‘You f***ing clown’ – Mick McCarthy reveals team-mate lost it with him after awkward communication blunder
MICK MCCARTHY has revealed that former France boss Raymond Domenech once had a pop at him due to their language barrier.
The ex-Prem boss, 66, spent the 1989-90 season with Lyon during his playing career.
During that campaign he played under Domenech.
Having spent his career prior to then in England and Scotland, McCarthy‘s French wasn’t exactly fluent.
And this led to an issue with his goalkeeper, Francois Lemasson.
Recounting the incident, McCarthy said on the EFL Unfiltered podcast: “For anyone who speaks French, I’m sorry if this isn’t right.
“We’re playing and (the goalkeeper) shouts ‘Degagez vous’ and I think he’s coming for the ball. He doesn’t come for the ball and the guy I’m stood with heads it in the net.
“So after the game, Raymond Domenech asks me ‘What happened?’. Everyone else is standing around talking French, probably saying it was my fault.
“The keeper comes up to me and says ‘J’ai dit’ – which is ‘I said’ – ‘J’ai dit degagez vous’ he says, and I said, ‘I don’t know what f***ing degagez vous means. You f***ing clown.
“Apparently it means ‘clear it’ – I was going to clear it, he didn’t have to tell me to clear it.
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“So anyway, that was my fault.”
McCarthy also revealed that Domenech decided to sign him after watching him get sent off.
The Yorkshireman said: “We (Republic of Ireland) had a great tournament.
“We beat England, we drew with Russia and we lose to Holland to that deflected goal.
“They (Lyon) had seen me play (for Ireland at Euro 1988). Raymond Domenech comes to watch me then playing for Celtic, playing against Hearts. It was one of the games I got sent off.
“It was one of those ones, it was a bad tackle and I came in for the melee.
“Raymond Domenech loved it. I didn’t know he’d come to watch me then, but he came to watch me in the (1988-89) Cup Final and he told me… he loved my passion, and he’d seen me play for Ireland.”
McCarthy played just 10 games for Lyon before returning to British football in 1990.
Following an initial loan spell, the Ireland international signed permanently for Millwall.
Two years later he launched his managerial career with the Lions, going on to spend the next 30 years in the dugout with the likes of Wolves, Ipswich and the Republic of Ireland.