We are so screwed!!

After being a regular season ticket holder for 30 years I have never felt so demoralised as I do now about everything Ipswich Town! We all waited in eager anticipation hoping that we would be making quality signings that we so desperately need and every day all I'm seeing is players leaving! I know its still early blah blah blah but the mood around the club and all my fellow season ticket holders is one of complete despair!

I thought after the last 3 or 4 years things couldn't get much worse but here we are half a team short and nothing seems to be happening apart from being linked to all the names under the sun! I am getting absolutley cheesed off with Clegg coming out with the well worn "Irons in the fire" statement and signings are imminent bullsh*t! It all smacks of complete desperation and disarray! I have always been willing to give the benefit of doubt and have always believed that Ipswich one day will be back where we belong but even after all of ME's investment are we really any closer to the Premier League!

During the heady days of the Burley era we always improved year after year with good signings adding to a balanced squad of talent that we already had. I was always excited in the close season believing with every justification that we would do better the next season. Since Royle left we just seem to be resigned to hoping for a mid table finish. FFS We are Ipswich Town and why should we have to put up with this mundane crap?

Nurse! Nurse! More Gin with my pills!

 

When you have been following the game as long as we have you come to realise that in football its all about "peaks and troughs".
Apart from the big guns there are so many clubs who are similar in size and and fan base that have gone and still going through the same thing.
Ipswich will have there day again just like many others its just not knowing how long they will be in there proverbial trough for.
I do feel your pain(cant say im not enjoying it),so many bleak years gone by.But when the good days do come back you will enjoy them so much more than the plastic Man U's,Arsenals and Liverpools.

 

I don't agree crowey - no-one has any right to success. You only have to look at the plight of the Sheffield clubs for evidence. It's about making it happen as Paul Lambert has done. Not sitting on your hands and thinking 'well sooner or later it'll come good'. We've been in this division for a decade.

 

Look on the bright side at least we have not been relegated for a while

 

I know where you're coming from JWM. I'm going to trot out the old cliche "wait until august". TBH I cant take any of the paper talk/gossip that seriously. I just think that we have to be realistic about the type of player that we are likely to attract.

My concern is a bit of a wider one. I think that the Club has lost its soul since the ME takeover and is not the family club with traditions and, dare I say it, class that we had previously. Sometimes its just little things that irritate me. I went to the Club End of Season Dinner where they gave out various memorial trophies in the name of people like Harold Smith, who were long time servants of the club. These trophies are now commercially sponsored on the night, which I think is a bit of an insult to those individuals because its the Club making a few hundred quid off the back of a true servant of the club. I could have understood it if we had done this when we were broke, but that wasnt the Club's style in those days. This sponsorship money is small change to ME. That's just an example of the way that we are going (a minor one granted).

I dont like to criticise ME because in truth he has saved the club, so a lot of the blame has to go back to the financial mismanagement that went on beforehand. But we lack a face that we can readily identify as being "Mr Ipswich". Even when Derek Bowden was CEO, David Sheepshanks was always in the background and whatever you thought of him, he was a recognisable face of the Club.

I think that we also lack a real idea of how we are trying to develop the Club, because whilst ME is rich in all of our eyes, he is not a big investor in footballing terms. To some extent I'd rather just play a load of the kids and supplement them with the odd signing. Ultimately I want to be entertained and actually if I am I am not too fussed whether we are playing in the Championship or the Premiership - our 2 seasons in the Premiership all those years ago are arguably why we are where we are now.

 

That's interesting Stratton, I don't feel we are existing as a Football Club while we're in the Championship. I really don't. In the 90s I recall a couple of occasions when I went to France and Greece and when I mentioned Ipswich people's faces lit up as they recalled our exploits under Sir Bobby.

I also don't think the commecialisation and the points you raise would be an issue to me if Marcus put his hand in his pocket for some quality players and wages. The fact of the matter is that if we haven't moved forward in two years' time then they will completely lose any drops of goodwill remaining amongst the lifeblood of the club.

 

Excellent post Stratton I find myself agreeing with everything you say!

I though Bowden was a very good CEO given the enormous mess he had to deal with and although Sheepy is much maligned who can blame him for splashing the cash during our 2nd season in the prem? If he hadn't and we went down he would have got slaughtered by the fans and when we did go down he got slaughtered by the fans!

 

I just wished we'd kept Richard Wright. I really think letting him go was the difference.

 

PJ is a bullish and no nonsense kind of manager. He seems to know what he wants and what he doesn't. Therefore, if we do carry our recent mediocrity into next season we have to ask three questions;

1) Who is really pulling the strings and negating our future hopes and dreams if PJ doesn't get the job done.
2) Why did Town employ PJ in the first place if they won't support him
3) What is happening to our beloved club (as very well highlighted by Stratton) and will the spiral be allowed to continue

 

Beginning to think that either both or one of SG and ME think the managers job doesn't extend beyond the training ground and pitch side, and supporting the manager is as simple as giving him time.

 

An interesting conversation going on here and I agree with a lot of the points made. It seems that PJ is suffering from the effects of the last two managers. ME doesn't seem as ready to splash the cash as much as when he first arrived due to the record of poor signings under Jim and Roy. It says a lot when you have players leaving and nobody signing, it's like everyone is jumping from a sinking ship, what do they know that we don't?
I'm with Stratton a bit on building a team with the current crop of kids but that can also backfire when after a couple of years, just as the team is starting to get really good, some of them want to leave because we haven't been promoted.

 

What kids San Diego? I think I counted we are down to 17 players with first team experience - including the out-of-favour ones and including Wickham, Carson, Hyam and Smith.

 

Well there's a start right there Hampy, add in O'connor at left back and Ronan Murray and that's already enough kids to be called a young team. We haven't seen anything of Hourihane for whatever reason. My point is that we have some talented youngsters right now who we could mould into a decent team if we allow them to grow together and make a few mistakes without the fans getting on their backs. If we break the bank for Bullard you might find this team could surprise a lot of people.
Edwards new centre back Delaney O'Connor
Drury/Peters Bullard Leadbitter Carson
Wickham Scotland
Subs Murray, Hourihane, Smith, Priskin, Peters/Drury, Kennedy, Hyam

 

O'Connor yeah. He should be in the side anyway. Murray not so sure about but he and Wickham would probably do well together.

 

OK so we'd have something like:

Fulop
Edwards - Smith - Delaney - O'Connor
Carson - Leadbitter - Hyam - Civelli
Murray - Wickham

To be honest, I think that side would be relegated.

 

SD you're right about the kids wanting to leave if they're any good, but hopefully we'll get a decent fee for them and we wont have had to pay them the earth in wages in the mean time. I know Kieron gets slated a bit, but it was his transfer that ultimately funded the purchase of Marcus Stewart and the rest is history. I'm surprised Hyam didnt get more of a look in because he was the bright spot of the start of last season.

LYHL - its a fair point that we are known worldwide for our times under Sir Bob, but can you honestly ever see those days returning? I'd love to think so, but reckon that it will take the Sky TV deal to collapse and for the Arabs to think that football club ownership is not such a good idea at all for Premiership Clubs to be brought down onto a level playing field. I honestly think that we are playing at our level in the current climate. The Championship is by no means all bad. Its an honest game and players dont generally roll around as though they have been shot. There's a lot of what I would call proper clubs with real fans as well. I'd love to us do Man Utd 6-0 again, but dont particularly want to see us lose 9-0 again either!

 

Or how about
Peters/Edwards.......New CB.......Delaney.......O'Connor
.............................Hyam..................................
Murray.......Drury.............Leadbitter.............Carson
............................Wickham................................

A 4-5-1 Turning into a front 3 of Murray,Wickham and Carson on the attack. A young team full of energy and the ability to grow together and form partnerships all around the pitch.

 

Who is the new CB we signed? I must've missed that one.

OK so you've swapped out Civelli for Drury - fair call. That won't win us the title though, will it?

 

I think that the teams listed above serve to demonstrate that we have some good young talent, but equally highlights the absolute necessity to add experience and genuine quality.

I agree with you San Diego about a young team growing together but would also concur with LYHL that we would probably be facing a relegation fight in the meantime.

 

Guys, before getting all doom and gloom, ask yourselves this, Who thought that Blackpool and Norwich had strong enough sides to get promoted? On paper plenty had Blackpool as relegation candidates when they got promoted and Norwich as a mid table side this season but somehow they both proved everyone wrong and managed the unthinkable, so it goes to show that its not all about having the big names etc!! A good team spirit and a bit of momentum can go a long way. I think PJ is the kind of guy that will get the team gelling and playing for each other. I'm glad those that left did leave because their hearts obviously were not in it, so we are better off without them and those that have stayed obviously want to do well for Town and will try their damndest!!!