Mick laughs off ‘brutal’ claim

Oct 14 2009 by Bill Howell, Birmingham Mail

MANAGER Mick McCarthy has laughed off Stefan Maierhofer’s assessment of his training regime as “brutal” and insisted that tackling will remain very much on the menu.

The Austrian striker, who moved from Rapid Vienna in August, has spoken of his difficulty in coming to terms with the physical requirements of life at Molineux.

He was quoted as saying: “People get stuck into you in brutal fashion during training. I need to wear shinpads all the time – otherwise I’d have had my leg broken by now.”

But McCarthy found the comments nothing more than trifling.

“I’m not bothered about it to be honest,’’ he said. “It’s possibly been lost in translation a little bit, although he speaks good English.

“They all go away on World Cup duty and people ask them stuff.

“It starts off as: ‘send reinforcements, we’re going to advance’ and ends up as ‘centre in, we’re going to a dance’.

“But we do tackle and we do wear pads every day.”

McCarthy says Maierhofer’s attitude has been exemplary since his move, with the 6ft 7in forward never once complaining to him about any aspects of training.

“Let me tell you, he hasn’t got a problem because he doesn’t mind a tackle himself. If I’d seen a six-foot-seven-and-a-half striker walk in here, he would be getting tackled – by me.

“It’s the way we train. It’s not the same as at other clubs but that’s just the way we are.

“It’s not the norm at all clubs. He’s come in and he’s seen a difference, but he’s embraced it. He hasn’t been whingeing about it. He hasn’t got a problem at all. He trains like the rest of them and I’m pleased with him.

“I haven’t got a problem with him. He hasn’t said to me ‘gaffer we tackle too hard’.

“He’s saying it as it is. We wear pads and we tackle. Anybody who doesn’t like that – don’t bother coming.”