On This Day (27th March 2004): "We have won FA," McCarthy warns!
03/27/2025 02:00 AM
With an FA Cup semi-final showdown with Millwall on the horizon, Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy was keen to stress that people shouldn't get too carried away!
Things were looking good for Sunderland on this day in 2004, with the team having just beaten George Burley's Derby County 2-1 at the Stadium of Light with goals from John Oster and Tommy Smith.
This had solidified Mick McCarthy's team position in the play-offs with automatic promotion still a possibility. Additionally, the team had gone on an inspired FA Cup run, which had brought them to the semi-finals where they were going to face Dennis Wise's Millwall at Old Trafford.
The ongoing murmurings around the team were a sudden sense of expectancy that the team would defeat Millwall and reach an FA Cup final. This was because of Millwall's lowly position, Sunderland's form in league and cup, and possibly given that the team were a bigger club than their London counterparts.
Mick McCarthy was keen to quash this talk in the lead-up to the game and was keen to stress that the team had won nothing yet.
Speaking to the press after our win over Derby on this day, the Irishman stated there was still a long way to go before we could celebrate anything.
We're going to have two or three days off this week.
It's a game coming up and I don't want anyone treating it like it's something special. The final would be special, but this is a semi-final.
If some people want to do something different and celebrate it, fine.
But I don't think there's sweet FA to celebrate yet. We haven't reached the final and we haven't made the play-offs or won promotion.
It puts me off when people start treating it like a gala event. It's just a semi-final, but one we really want to win.
McCarthy's hesitancy to get involved in any talk of success just yet was good foresight on his behalf, given the dramatic events that would not only occur the following weekend but with the end to the season, the team would experience.
As we all recall, Old Trafford ended up being one of those 'Sunderland' days where the team were beaten when it mattered most.
This was our introduction to Milwall's Tim Cahill, who would continue to punish us for years to come.
Additionally, our league position would also end up in disappointing circumstances where Crystal Palace would agonisingly beat us on penalties to break our hearts at the Stadium of Light.
It was almost as if McCarthy could see into the future. Luckily for us, we would make amends the following season.
