Soccer Premiership news: Mick McCarthy has been playing a waiting game. It was never going to be long before an opportunity arose, although it was from Fulham rather than Sunderland that he expected the call. Jean Tigana will not be offered new terms when his contract expires in the summer and, as always in these situations, the manager in waiting had been told the news before the manager himself.

That left McCarthy with a tough decision when Bob Murray, the Sunderland chairman, rang his mobile on Monday morning, but, even if there was a case for staying in London with his family, his mind was made up "in a couple of minutes". Fulham will have to look elsewhere.

The appointment of such a sleeves-up motivator will be embraced on Wearside at a time when Sunderland's toes are seemingly tagged for the relegation morgue.

Yet, this is a make-or-break moment in McCarthy's career, it being the first Premiership job for a man whose record signing, during four largely unremarkable years as Millwall's manager in the early 90s, was the £200,000 recruitment of Bobby Bowry from Crystal Palace.

To his supporters, he is the genial Yorkshireman who took the Republic of Ireland to the last 16 of the World Cup (having eliminated Holland in the qualifiers) without losing a match, the team eventually being eliminated by Spain in a penalty shoot-out.

"He will get the immediate respect of the players," said Niall Quinn, the recently retired Sunderland striker who worked under McCarthy throughout his eight-year tenure as Ireland manager.

"The bookies say Sunderland can't stay up, but Mick will give them a chance. He will bring a spark back. Something is needed that will lift not just the club but the city, as well. We need a manager who will fill the stands and get the fans going again. They need to believe. And Mick leads from the heart."

Robbie Keane, the Tottenham and Ireland striker, agrees. "When I wasn't playing (for Leeds) he always put me in the squad and had faith in me," he says. "He's always been there for me, professionally and personally. Even now, if I need advice, I'll go to Mick.

"You wouldn't think twice about ringing him and having a chat, whether it's about football or life in general. He's like a friend now, not just a manager I once worked with."

To Roy Keane's sympathisers, however, McCarthy is the joker who ostracised the one Irish player whose name can be prefixed with "world-class". His critics point out that he won only one match in the Far East, against Saudi Arabia, and notoriously failed to notice when Spain played with only 10 men for the whole of extra-time.

So much has been said about Saipan it feels like old news now, but not even Roy Keane could argue that McCarthy failed to inspire the rest of his players. The likes of Jason McAteer, Robbie Keane and Kevin Kilbane were out of favour at their clubs during the World Cup qualifying campaign, but exhilarating for the national team.

Damien Duff, Matt Holland and Gary Breen were among the tournament's outstanding players.

Yesterday, in Sunderland, supporters were expecting a similar feat of inspiration. Steve Cram, the BBC presenter and former world 1,500-metre champion, said: "What's wanted now is a forthright, straight-talking guy, and Mick McCarthy seems a good choice.

"He knows quite a few of the players and I think he's probably what the club needs."

That view was echoed by Terry Royce, who runs the Redandwhitebarmy website. "If the worst happens and we get relegated we will have a manager who knows how to wheel and deal without big funds at his disposal," he said. "There will be few empty seats on Saturday against Bolton and McCarthy can expect a rousing reception."

The rumour goes that Murray was actually ringing Howard Wilkinson for his opinion about McCarthy succeeding Peter Reid when the FA's then technical director offered his own services.

McCarthy had made it clear he wanted the job, something that prompted allegations of treachery from his critics in Ireland and contributed to the Irish fans booing him at Lansdowne Road .

He is a far more sensitive man than his gruff exterior often portrays and his wife Fiona fears he may never recover from the emotional scars post-Saipan.

"I will be walking down the street as an old man," McCarthy said recently. "I'll be carrying a walking stick, no hair, no teeth and someone will say: 'There's that bollix who rowed with Roy Keane.' I have to accept that."

Today, however, is the first day of the rest of his life.