£5m Jack Marriott

not good enough for McCarthy, scores a goal and a penalty on the way to a win at Old Trafford against a strong United XI.

Meanwhile, Jordan Rhodes scores a hat-trick to take Norwich through.

At the weekend, David McGoldrick scored the winner for Sheffield United to take them 4th.

When people criticise Paul Hurst, and whether he succeeds or fails, some need to remember exactly what it was he inherited.

 

Fair point

 

As for Lampard- he reportedly had talks with ME but obviously didn't like what he was hearing, as well as Lampard is doing up at Derby not too sure he would have had the backing to be a success here.

Another missed chance? too soon to answer that

 

You win some, you lose some.
For every Marriott and Rhodes, there's a Connor Sammon and Frank Nouble
Rhodes was unfortunate that he was influenced by the row between Keane and his old man, and Marriott to be fair, looked so overweight and had a bad attitude.
You can also balance it out with the profits we made on Wickham and Mings who have totally flopped since we sold them

 

Valid point Hampy. While MM clearly got on well with the old guard, trusted servants, his man-management skills and attitude for our more talented/gifted players were seemingly lacking. And over the years, I was saddened to see the creative flair of many players crushed out of them.

That above all else reflected in the type of drivel we were served up with week in week out.

 

The difference between Marriott and Nouble, and indeed with Kieffer Moore, is that to anybody who saw them play they had talent and an energy about them.

The point is, Hurst inherited very little to work with and that's down to some unjustifiable decisions by either the owner or Hurst's predecessors. Maybe it was down to this short term-ist, get points now mentality.

 

Lamps was my first choice, but realistically his spirit would have been crushed had he not had some decent money to spend. I'd put my house on the transfer budget being the reason he opted out.

 

Yorkie - i disagree. We've probably got a far bigger and superior pool of youngsters today then we did 5/6 years ago. Dozzell, Nydam, Downes, Wolfy - all good enough to be playing at this level. Back then, we probably only had one youngster per season that was capable.
Plus, i also disagree with Marriott - i saw him play for Woking whilst on loan, and he looked awful. He's had one exceptional season last season, but that aside, his figures are average, and at L2 and and conference.

 

Woolfenden is a real talent, but these midfielders are average, Championship standard at best. Dozzell had more potential but it doesn't quite look like it will happen for him.

 

Dozzell aside, and maybe Wolfenden, I also think Nydam and Downes are overrated by some Town supporters. They never really performed consistently under Mick last season, and Downes has struggled this campaign. Nydam in particular was somebody talked up a lot last season, but for me, didn’t really influence games that I saw. Maybe that was Mick’s system letting him down though, as he was clearly comfortable on the ball. I think that they need time and minutes on the pitch, elsewhere, to develop into potential Ipswich first team candidates.

Completely agree regarding Marriott though. Before last season, nobody really mentioned him as somebody who “got away”. Barely talked about when he left here either. He’s clearly in some good form and had a brilliant 2017/18 season in League One, but he’s an exceptional late-bloomer (who we can’t be blamed for letting go), at best.

 

Stretchy never fancied him but Weighty really sung his praises, as did I and several others. He was talked about a lot, on here and off here.

Comment from Mad Ads in December 2013 sums up the majority viewpoint at that time:
"Well done jack. Valuable game time. He must be brimming with confidence. Lets see if he not only keep it up but bring it with him to a higher level. Be it with us or mick lets him out to league 1 or 2 club. He's quite obviously got something."

Then out of the blue we just let him go and other diamonds in the rough have met a similar fate.

 

Just don't get all the hype surrounding our youngsters, there certainly ain't a Dyer, Ambrose, Bramble, Bent or Wright amongst them.....actually there is a Wright, who hopefully will be as good as his dad!

 

Fair enough, if there was chatter about him on here around that time and people rated him, then I can’t really comment as I didn’t post much during the Jewell years / early McCarthy period.

However, I never got the impression he was highly rated among the Ipswich fans I am friends with / spent time with in that period. I didn’t get the sense there was a great uproar when he left that matched the bafflement surrounding the Rhodes departure, for example. I think the point still stands that he wasn’t mentioned before his excellent form last season, so whether he has sustained success or just one or two good seasons remains to be seen.

 

I think Woolfenden might be the exception here Spanish but apart from that totally agree. Hurst inherited, for the most part, a load of crap.

 

It wasn't going to happen here for Marriott with us.

http://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/jack-ma...e-right-decision-says-mick-mccarthy-1-5469739 = I don't see what Mick can do to help this.

Rhodes - still grates but I can understand Keane selling him to a point. Wickham was on the scene, takes a brave manager to have both and develop them. Keane has since admitted it was a shame he's left - not going to hunt for quotes but happens.

Ahhh McGoldrick. Glorious player but we couldn't get him onto the pitch often enough! Probably had to go, but would have loved him to stay.

Oh there's no disputing various key players left - Waghorn / Garner / Webster.

However, he had a budget to spend.

He's been with that budget, allowed to get loanees in too to complement the squad. He's gone all Paul Jewell with that approach.

Mick got us some damned fine loanees. Celina / Lawrence / Fraser for example. Why hasn't Hurst been able to get anyone of this ilk?

Not at all impressed with his summer dealings personally, on the whole. Sure, some will do well and arguably are - however considering the loans + permanents - on the whole? Massively underwhelmed.

 

This is a good point. It was not entirely down to Mick of course, our scouting team and Dave Bowman were arguably more influential, but we had a knack of bringing in a star player on loan that provided some proven quality out wide. In fact, we created a bit of a reputation by giving opportunities to highly-rated Premier League fringe players, that arguably should have been playing for a better side than us. Celina was used sparingly, but still scored several goals and provided assists, Fraser was unfortunately affected by injuries but looked a class above whenever he took to the pitch, and Tom Lawrence was probably the key player (alongside Bart) in keeping us up that 2016/17 season. I don't think we have anyone of that calibre in this squad right now. If Chalobah and Edun were meant to follow on from that 'quality loan' tradition, then I think we've been sold short as they're too young. Edwards could grow into his role and chip in with a few more goals, at least his ours, but the jury is still out there as he has not been effective away from home.

 

Westlake - if he lost a stone and a half since he left Town, that reflects badly only on Mick, not the player - and it bears out what Hurst said about the squad being in poor physical condition when he came in.

In my opinion, loans are a waste of time, even the good ones - and should be used only to plug a hole in the team like our CB situation. How have Town benefited from giving game time to Lawrence or Celina or Townsend? The answer is that we haven’t.

 

I don't think Mick can control what he eats and drinks mate!

I don't think it reflects very well on the player personally, but that's just me.

Well, I'd say with all of them, they helped us that season! Granted, not long term, however for me if the loanee is miles better than our player like the examples above, we'd be silly to say no.

I'm not a fan of how the game has gone, but the loan market given our position can massively help us.

 

I'd argue that in the case of Tom Lawrence, his goals and assists played a large role in helping us avoid relegation. He scored nine goals in that 2016/17 season, our top scorer, and directly contributed to us winning nine points (through goals alone) in a season where we finished four points above relegation.

And watching Celina play last season was one of the precious few positive experiences I had watching us last year.

I agree we shouldn't rely on loan signings, and having five or six in and around the first team this season is a little dispiriting. However, if we can bring in a loan player that provides a clear improvement in quality over what we have, then we should be ambitious and bring that quality in. I have no regrets watching Lawrence, Celina, and Fraser at Portman Road over the years, it's a positive experience watching that quality of football that we unfortunately haven't managed to attract to the team in recent years.

 

Maybe there is a link between our reliance on loan signings and our inability to give opportunities to our own talent who end up finding those opportunities elsewhere. Just sayin'.