I think the attendance is a hangover from last season jonny, it's going to take a !ong time to repair the damage caused by the embarrassingly bad standard of play both home and away we had to witness last season, but fair play to Town we now have goal scorers who will keep us in the game and a keeper who gains us points with incredible saves.
Good result, think we may beat Wolves, its the kinda game we will go win but then lose a stupid game and undo all the good work! Still think we will end up outside the top ten and still want MM out but credit where its due...
If you think we are in a right mess then just look at Birmingham! This time last year they were sitting 6th under Rowett and had just beaten us. The next day they sacked him and now look where they are! I have a great deal of respect for what Mick has achieved under severe financial restraints but that's not to say that I loathe his attitude towards football and the fans in particular.
Yeah terrible that Warky - that said, the club have realised they've cocked up on season tickets this season so not a lot they can do now unfortunately - allowed 4 promo games and that's the lot. They cannot start doing £10-£20 games or change the pricing structure unfortunately. THAT SAID - they have reduced match day prices somewhat this season, and even when they did do £10 for Forest per one season ticket holder promo it didn't do a lot. For what it's worth, I honestly feel this is it for Mick. I get the hate, I get the love. I get it all. However, on the basis we've got 11 or whatever home games left, we're two points off the play offs ( Hope you're right re next Sat Spanish, would be superb ) then it's really over to us, the consumer to fill Portman Road this season. Clearly a lot of unhappy people for a magnitude of reasons - however, if you're boycotting the club until Mick goes, perhaps Evans leave you're perhaps missing out on a decent season. It's clear as day if we somehow make the play off semis Portman Road will be 28700 - 29200 - whatever the capacity is allowed these days so people will be back on force and get behind the side then. Our away numbers have held up pretty firm though!
I agree JWM. If you look at the playing squad and points we've achieved under Mick you can't complain he's done a great job. I'm just fed up of the boring negative football, he takes the fun out of it. Even recently we've had some good wins but we've played like the away team. I heard some pundits comparing Mourinho and Guardiola the other day and they said despite all what Mourinho has won he rarely improves players whereas Guardiola does, he's improved every player in that Man City team and therefore collectively made the team better. Mourinho doesn't he gets good players and finds a way to win. Mick has a similar philosophy and I can't think of any player bar Murphy and Bart who have improved/developed since he's been here and we have lots of players here who have alot of potential and with the right coaching/management we could be a half decent team. As for the attendance, even the matches where apparently we've play better this season have still been pretty boring. Whilst the ticket price does put me off (theprices are better this season) it's the entertainment value which still puts people off. Even though it's better this season it still isn't great. I hear a few Ipswich fans say we're better this season and the football is more entertaining and then whenever a commentator is feedback back to bbc sport or sky sports they say this game isn't one of the neutrals. It's not all about possession but it does help and despite having players for us to play on the front foot this season we play like the away team every game. I'm just fed up of Micks anti football philosophy, he really takes the enjoyment out of football. I honestly can't remember the last time I enjoyed watching Ipswich play it was probably Magiltons last game as manager and that's 9 years ago!!
I'd be with you if it wasn't FFP times - attendance has a massive impact on what the club can do transfer wise. With gates dropping like the plague, it does to a degree affect what we can do with contracts, players we can add ( Evans isn't going to freeload it like before, it's down to us to be sustainable ) so we really need I'd say to be back up to 18.000 minimum on a Sat. high 13s!?!?!? JESUS. Pathetic.
Surprising as it may seem now but back in 1996/97 97/98 when we were scoring goals for fun under George the crowds often dipped below 10,000!
I think the low crowds are primarily related to our long stint in the Championship. As Warky pointed out, crowd levels dipped during Burley's reign when we were playing Championship football after several seasons. Other factors are the high prices of tickets, the poor season before where we almost got relegated, and the style of McCarthy's football. These all led to a dramatic reduction in season ticket sales, which has affected our gates despite our recent good form. The ideal short term solution would be to reduce the cost of season tickets for next season. Make the tickets cheaper (they are currently among the most expensive in English football) and you will get more people in the stadium. Other factors would be to hire a new manager this summer. Ideally one who says the right things about playing attractive football and has the evidence to back it up. A couple of big, impressive signings would also lead to ticket sales going up. Even if we did all this, I don't think we would pack the stadium out. We'd probably get the figure up to 24-25k. The only realistic way that we will sell out tickets is if we achieved promotion to the Premier League or made the play offs this season.
Living in Sussex it is a 200 mile round trip for me to get to games so half a tank of petrol plus the Dartford crossing toll charge and then 2 meals before and after the game x2 and it works out at about £140 per match day! It isn't a cheap option anymore and instead of going on Boxing Day like we always used to I am now going horse racing instead as it will be a lot cheaper.
I suppose it's the big question, Mick doesn't stay and we appoint a new man and we are worse than we are now, we see attractive football but lose 5 3 on a regular basis and before long we are at the bottom of the division, I know its fanciful but it worries me. On the hand we could fly using the same players because Evans isn't going to provide much in the way of a transfer budget, either way I think Mick won't stay he must be pissed off with a paltry transfer kitty year after year and getting stick for not producing a promotion challenging team thrown into the bargain! We played Reading on Saturday and beat a team that spent £30M in the Summer, I'm sure Mick would like to be at a Club with those resources.
