, for ninety minutes we will be up against each other, then afterwards, the best of pals."
“He’s always been bright and innovative in the way he plays.
“If we come off on Saturday and I say to him ‘that was a nice game Neil, you’re really pleasant to play against’, I think he’d be as off as I would be.
“That’s not going to be the case.
“We have to recover, travel and get up there, and I know we’ll be expecting a really tough game because they got beaten by Bristol City so they will be wanting reaction.”
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