Not since the days of Joe Royle going back to 04/05 & 05/06 seasons have I experienced as a Town fan the same sense of optimism that I am feeling now for our team. Ever since the final months of Jim Magilton's reign towards the end of the season 08/09 our football club has been going backwards at a considerable rate of knots and just to rub it in our 'friends' up the road have gone through a miraculous transformation in their fortunes. Roy Keane proved to be an unmitigated disaster and his acts of vandalism and destruction have yet to be totally undone. The sale of Rhodes, the sacking of Klug, the dire football, the purchase of players that just weren't good enough and the bizarre tactics that he employed on the pitch. Wasting nearly £10 Million along the way. Then we had the nice guy PJ who I must admit in the first 6 to 8 months of his reign managed to convince me that he was the 'right' man for the job. Looking back I think it was mainly down to the fact that he is so far removed from the Keane way of doing things but ultimately he paid the price for carrying on with the kamikaze approach of recruiting names that were past their best and living on reputation. PJ was stubborn in his refusal to address our chronic shortcomings in Defence (his insistence for example in playing Carlos at Right Back), his over reliance on the loan system (he played 4 loan keepers in one season) and his attitude of dropping players after a bad game and again poor tactical awareness. The final months of the PJ era were the darkest days I have known as a Town fan, we played dire football and we were shipping in goals at an alarming rate at the same time we couldn't score! A recipe for disaster and by the end his sacking couldn't have come soon enough! Since the beginning of this season I had come to realise that we would be struggling with Jewell in charge and I wanted Mick McCarthy to come in and sort out the mess we were in. I was probably the first Town poster to campaign for Mick McCarthy to be recruited as Town manager and I remember some of the heated arguements we had on this topic back in October/November. It is a measure of what Mick has achieved since November that we now all seem to be fully united behind Mick & Terry and I would like to applaud them for rescuing our football club and make no mistake we would have been relegated this season without them. The football hasn't been stylish, far from it, but needs must and the results were all that mattered as we battled our way out of the bottom 3 never to return. I worried in January about where the goals were coming from after DJ left but again Mick compensated for that by making us extremely tough to beat and recording 11 clean sheets which is just remarkable considering the huge number of goals we were shipping in before he arrived. We nicked results here and there but the important thing was that we weren't getting beat and we seemed to match what the teams below us were doing. This achievement ranks Mick and Terry alongside some of the all time Ipswich greats imo as their contribution so far has been simply amazing. I compare this in many ways to what the highly respected John Lyall did for us when he came in after the John Duncan years! Mick will reawaken this great club of ours from a 10 year slumber mainly of despair and decline. There is no doubting that what we have experienced in just a few short months under the guidance of MM an TC is a complete sea change in the attitude at the club, from a seeming acceptance of mediocrity and defeat to one of knuckling down and delivering results! I honestly see the balance of power particularly in East Anglian football shifting back to Portman Road where it belongs. It is now vital that ME invests whatever is necessary for Mick and Terry this summer to build upon the firm foundations that have now been laid. A top youth coach and talent spotter in Bryan Klug is essential to our future and he is already producing some great talent ready for the future. The days of turnstile paint and all the other nonsense that we had to suffer during the Clegg year's all seems now like some bad dream. We are Ipswich Town, a proud football club with a proud history and now thanks to Mick & Terry a football club with an exciting future.
Foolish thread. He has been in the job for six months, before you start all that let's see if he's still around after the summer (you will note he hasn't said a word about the window or next season yet) and then see how we get on. Not strictly true, as late as a month before PJ left you felt he should be offered a five year contract I think PJ deserves credit for the players he brought in, McCarthy has made some duff signings but his strength has been in organising the back, which PJ failed miserably in.
Just to prove that you are talking complete bollox Hampy if proof were ever needed! http://www.twtd.co.uk/ipswich-town-news/22905/tabb-set-to-stay-with-town
"McCarthy confirmed at Saturday night’s Player Awards Evening that he would have left the club had the Blues dropped into League One: “The agreement was I’d stay if we stayed up, I’d go if we went down." So it was only confirmed at the weekend... I said let's see if he's staying... how on Earth is that me talking bollocks? FYI Warky... Paul Jewell's record after you offered him a five year contract was... P9 W0 D2 L7 ... no come back! http://www.not606.com/showthread.ph...e-now-got?highlight=paul jewell year contract
Spanish was the most vocal early on about Jewell's time being up, bless 'im... that guy talks a lot of sense
Cheers Welly, I'm thinking of flogging a bit of advertising space... "Hampy only eats Primo's gourmet hotdogs" that sort of thing...
Thanks for showing this thread Hampy, I remember it now! It was written with heavy sarcasm but I guess it was far too subtle for you!
I can admit when I'm wrong. He used to irritate the hell out of me, I wanted someone connected to the club, although I massively admired Terry Connor. It's hard to be irritated when we get results like we have been.
Hamps I have no wish to drag up the old arguements from the past! For one close season in a long time we have the opportunity to be relieved, excited and happy about the future of our football club. No one can deny that MM & TC have turned this season around for us and I have no doubts that we will be serious contenders for the play-offs next season. It would be interesting to compare Mick's record since November to Holloway's at Palace but then again whats the point!
In Warkys defense he along with one or two others had wanted jewell out long before he went, as early as the summer if my memory serves me. Hampy, when you said Spanish talks a lot of sense you kinda lost your argument.
As someone that saw the plus points in what Jewell was trying to do (note the word trying) then I can confirm 1 billion percent that JWM was not his biggest fan and wanted him gone along time before he did. I used to get a weekly 'ear bashing' (not sure of the internet equivilent) whenever I said about the plus I saw after another abysmal result.
Gents, that was posted tongue-in-cheek I do think we should not get carried away though. I get a sense that some are expecting a play-off place next season and despite the heroics over the last six months I am remaining cautious.
Not being around for the last month then Im trying to get to grips on what is an 'inside' joke and what is the argumentative rubbish that was one of the reasons I took time out. Im not optimistic enough to say play offs for next season but I am at the stage where I think we should be able to compete without fear. Thats good enough for me as things currently stand.
It is a little De Ja Vu as we always seem to end the season on a relative high and look forward longingly to next season only to go through the whole charade all over again. I'll be happy (as I've said every season) for us to show some consistency none of this lose 7 then go unbeaten in 7 to haul ourselves out of trouble. If we keep ourselves in the mid table mix all season then I'll consider that as a massive step in the right direction.
Last season was not that good a finish, I think our last ten games were; 3 wins, 3 losses & 4 draws....six of those games were at home as well. That was when a few of us started to have serious doubts.
