Tractorbhoy, a quote from the director of football @ Reading. “He has shown enormous progression over the last 12 months, and his loan to Ipswich will allow him to gain even more experience at Championship level. Seems to me that they are expecting him to feature in the starting line up rather than on the bench!
IF it happens then I will agree with your annoyance, I just feel that we need to stick with the facts to have any breakthrough. Come Thursday morning if it has happened then I will agree in sending the letter and possibly adding a few expletives!
Mr Clegg, I hope you will find the time to read these few words as I feel I speak for several other followers of the club. I have no doubt that I have no true 'right' for you to adhere to my concerns and feel that I most probably have little 'right' in asking you to. I very much doubt any concerns I had about 'Adnams' or any other international company would be taken seriously but as you are probably aware football fans have a special relationship with a club and often feel it is a physical part of them or a member of the family. I know that these bonds can often cause a fan to make emotional and often rash calls about the current state of a team and we all know too well that football is very much a here and now results based business and we do not expect a miraculous turnaround in advents but we do feel that we are currently moving in an ill advised manner for which I think there can be true concerns, albeit possibly at a fairly early stage. We are aware of Marcus Evans' request for a media blackout around him and I can not say I blame him in not wanting to become part of the circus but a football club that has always prided itself in being part of the community does need to have a public and accessible figurehead. I do not mean this as a personal attack as I am sure that you are working in the best interests of the club as you see them but I do feel that the fans do appreciate a greater voice coming from the board. This may seem very trivial but it shows the fan base that the club does understand and appreciate the fan base. I am aware of your column in the match day programme and the club obviously does pre match build up media but a more open and interactive relation with the club would at least show us where we are heading (part 1 - tell me your thoughts so far)
TBH Tractorbhoy, while i can understand where you are coming from in the nicely nicely approach, it was one step down from blowing him off!
(Part 2) Continuing the concerns about losing the connection between the club and its fanbase I would like to include our ticket policy which seems another way of distancing the two sides. I can understand tiered football prices in the Premier League due to the vast differences between the top 4 clubs and the followings they can attract over the rest of the league but the championship with the exception of a literal 1 or 2 clubs each season is always a very evenly contested league. I feel that you would be much better suited to a 1 price fits all approach for league games and I would encourage promotions for younger family members. I know one-off promotions have been done and I also appreciate that school parties can gain favourable ticket prices but the likelihood is that it will be Dad or the big brother that is likely to get a child hooked and start taking the children on a regular basis. I understand that no matter who much we feel the club is ours that it is infact a business and we can not expect charity but adding family tickets or similar such offers will hopefully encourage a new generation of fans through the doors at PR
Guru, that is why I have said add thoughts. JWM previously said about sending a 606 readers letters and I thought I would start a contribution and the rest of you can re-arrange, add, delete or tell me to bin until we are happy with what we have. This is just an outline, which will turn into a ramble so I will welcome more insightful criticism!!
Tractorbhoy A very well written letter but I have to agree with Guru that it is a bit too nicey nicey. We have to sell the fact that we are angry, annoyed, disillusioned and put in a forceful but measured way. We are demanding his resignation not asking for it!
Part 3 The previously stated issues are all relatively minor in relation to the major problems that are hitting the club on the pitch. Going through managers like we have recently may make continuity and progress difficult but our major failings appear to be a lack of a clear plan. It feels that we are moving backwards whilst all we ever here from the club is optimistic terms like 'Operation Premiership' which in all honestly feels little more than a ploy to sell season tickets. I have two major problems with this approach. The first is that it means we create a false feeling towards the club. The fans dont appreciate speeches that suggest we have a team ready for a promotion bid when all the signs on matchdays seem to indicate a team of strangers. We all want promotion and for the club to be successful but in making these statements the club is actually making things worse. We are made to expect brilliance and have more often then not failed to achieve even good. The second problem, and it is not aimed at individuals is what appears to be a major lack of forward planning. It is a similar approach to building a house without foundations. Whatever initial praise you receive will soon dissapear amongst the eventual collapse. I do not mean to criticise individual signings as I am well aware that all signings are taking with a gamble and to be fair to all at the club alot of these players have played very well last season and have been unable to rediscover their form this season or have simply not settled as expected. The signings as a whole though seem to be short termist in the extreme. I appreciate the need for a few wise heads but for both success and also for a successful business model we need to return to the days of bringing through both our own and external potential. Our club has rightly got a brilliant reputation for given both both schoolboys a decent start to their careers and also bringing youngsters up from a relative obscurity in the lower leagues to the fore in a large stadium with appreciative fans. Over the years many young players have chosen us over the glamour clubs because they knew we could give them a sensible help up the league pyramid and this approach will also add to the long term sustainability of the club
I want the introduction to be amiable but after that I am welcome to any suggestions to give it a bit more teeth without getting away from facts. I want it to be 100% truthful yet also convey the issues. Feel free to give it a bit of oomph
Not slating your approach Tractorbhoy, I just think that Clegg is just so thick skinned he will find any little postive and turn it into spin. He needs to be told in no uncertain terms how the fans feel about Him, Jewell and the direction of the club. We all have differing concerns about the club and differing ways to approach them. Mine was just a personal one and i think that everyone should send a personal on so he can really see the volume of concern amongst us, as also we should get the TWTD posters to do the same. Lets unite the fansites to really show them how we feel. saying that i would be more than welcome to add my name on the not606 combined one.
First of all we need to replace all the "I's" with "We" the first line to be something punchy like "We want our Ipswich Town back!" Send this to me in its entirerity on the private messages and I will edit and post back on the board. I promise that I will not radically alter the content but just change a few things. If you trust me that is! I have spent my whole working career in publishing so I know a little about editing!
Dear Mr Clegg, We want our Ipswich Town Football Club back! We as a section of the fans of Ipswich Town have many serious concerns that we would like to be addressed. These concerns are based on some of the wrong decisions that we feel you have made in the stewardship of running our great football club. This wonderful football club does not belong to you or indeed Mr Evans but owned in the hearts of all the people in Suffolk and beyond who spend their hard earned money in supporting the team. You will appreciate that this club will be here long after you have gone and we want a football club that we can feel proud to support once again. We are aware of Marcus Evans' request for a media blackout around him and so in his absence you are the most senior management figure available for us to vent our extreme anger at what is happening at our Football Club. The first problem lays in the fact that Mr Evans isn't accessable to the Town supporters. No one knows what he even looks like and we do not ever know what his thoughts are on the future of our club. We of course respect his privacy but at the same time we need to be told by the owner what the plan is for our football club going forward. At best we get a few press releases every now and again that sound just like a piece of public relations waffle. This may seem very trivial but it shows the fan base that the club does understand and appreciate the fan base. I am aware of your column in the match day programme and the club obviously does pre match build up media but a more open and interactive relation with the club would at least show us where we are heading. Ticket Policy Continuing the concerns about losing the connection between the club and its fanbase I would like to include our ticket policy which seems another way of distancing the two sides. I can understand tiered football prices in the Premier League due to the vast differences between the top 4 clubs and the followings they can attract over the rest of the league but the championship with the exception of a literal 1 or 2 clubs each season is always a very evenly contested league. I feel that you would be much better suited to a 1 price fits all approach for league games and I would encourage promotions for younger family members. I know one-off promotions have been done and I also appreciate that school parties can gain favourable ticket prices but the likelihood is that it will be Dad or the big brother that is likely to get a child hooked and start taking the children on a regular basis. I understand that no matter who much we feel the club is ours that it is infact a business and we can not expect charity but adding family tickets or similar such offers will hopefully encourage a new generation of fans through the doors at Portman Road. The Managerial Merry Go Round The previously stated issues are all relatively minor in relation to the major problems that are hitting the club on the pitch. Going through managers like we have recently may make continuity and progress difficult but our major failings appear to be a lack of a clear plan. It feels that we are moving backwards whilst all we ever here from the club is optimistic terms like 'Operation Premiership' which in all honestly feels little more than a ploy to sell season tickets. I have two major problems with this approach. The first is that it means we create a false feeling towards the club. The fans dont appreciate speeches that suggest we have a team ready for a promotion bid when all the signs on matchdays seem to indicate a team of strangers. We all want promotion and for the club to be successful but in making these statements the club is actually making things worse. We are made to expect brilliance and have more often then not failed to achieve even good. The second problem is what appears to be a major lack of forward planning. It is a similar approach to building a house without foundations. Whatever initial praise you receive will soon dissapear amongst the eventual collapse. I do not mean to criticise individual signings as I am well aware that all signings are taking with a gamble and to be fair to all at the club alot of these players have played very well last season and have been unable to rediscover their form this season or have simply not settled as expected. The signings as a whole though seem to be short termist in the extreme. I appreciate the need for a few wise heads but for both success and also for a successful business model we need to return to the days of bringing through both our own and external potential. Our club has rightly got a brilliant reputation for given both both schoolboys a decent start to their careers and also bringing youngsters up from a relative obscurity in the lower leagues to the fore in a large stadium with appreciative fans. Over the years many young players have chosen us over the glamour clubs because they knew we could give them a sensible help up the league pyramid and this approach will also add to the long term sustainability of the club We as fans have simply lost all confidence in your management of our football club and we demand that you resign in an honourable way or we the fans will be forced to begin a campaign for your removal. We are not satisfied with your management and we believe that there are far more quality appointments that can be made who will bring in substantial football knowledge in this role. We also strongly believe that Paul Jewell and his management team must resign forthwith so that a new manager with new ideas can come in and help guide us to safety this season.
hey guys. you lot are just way, way, way too polite!! if you want clegg and jewell out, get down to your ground and have a proper sing-song outside the ground and vent your frustrations in numbers. its not something that should be used after any old home defeat but i think you've reached the stage where its fair. i don't agree with the way blackburn fans have protested inside the ground during matches but there is a right way to protest. letters don't work. what you need to do is make yourselves heard on a grand scale and the only way to do it is to protest. its not much fun but you will make yourselves heard and people who maybe haven't made their mind up will think about it more. trust me, we've done the whole supporters meetings and passionate letter approaches before but nothing makes a bigger impression than 3,000+ die hards singing outside your ground after the final whistle to demand answers from the top. you may not get your wish but your voice will have been heard and your concerns aired, even if your owner doesn't exist... sorry, i mean won't be there. or you could ignore this and do the whole letter thing. i'd prefer that as it means jewell will probably stay on for a bit longer and clegg certainly will its your football club. maybe you should fight to get it back on track.
Hey Supers this is just an idea we had kicking around I know that we will need to fight like hell to get our club back and a few letters will not do the trick by itself. The next home game on Saturday will be the perfect opportunity to vent our annoyance! We did it when Duncan was in charge as I was one of them! If Jewell has not gone by Saturday I think the North Stand will begin to turn on him and Clegg. The atmosphere is brewing.
warky as i say, its not a pleasant thing to be involved with but sometimes enough is enough. fans have a 'tipping point' too!
Where's our Ipswich gone? As members of a popular forum we have decided now is the time to bring to your attention our fears and feelings. It is a general feeling that since Marcus Evans took us over things haven't been going particularly well at our club. There is no question we would be in financial trouble without his backing but we feel as though the history of our club is being eroded and more importantly, it's connection with the community. The approach we have taken in order to reach the premiership as early as possible is just not working. We have spent a lot of money for championship standards but this investment has sadly not taken us forwards. Our last period of success was built on having a five year plan in place and that is something we would love to see now. We are very proud of our club but it is rapidly becoming something few of us recognise. Our once heralded academy is in danger of becoming all but obsolete and of no use to us as we sell or release our scholars and replace them with the so-called experience of ex premiership players. We have always been known for giving youth a chance but even with the results and performances of late we still fail to see people given a chance. Now obviously football is a results driven business and it is normally the manager who takes the brunt of the blame for things not happening on the pitch but it is getting to the point where we feel that the problem may lie higher up the chain, mainly with yourself. We understand that you are the face and voice of our club at Marcus' request but this is not enough. We want to see a man in charge who has a good football knowledge and is capable of putting a coherent plan together, are you that man? Bringing to our attention the painting of turnstiles is NOT something we want to hear at the moment and if you think it is then maybe you are not as in touch with the supporters as you think. This football club, although owned by Marcus Evans, belongs to US, the people of Suffolk and we want it back. We want a change at CEO because we feel you are not up to running our beloved club in the way we want. You say that you have not had any negative feedback with regards to your own position but this could be the start of a campaign that will put pressure on you to resign. It is in the best interest of all concerned that you step down before a more public display of discontent tarnishes the image of our club further.
I liked yours too JWM, I think we should all send our own email and perhaps start a petition to show we have the numbers and this isn't just a select few as I can imagine this will be what Clegg is thinking reading our emails. One point I haven't seen mentioned is that although Clegg is supposed to be MEs voice and face we rarely hear from him, unless you buy a programme (which I don't because the damn tickets are too expensive!). Despite ME talking to Clegg and Jewell on a daily basis we don't hear any of their plans for moving the club forward.
