they will say one thing to the media, if it suits them.
Well, reading Carew's interview, it was obvious that he had a special relationship with O'Neill (though he has always, as we know, been one of O'Neill's favourites, so that may be why).
As he said when asked why they had such a great relationship:
He also said that players who were not playing, but felt they should be playing, would not mind a new manager, but he had never gotten any champagne text messages and suggested to take what the papers said with a pinch of salt.
BTW, good post from OP.