Mick McCarthy said the Ipswich Town fans who slated him during his time at Portman Road can now "enjoy watching the sexy football" in England's third tier after the club's limp relegation from the Championship.
McCarthy left the Tractor Boys under a cloud almost exactly a year ago, quitting during a post-match interview in which he labelled the crowd's reaction to his substitution of Clare native, 19-year-old Barry Cotter as "pathetic".
He'd been due to leave them at the end of the season anyway but quit after Jonas Knudsen's 54th-minute goal gave Ipswich a 1-0 win that left the team 12th in the table and above rivals Norwich on goal difference.
Now, they're preparing for life in League one, Paul Lambert's men having their fate sealed with a 1-1 draw against Birmingham on Saturday.
"I was doing a good job there," said McCarthy, who had been increasingly criticised for the style of football he adopted with the side.
"My job is to win games and staying in that league was my remit.
"I'm sad that they've gone down. Some of the lads are taking huge cuts in wages who were with me and who were brilliant for me. The staff, I've no doubt people will be losing their jobs because of it so that's going to be sad. It's a great club and pretty much most of their fans were brilliant with me.
"The ones that hounded me out... I hope they enjoy watching the sexy football in [League One]."
McCarthy, speaking at the launch of the SportsDirect FAI Summer Soccer Schools at the Aviva Stadium, attended the Dublin derby between Shamrock Rovers and Bohs at Tallaght Stadium on Tuesday night.
Although the game as a spectacle was somewhat ruined by the sending-offs of Hoops pair Trevor Clarke and Lee Grace, two players caught McCarthy's eye in the Gypsies' 1-0 win.
"I enjoyed the atmosphere," he said of his trip to Tallaght.
"It’s the best atmosphere I’ve seen at a game here. Both sets of fans were brilliant. Decisions changed the game. You see the Rovers team fighting with nine against 11. Bohs didn’t play particularly well then because of it because they didn’t want to lose.
"I’m there to watch players and they just don’t play the same when it’s 11 versus nine. It cocks the game up completely.
"Danny Mandroiu, I thought… he’s got something. Jack [Byrne] barely had a kick to be quite honest. He was chasing the ball most of the time, and I felt for him. I do like the 10 [Aaron McEneff]. He’s impressed me a couple of times for Rovers. I thought Bohs were doing well in the game but I don’t think they played as well with 11 versus nine as they did with 11 versus 11."
As that game was ongoing Shane Long was busy stealing the headlines, firing home the fastest goal in Premier League history [7.69 seconds] in Southampton's 1-1 draw at Watford.
"He can have a real impact because of his physical presence and his work rate and his power and pace," McCarthy said of the Tipperary man.
"But if he’s scoring goals as well then you’ve got a good player on your hands. His goal should be remembered for his deft finish, not just the fact he blocked the kick-off. His finish at the end of it was brilliant.
"It’s great to have him back. Callum Robinson is back scoring as well, David McGoldrick is scoring, Enda Stevens got a couple."
Pondering where he'd fit Long into team that looks a little deeper now in terms of attacking options, McCarthy joked: "If I told you that you’d be as wise as me. I’d have to kill you.
"He’s a striker isn’t he? Some chump said to me, ‘aw you’ve got to get two up front’. F**k off. We played two up front in Gibraltar and hardly had any shots. We played one, well three up front, here [against Georgia] and had far more chances and played better. It was just a different game, one team sitting in and making it hard, the other team pressing."
He also confirmed that he's had heard nothing from Leeds striker Patrick Bamford, who has shied away from throwing his weight in with Ireland and seems reluctant to do so.
"He told me he wanted to concentrate on his football so I let him do that and he wanted to [finish] his season because he'd been injured," McCarthy elaborated.
"He's no chance of being involved in the summer, because he hasn't got his passport or his papers or whatever it takes to do it. So the only chance he's got is if he tells me at the end of the season and it could be September, October [or] November."
