The Personal Thoughts of a Town Fan

[Rushmere]

Speaking from a personal perspective, the realities of being a Town fan today are more than a little disconcerting and sadden me greatly.

I am very aware that much has changed in terms of the club itself but, on reflection, I have realised the harsh truth is that I have changed too – and not for the better.
I have realised that the immense excitement I always felt at the beginning of a new season has been replaced by something closer to a ‘here we go again’ feeling. My sense of anticipation [of great things ahead] is now all but non-existent and I seem no longer angered or surprised by the activities of our team, our manager, our board or our owner.

Indifference has set in.

Now don’t get me wrong here, I am a season ticket holder and a dyed in the wool Town supporter. Nothing will ever change that. However, the difference now is that my pride in Ipswich Town seems largely born out of blind loyalty and based on what once was.

There were perhaps some downsides to being a ‘family’ club but, for me, the club was much stronger for it and more widely respected than it is now as a corporation. Undoubtedly this sea change was unavoidable given the commercial demands (and restraints) of the football world as a whole but, what is absolutely unforgiveable, is the change of attitude that the club now seems to have towards its supporters. The club has little respect or appreciation for its fans or, if it does, it conceals it very well. It is no longer the honest and open club it once was. I simply don’t believe half the things I hear and believe much of the rest to be patronising PR statements.

I get a little frustrated when our beloved club makes mistakes or poor decisions but I am absolutely dismayed that it succeeds in making the same mistakes over and over again. My feeling is that we are not merely standing still as a club but, in actual fact, there is a grave danger of us going backwards and, to be honest, at the present time I cannot see any light at the end of the tunnel.

I never anticipated that I would ever feel like this as a Town fan and feel incredibly sad that I do.

 

[johnnywarksmoustache]

Excellent post Rushmere, beautifully articulating the thoughts that many Town supporters share. These are indeed very dark times and for especially those of us who have been supporting the Town since the early 70s and beyond. The halcyon days of the Cobbold era and the tight knit spirit that once prevailed at the club have all been eroded and consigned to history. Johnny Cobbold famously said that the only crisis was when the boardroom ran out of white wine! He will certainly be spinning in his grave at what is going on at Ipswich Town today. The football club is in my blood and of course I will keep supporting them but nowadays it is more in vain hope than expectation. Sad days indeed!

 

[stretchyboy]

Unfortunately it's the pressures of clubs desperate to get into the Premiership. Medium sized clubs like ourselves believe that they have to be in the premiership, and will try and get there at all costs. Football as a whole is so blighted by inconsistencies and irregularities, that there genuinely is no "family club" anymore. I agree that each club should always aspire to progress and to get promoted, but the pressures of having to get to the holy land of the premiership is killing lots of small and medium sized clubs. We've seen it happen to Leeds, Portsomouth, Coventry..clubs overspend on increasing stadium sizes, thinking "if we build it, they will come", and with the "speculate to accumulate" mentality (as my nan always said, if you ain't got it, you can't spend it). They also overspend on trying to attract "better" players, to get the clubs promoted, and unfortuntely only three clubs can actual achieve this...as opposed to the 10-15 clubs that spend beyond their means every year.
The point im trying to make is, it's not just our club, its happening all over the country. Everyone (owners/chief execs) want instant rewards...Murdoch/TV have ruined this great passionate sport of ours. We need to go back to the old days and have a wage cap on players, to hopefully stop these mercenaries coming into clubs and fleecing them for millions every year. We need to also get back to limiting the amount of foreigners coming into our game, go back to the maximum 5 foreigner rule (f%ck Brussels), that will then give our own home grown youngsters a chance to make it.
Rant over!

 

[San Diego]

On top of that Stretchy, parachute payments are killing any hopes for teams who haven't recently been to the prem and come back down again. There are a few teams who can rely on this extra, free cash and so can spend accordingly, meaning the rest have to spend more than they can afford just to keep up. The parachute payment was a stupid idea that basically said to newly promoted teams that instead of being prudent with their money they could spend a bit more because they were protected if they got the drop. It's all about the premiership trying to always have the best players in the league to keep it at the top of the world footballing tree.

 

[itfcptc]

Completely agree with your posts San Deigo & stretchy boy. If you read alot of other forums they are exactly the same as ours. The amount of times you read "Our club is becoming a laughing stock!!" is crazy!! In some ways like I've said before we just need to tough it out as continuity and having your finances in check will become a strenght of a club in the next few years, so I think we are doing the right thing. The problem is we don't want to go too far the other way like Coventry when they clearly didn't invest enough. Although it still does look like ME will invest if he thinks the price is right!!

Have we run out of white wine then JWM??

 

[Rushmere]

I'm not quite sure how my post turned into a money / spending / ambition topic. It isn't mentioned.

 

[itfcptc]

I'm not quite sure how my post turned into a money / spending / ambition topic. It isn't mentioned.

Just be thankful that the subject remained on football and a decent debate unlike many forums on this site!!

 

[johnnywarksmoustache]

Completely agree with your posts San Deigo & stretchy boy. If you read alot of other forums they are exactly the same as ours. The amount of times you read "Our club is becoming a laughing stock!!" is crazy!! In some ways like I've said before we just need to tough it out as continuity and having your finances in check will become a strenght of a club in the next few years, so I think we are doing the right thing. The problem is we don't want to go too far the other way like Coventry when they clearly didn't invest enough. Although it still does look like ME will invest if he thinks the price is right!!

Have we run out of white wine then JWM??

It clearly ran out when Burley departed and Keane threw the empty bottle out of the window!