Premier League 
/ Ralph Ellis / 13 February 2012 / Leave a Comment 
Mick McCarthy has been sacked following yesterday's 'sorry' performance
"Mick McCarthy has never said sorry for his team’s performance in 20 years as a manager but felt the need to do so after a humiliating 5-1 local derby defeat by West Brom."
When football should have been the main talking point, it was an incident at Old Trafford that made the headlines. Ralph Ellis explains why saying sorry, in most instances, doesn't usually work.
I'm reading Mike Calvin's brilliant fly-on-the-wall book recording a season behind the scenes at Millwall. There's a chapter where Steve Morison, struggling to find his feet after moving from non-League football, gets called into the manager's office after another game without a goal.
Kenny Jackett has been studying the DVD and noticed his centre forward smiling after a collision with the Wycombe defender who was having far too easy a time marking him. "What did you say to him?" asks Jackett. "I just said sorry," says Morrison. "Sorry?" queries his boss. "Sorry? You are Millwall's centre forward, you don't say sorry for anything. You tell him: 'you come near me again and I'll snap you in two.'"
It was the moment that turned Morison's attitude and career round, and he's now knocking people round in the Premier League for Norwich and on the international stage for Wales. He came on as sub in Saturday's 3-2 win at Swansea and presumably he wasn't saying sorry to anybody there, either.
So I wonder what he and Jackett, still fighting to keep the Lions in the Championship on a meagre budget, would have made of this weekend full of apologies. Luis Suarez and Kenny Dalglish were offering them yesterday - and so was Mick McCarthy.
The Wolves boss has never said sorry for one of his team's performances in 20 years as a manager but felt the need to do so after a humiliating 5-1 local derby defeat by West Brom. It dropped his club into the bottom three on goal difference and left them odds on at [1.76] to go down. And sorry might have been the hardest word but it didn't save him - Wolves announced this morning they had sacked him.
The truth is that saying sorry and success don't go together. Winners have that bit of steel that they don't care, and while I certainly don't approve of what Suarez did - or didn't do - at Old Trafford I do admire the nasty edge of arrogance which is one of the facets that make up any top sportsman.
Arsene Wenger never felt the need to explain himself when people were panning him for bringing back Thierry Henry. A last minute winner by the Arsenal legend at Sunderland on Saturday, his third in just 117 minutes of football, shifted the Gunners back into the top four and they are [2.56] to stay .
Blackburn manager Steve Kean has been every bit as resolute in the face of all that's been thrown at him. A lesser man might have admitted he was out of his depth long ago and walked away, but he has stubbornly kept on fighting. A 3-2 home win over QPR was a fantastic boost for him, although there are still trials to come - next up is away to Manchester City - and anything up to [8.8] to finish rock bottom still looks fantastic value.
Roberto Mancini's side continue to set the pace after Joleon Lescott's goal at Aston Villa yesterday secured a 1-0 win that maintained their two point lead over Manchester United. Alex McLeish must be wishing his defenders would stop saying sorry for failing to mark people at corners and start doing their jobs. Another set-piece goal was their undoing yesterday. Villa have not finished outside the top half since 2007 but are [3.0] to reach the top ten this time.
Meanwhile City boss Mancini is steadfastly refusing to back down over his insistence that Carlos Tevez must apologise before he can wear the shirt again. The signs are the Argentinian is ready to do that, and bringing his talent back to the squad would certainly increase the firepower of a club who are already [1.69] to land the title.
Spurs could still make it a three-horse race, of course, after demolishing Newcastle 5-0 in a White Hart Lane love-in for Harry Redknapp on Saturday night. Harry is now [1.4] to be the next England manager. Don't expect him to apologise for leaving - but Tottenham fans will be more than sorry to see him go.
Steve Bruce is being linked with a speedy return to management after Wolves decided to sack Mick McCarthy in the aftermath of their 5-1 home hammering against neighbours West Brom......
There were huge prizes up for grabs on Betfair if you correctly called the scorelines of the games involving Tottenham, Norwich, Everton, Brighton and Barcelona......
City won at Villa Park as Wolves were humilated at home by West Brom, a game that proved to be Mick McCarthy's last in charge......
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