I am not one of the 'Mick out' crowd, per say but I do feel that now is the time that this fantastic club of ours should be looking forward rather than relying on the past glories of 'old school managers'. Don't get me wrong, I am more than grateful of what MM has achieved to pull this club from the doldrums it was in, but surely he has reached his ceiling with ITFC as this can be seen and heard in his recent post match interviews. This negative attitude he shows can only have a knock on effect with the squad, it can only invoke a 'If he don't care - why should we?' attitude. Although we have progressed in the last two seasons, surely looking at some of the up and coming young managers that are plying their trade across the European leagues has to be a good starting point. There is going to be someone (probably many) out there who would love the opportunity to manage a top (I still think we are), well respected, Championship club with the prospect and challenge of taking us into the Premier League and all that would entail for them as a bright, up and coming manager. Now is the perfect time for MM to pull his head out of the clouds, start blooding the academy guys and realise that he could leave this club with his head held high and with the gratitude and thanks of a very demanding group of fans and a that of a vastly improved club. Now is also the perfect time for ME to finally invest IN the club or realise that without it he is holding us back. If the latter is true then surely, for the sake of the club, he should sell up and move on. I really do feel that now is the perfect time for this club to take a bold step like this and see just how it works out, I mean what's the worst that could happen? - Another long, long, season in the Championship?..............
If MM does remain which I think he probably will......ME needs to back him with more than just lip service. # Backhimorsackhim
It doesn't even have to be a young manager, just somebody who plays more adventurous football. Which, let's be honest, isn't really hard to achieve.
Now I've been probably one of the biggest critics of Mick since he's been at the club (bar Spanish) because I just think he sucks the fun out of football, however he's a great man manager and if you look at the resource he's had actually he's done an outstanding job at the club, I just feel given how potentially good he is he lacks the courage to achieve great things in the game. Despite this and him frustrating the life out of me if he were to go I'm almost certain a few months down the line it would be a case of be careful what you wish for. The problem is Mick assembles a squad of players who are lets face it bar a couple bang average, he gets them working as a team and fighting for each other I worry that if another manager came in he would struggle to get anywhere near the same out of this team and it would require a complete overhall which we can't afford to do. Lets face it we have some bang average players!!
There are a bunch of average players in the Championship, they still manage to pass the ball on the grass though.
Don't agree at all, what you are saying is that we kinda have no choice but to stick with MM because nobody else would be able to get any better out of the current squad!! You are almost certain that a few months down the line we would wish Mick was back oh trust me, that would not be the case. Please explain to me WHAT exactly MM has got out of the current squad over the past few months because i can't see anything other than poor results and poor football. As i have said before, its not all about how much a manager has been given to spend, its more down to the training and style of football the manager wants the team to play!! Portsmouth only spent about 200k, are a 2nd division side and played us off the park, how? Because they have been trained to play decent football, not hoofball. If MM was given 200 million, he wouldn't go and buy Messi or Ronaldo, he would go for 10 Busquetes, thats the kind of manager he is and you wont change him. Mick has to go and its down to the fans to force ME's hand, sadly i think there are too many that are willing to stick coz to cause a fuss is not the ipswich way! MICK OUT!!
You aint wrong Westy, see now if i was ME, i would have already have a new manager in mind and would bring him in now, that way he can assess what is wrong and what is needed, thus giving himself time to get things in place for next season. Of course this wont happen, just hypothetically speaking!
Well I don't know what to say really Spanish. I quite like Mick think he's quite honest I don't like various things and the style of play - I never have - but how weird is the collapse this season? Never known one like it. I remember being at Brighton when we won 1-0 last year, then we backed it up with a good 0-0 at Burnley and if you'd have asked me back then " with 5 to play you have a 0.00000000001% chance of going up it will have fallen apart " I would have laughed at anyone. Clearly issues with Tabb and his contract, and Niles' mum being a total mong of late too. I get the feeling we have issues behind the scenes this season more than the last. Mick or no Mick though, we aren't going to significantly back the manager so I genuinely WOULD rather give Mick next year - he's under contract so won't walk ( why should he ) so if we DO want him to go we'll have to pay the price. Our fault for offering him a new deal. I thought our summer business last year was very good - we'd addressed the wide areas in Fraser/ Niles / Toure ( the gamble ) with Oar coming late too. Sadly Fraser has been out twice, Oar didn't happen, Niles a good start and Toure well bar Brum god knows he's offered very little and has seemed to struggle to be fit. Some gambles don't happen. Pitman has been a good signing. Knudsen MEH but could come good next year. Looked a decent signing at the time, nice to see us pay a fee. We've been unlucky in Bishop / McGoldrick too. THAT SAID we / Mick KNEW THIS in Jan and we were in a GOOD POSITION then so that could/ should have been addressed back then. I feel Pringle has been a good player for us ( must wonder what is going on re style of footy ) and Feeney I must confess I've not seen play but did net yesterday so could be worth nabbing. I cannot defend the style of play - I don't enjoy it Spanish / guys. I seriously don't. I play CM and go mental at defenses that whoosh the ball over my head and have a nervous breakdown when I play. I'm not pro our AV IT style but results come first to me. IF we get them, I'll back a manager to the hilt but when we don't ala Rotherham at home I'll think " for ****s sake we haven't even given it a go !!! " I'm annoyed with Mick that he did play a more expansive game at the start until Reading - which was a freak game ( they had 7 shot and scored 5 from memory ) but Douglas and Skuse were beyond clueless that day. It was laughable. So, my position with the situation - These last 5 games are bloody painful. Go to Wendy, try to win, ala Blackpool away the other year give it a right go and just PRAY they balls up vs Cardiff / Derby in their next 2 ( I'm not on drugs we're not going to make the play offs ) Then, when it's mathematically impossible to make the play offs give Kenlock / Dozzell / McDonnell and perhaps 2/3 others a go. Chuck them in give them their reward. I genuinely WOULD keep Mick next season, back him a bit more in the summer for heavens sake. Sign 5/6, offload 10/12, then we go again. Hopefully we get less injuries last season as they do make a difference but also we have to address the failings of this. COYB.
Unfortunately I don't think a great deal will change, unless maybe fans really protest hard. Correct me if I'm wrong but as a business ME will feel he's stabilised the club with a safe manager without spending and as long as he can keep pushing the club towards the playoffs (or thereabouts) he'll be satisfied.
My view,we're unfortunately going to have to sit out the tripe MM dishes us up until his contract expires,then we can move on. I really can't see him altering his football/Hoofball philosophy,whether we are still in with a shout of the playoffs or,more likely, consigned to upper-mid table mediocrity.His first and last priority is try not to lose. Worse news this season was his contract extension,still I'll hopefully still be around once he's gone.
That is exactly what I would do. Mick has failed to get us to the play offs so I think it's fair to say goodbye.....do it early do it right.
Horrible football aside, should Mick really be expected to get us in the top 6 competing with likes of Burnley, Hull, Boro, Derby, Wendy plus other big spenders?
So, who is actually to blame here... ME for not investing more into the squad? MM for picking the team and the tactics? The coaches for not coaching the players to pass and keep ball? Or is it the players that don't perform well enough, and not having the fight in them? Did we just have a lucky season last year? For me, our squad is not good enough for promotion, so IF ME has not offered to release funds for players, then he's the first to be accountable. You then have to look at the coaching set up. Why are teams in lower divisions, and teams in the relegation fight playing us off the park? I think we need a complete overhaul at the club. Our coaching methods will not take us to the next level. Other than McG and Bishop (who is still a teenager) we don't have anyone that is comfortable with the ball. Everyone, especially the defence, just lump it forward. I was always taught to play it simple..pass, and move. Why try a 50 yard pass when you can/should pass it ten yards to the next forward player? What is the point in having midfield, when it merely bypasses them? There is no creativity, no spark, no one to change the game, no plan b from the management.. and this for me is why MM and his coaching staff need to go.
Stretchy, it's a combination for me. I don't think a collapse quite like this can be solely attributed to one person, but the club as a whole. Mick hasn't bothered changing from his dogged, overly-cautious, and negative brand of football since the turn of the new year. The players have not played anywhere near their levels of consistency of last year, we've been unlucky with injuries (compared to last year) and that's reflected with our small squad, and of course the board seem quite satisfied with their policy of investing as little as possible and hope McCarthy and the players overachieve again. Not to mention the darkening mood around the club. Our style of football, coupled with an out-of-touch board hiking ticket prices and showing a clear lack of ambition, is contributing to a more negative and resigned atmosphere around Portman Road. There needs to be changes. But, ultimately, change costs money, and it's money this board doesn't look like they want to spend.
Castel that's the issue and probably why to a degree at least we are playing this brand of footy. If we go out and try to play with a lot of this lot we'll be relegation fodder.
We're allegedly £80m in debt to Evans. The ONLY way he's going to get that back, is if we get promoted. Surely then you need to speculate and take a gamble to some degree to get there. What difference does it make if it's £80m, or £90m? Spend that £10m to get the players that will take us up, it's basic economics.
Might be " basic economics " however we were £36 mill in debt when Evans bailed us and now we're £80 mill. We've tried the chuck ££££ approach and it didn't even get us a single play off campaign.
Spending money is not always "chucking" it. It needs to be spent wisely. In previous campaigns, we tried the method of getting ex-premiership players, who were way passed their best-before date, on ludicrous wages. We need to start looking at getting the better players from the lower leagues, who may cost a few quid in transfer fees, but shouldn't be too much on wages - perfect example being the lad Dack from Gillingham. Yes, he may cost us £2m, but I bet you he'll be a darn sight cheaper in wages than half our team. We seem to have gone from one extreme to the other over the last few years. Just because we got lucky with Mings, it seems that MM and ME expect that to happen all the time - it don't work like that.
I don't understand how if 'spending Money' didn't work then the only thing to do is not spend money, surely the answer lays somewhere in between.
