I really do think that more direct action is now appropriate with demonstrations before and after the Blackpool match on Saturday. The problem is that we Ipswich folk are just too nice and would rather just moan at each other rather then take out our anger on the people that matter. I remember joining in the demos during John Duncan's reign and it is now time to do the same again. We are in a far more perilous position now then we were then. The fans need to start demonstrating to get our voices heard! CLEGG OUT
Town Control to Major Clegg Town Control to Major Clegg Take your protein pills and put your helmet on Town Control to Major Clegg Commencing countdown, engines on Check ignition and may God's love be with you Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Liftoff This is Town Control to Major Clegg You've really made the grade And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare "This is Major Clegg to Town Control I'm stepping through the door And I'm floating in a most peculiar way And the stars look very different today For here Am I sitting in a tin can Far above the world Planet Earth is blue And there's nothing I can do Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles I'm feeling very still And I think my spaceship knows which way to go Tell my wife I love her very much she knows" Town Control to Major Clegg Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong Can you hear me, Major Clegg? Can you hear me, Major Clegg? Can you hear me, Major Clegg? Can you.... "Here am I floating round my tin can Far above the Moon Planet Earth is blue And there's nothing I can do."
my first attempt: Dear Mr Clegg, I am not usually the type who would take such action to voice my discontent but the way my beloved ITFC is being run leaves me no choice. We fans have lost all faith in your leadership of our club and you have only succeeded in bringing our club to its knees. Your failure to sign players when they were there for the taking (Shaun Derry and Charlie Austin to name only two that we know of) and the decision to let contracts of key players run down has led this club to ruin and we are now have such an unstable playing squad that once again Marcus Evans will need to seriously invest in the transfer market to ensure that we are able to compete in this league and hopefully avoid relegation. Marcus Evans brought you in to be the face that he is not, to be a bridge between the fans and our club, however we rarely hear from you at all (unless we are to spend another £3 on the already overpriced ticket cost to buy a programme) and we only hear from the owner when he feels the need to back or sack our manager. Despite yourself, Marcus and Jewell talking on a daily basis you can spare no time to share your plans with us fans. As a result we feel out of touch with the club and it feels more and more like this is just a business opportunity for Marcus Evans with no thought given to the passion of the thousands of Ipswich Town fans. We have enough fans to fill Portman Road up to the rafters for every game but your neglect to put any real thought in how to attract fans has been another one of your major downfalls. Had we not decided to pay such extortionate wages to a group of players who are not fit enough to play an entire season and show no desire to play for our club perhaps we could charge less for fans to watch games at Portman Road and then perhaps with players who give a damn the football on show would be worth paying for. Simply waiting for us to magically turn into a winning side with no real strategy in place does not constitute a solution for raising attendances as you seem to believe! Each close season it seems like we throw away all the work put into the previous season and start another quick bid for promotion. We bring in Premiership has-beens with no commitment to the club and give no thought to the exciting talent coming through our youth system or to the hungry players fighting for a chance to play at a higher level. I understand that many of these decision lay with the manager, currently Paul Jewell, however the directives to achieve success need to come from the Chief Executive and that it why it is imperitive the post holder has some experience of running a football club, we cannot afford for you to learn on the job as you have been. We are hearing from interviews with Paul Jewell that the owner has a five year plan, why is this not being shared with the fans? It would give us a understanding of what the manager is trying to achieve, in what timescales and we may afford him some more time (assuming results improve enough to avoid relegation). A club with any serious intentions of promotion needs a long term plan and this should have been a lesson learnt after the disaster of Roy Keane and his 'any idiot can win promotion' campaign. Instead you were happy to back Paul Jewell's ridiculous plan of bringing in premiership has-beens past their sell by date in a bid to win promotion at the first attempt. Please tell me when this has been successful in the recent future? It is clear to us that devote much of our time to following football that the teams who are promoted have stability and a long term plan for success, not a quick rush of blood to the head every time season tickets go on sale. I hate to say this but we should use Norwich's success as a blue print for our own ambitions. Set achievable small goals over a period of 3-5 years. Even with relegation to League One their fans stuck with them because they were all fighting to achieve the same goal, players, fans, coaching staff and the board room. Your lack of direction and the destabilising done by the previous manager has left Mr Jewell with an impossible task for which he himself has made even harder by adopting a quick fix attitude to our problems and not fully utilising the players at his disposal. Paul Jewell has shown he is not capable of managing a club through a transition. He has failed to get the best out of our players and his short term attitude is only adding to our problems. It saddens me to know that there are so many neglected fans who have lost faith in the club and no longer choose to support the club and I am afraid to say that unless serious changes are made in the coming months, inlcuding your resignation and the appointment of a footballing CEO, I too will become a fan who no longer gives his hard earned money to the club.
Try...... if you don't leave now you **** we are going to hunt you down murder & dismember your family & rape the **** out of your pets....( i put the last bit in with you guys in mind, know how you like spending your free time and all !) I think its worth a punt?
Some great letters guys well done, make sure they get sent to that clown Clegg. The Budgies are right we do need to back these up with some sort of protest on Saturday, win lose or draw. Maybe some banners as well: CLEGG OUT - JEWELL OUT etc. We need to make it clear to Evans, Clegg & Jewell that we are far from happy as to what they are doing to OUR club. CLEGG & JEWELL OUT.
JWM, I think your letter was perfect, polite but also stating the consequences if things don't change. We need this idiot out, things will not get any better for our club until he is off the payroll. CLEGG OUT!
I ahve just had a reply from cleggy guys. please see below! Dear Steve, Thank you for your e mail, the contents of which I have noted. whilst your e mail is peppered with inaccuracies, for example I don't know where you think we are obsessed with signing a striker - unless you really do believe everything you read in the press or on the websites. Ipswich Town however has a proud track record of supporting its managers through difficult times, indeed had the late and great Sir Bobby Robson been sacked after the six successive defeats he had to endure at the start of the 1969/70 season the Club probably would not enjoy its history of which we are all so proud. The current position is not acceptable and every effort is being made to turn things around. Thank you for taking the time to share your views with me. Simon Simon Clegg CBE Chief Executive Ipswich Town Football Club
...... which translates as, thanks for writing, but keep out of things that don't concern you! You are supporters and therefore are mugs, and we will continue treating you as such.
Seriously, that is his reply. I have started a whole new thread on this now because i'm so pissed off by it all!
I love the Bobby Robson reference. Cobbold vs Evans Robson vs Jewell Not sure that wholly stacks up as a comparison.
Why does this response not surprise me, I contacted the club over the Blackpool free travel arrangements, I went on the Official coach to the debacle that was Posh but could not go to Blackpool, their response was basically tough luck.. ****ers.. Who the **** does that idiot Clegg think he is...Jewell v Robson, how dare he..!
How can he even begin to compare the Robson era with the Jewell era? Sir Bobby had a run of 6 consecutive defeats at the beginning of his first full season 1969/70 Under Jewell we have now had a run and counting of 11 defeats out of the last 14 It makes Clegg even more despicable by trying to hide behind history!
i think its fair to say there will probably never be another bobby robson. the fact that i've never met a norwich fan who has a bad word to say about him goes to show how incredibly respected the man was and still is. times have changed in football. you simply cannot use robson as an example in comparison to jewell. in fact, its embarrassing! managers as a general rule of thumb were given more time because the pressure was less intensive, there was less money involved and lets face it, fans expectations were watered-down. success was not expected at ipswich and top flight status was hardly a given in those days and it certainly wouldn't have been demanded or necessary to keep a club afloat. its not difficult to tell from a managers approach and their planning if someone has got the 'x factor' but i'd imagine that robson had it, even in his early days. you're kidding me if anyone thinks jewell has it...
