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Mick McCarthy has returned by surprise to the club’s leadership after taking over the Cypriot APOEL Nicosia, signing a contract until May 2022.
The 62-year-old has been out of work since leaving his post with the Republic of Ireland in April this year and has not worked at the club level since he was fired from Ipswich Town in 2018.
APOEL has confirmed that Terry Connor, who has served as McCarthy’s assistant in Wolves, Ipswich and the Republic of Ireland, has also been hired.
McCarthy’s new team has won the Cypriot title a record 28 times, but they are off to a poor start to the 2020-21 season, winning just two of their first six league games.
The club finished third in the table last season, earning a place in the Europa League, but was eliminated from competition in the final play-off stage by Slovan Liberec of the Czech Republic.
McCarthy’s assistant Terry Connor has also been hired by APOEL
A four-game winless streak marked the end for Greek coach Marinos Ouzounidis, who was the Nicosia team’s twelfth permanent coach since 2015.
A statement on the official APOEL website said of McCarthy and Connor: “We welcome you both to APOEL and want you to immediately help the team return to good and substantial performances so that it can meet its goals, which are to win titles. “.
APOEL’s current squad includes former Sheffield Wednesday striker Atdhe Nuhiu and former Chelsea player Ben Sahar, and McCarthy’s first game in charge will be against second-placed Ethnikos Achna on Saturday.
McCarthy began his managerial career at Millwall prior to his first stint as a manager for the Republic of Ireland between 1996 and 2002.
He then achieved promotion to the Premier League at both Sunderland and Wolves, remaining at Molineux for more than five and a half years before being fired in 2012.
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