I was there and unbeknown to Jim Magilton it would be his last game as manager before Evans sacked him for a "name " in Roy Keane, that went well.
I didn't watch the game live - I recorded it. Nice had a local derby away at Monaco and I was given the chance of a ticket and went. Up to the current season I would have watched City instead which, in itself, says a lot. Nice tried, scrapped, fought and in the end got a 2-2 draw against, on paper, superior opposition. When I got home consumption of too much Merlot meant I had to go straight to bed with the assistance of Mrs 1950 meaning I didn't watch the game until this morning. I didn't think Ipswich looked anywhere near promotion candidates and possibly because of that there did seem to be one or two signs of improvement but at least Ipswich knew how to take advantage of our mistakes and did try and attack quickly - we didn't or couldn't. Ipswich looked to be candidates for a mid-table finish - we looked candidates for relegation. The first drastic step which needs to be taken, in my opinion, is replace Knapper with somebody with more experience of the game such as Paul Lambert and give him a month to assess the future, or otherwise, of Manning.
Any replacement for Knapper will still have to buy into the business model, which limits the pool of "recruitable" players and hence, also, coaches. Wagner had plenty of experience of the game, but neither the style of football nor the profile of player brought in were considered fit for NCFC purpose under the new owners. And given Attanasio's often expressed scepticism re. short term thinking and incessant managerial churn, it seems to me unlikely that either Knapper or Manning will be shown the door at this point.
One unpleasant thing I noticed. You only owe loyalty to your current employer and not your previous ones but in football you do owe respect to the supporters of previous Clubs. Declan Rice left West Ham a while ago but I noticed on Saturday when he scored against them his celebration was muted. Compare that to the wild celebration and badge slapping of Nunez amongst the Ipswich fans at the end of the game on Sunday. Disgraceful.
It wasn’t as though he was pushed into it by his team mates either…he actively revelled in and sought it out
There does seem to be a hard-on amongst the more vociferal unsocial media fans that we should never sell a players to our rivals, even if that means losing out on £7m and paying his wages for the rest of the year; whilst letting him rot in the reserves. That said his push for the move, desire to move down the road and subsequent behaviour have left a bit to be desired, thus the rodent chants.
