McCarthy draws a line under striker row

Aug 6 2007 By Paul Berry, Birmingham Mail

MICK McCarthy has suggested he will take no further action against Jay Bothroyd following the striker's gesture after scoring in Saturday's friendly defeat against Reading.

Bothroyd, frustrated at being on the fringes of the first team line-up going into the new season, came off the bench to score in the 3-2 defeat before pointing towards McCarthy, an action which saw him immediately substituted.

"Jay says it wasn't meant towards me but I think it was," said McCarthy. "I've said to him, and the team, that I don't care where we are in the league or how we're doing I will not accept something like that.

"He scored a good goal and then made a gesture, so I made another one - I took him off.

"Let me tell you, I know these things happen and it's borne out of frustration.

"Perhaps Jay thinks he should be playing. But I'm scratching my head because if you think you should be playing going on and scoring is usually enough to suggest to the manager that you should be in the team.

"If he goes on and scores 20 goals this season, and does that every time, he'll be on the bench a lot.

"That's it though, finished. It won't affect my relationship with him, he's still one of my players and it's been dealt with."

Bothroyd declined to comment after the game other than to insist he didn't mean anything by the gesture.