Seriously guys, the man who runs our local Micro brewery, says he's available! He doesn't know much about football but at least CAN organise a piss up in a brewery!! Which will be a big improvement on what you've got at the moment!
tractor bhoy - this is Cov's first season there and Sheff Utd's second (and they missed out by a whisker) ... I'm not saying you can guarantee coming straight back-up - but bigger clubs generally do (or come pretty close) - indeed had forgotten Charlton ... took Forest and Leeds more than one season but look where they are now ..
Yes I know Fosse, although I could have worded it better in hindsight. By Coventry floundering I meant are still struggling even though they are in the lower division. At this rate they are facing back to back relegations although there is plenty of the season to go still. Sheffield United were expecting to be back here within a season and failed but to be fair they did face stiff opposition. They have had to refuse to play some of their better players this season as they cant afford their appearance fees. The big question is with the new financial fair play regulations can we afford to be out of this league. In past seasons it has theoritically been easy to buy the cream of lower league talent as you have been a big fish in a small pond.The other issue is that most other clubs fans have stuck by their team. 25k attendances in league 1 is a major plus point but we are struggling to get past 16k at present and would guess we are losing 500 fans a home game currently. PR last night was the emptiest I can recall. Its fine being a big fish because of your 30k all seater stadium and your succesful past but playing in front of crowds of under 10k and without the ability for major financial backing means we would really have any clout. It may turn out to be a blessing if we are relegated and possibly call me pessimistic but I would rather not try this experiment.
Have to agree with you and being relegated however you spin it and whatever the future holds is something I would be devastated if it happens to us. No positives can be found in Ipswich Town being relegated
I really do not want to see u relegated. What I want to see is a long term plan/vision, (which I thought we were finally having until the past month) and if that means taking a risk on a young up and coming manager with a real vision who will build the club up top to bottom and continue to develop some of the players we already have but means we are more likely to get relegated this season then so be it, I'd rather that than have a stop gap manager who means we keep treading water with short term loans and a high turnover of managers!!! But I really do not think relegation would be a good thing for us!!!
with all due respect to luton, ipswich are a much bigger club and not in the same situation as they were. fosse has made some excellent points, some of which i've made before. the most any big clubs spend in league one is generally around four years - leeds and forest both took that long to get out. after a while, all the best players form that league migrate towards the bigger clubs and it is inevitable you get out - it also gives you a good squad to build in the championship with. you just have to accept that it might take more than one season down there but eventually it'll go right. it all depends how you want to view it: relegation would be a GOOD thing for ipswich as it would mean you could start from scratch, get rid of all your over paid players, use your youth and build confidence by winning games again or; relegation would be a BAD thing for ipswich because in all honesty, there is a very realistic chance you'd go bust. attendances would drop near 10k. it could take years to get out of the mess. at the end of the day, its not a choice you get to make â you end up where you deserve to and take it from there. the most important thing you have to do if you go down is to accept that you deserve to be that low down. if you think you're too good or too big to be in that league then you'll be punished. we had a whale of a time in that league but its not like that for everyone. all depends on who you appoint and just how messed up your club is behind the scenes, but you are hardly doomed just yet anyway. you've only played 12 games!
Supers your one plus point for relegation I feel is why we don't want to get relegated. We actually do not have any real overpaid players at the club atm, well knowhere near what we used to, perhaps Chopra being the only one. Other than that we actually have very little deadwood at the club left. We have alot of loans, the squad doesn't need an overhaul, it needs to be added to and not in an adhoc manner like it has been the past couple of months!!
PTC, Chopra, JET and Martin are all overpaid, undercommited and in need of a good kick up the arse. I actually boooed when we put Chopra on last night. I was hoping I would never see him in a town shirt again. Other than that it is scary who little is left in our squad. Dont suppose we should be surprised considering our next to nothing wage bill and budget!
so you wouldn't say that emmanuel-thomas, lee martin, luke chambers et al aren't on 8k+? trust me, these are big earners in relation to league one and aren't the kind of players you'd require in that division. you need battlers, players who know the league inside out. you actually wouldn't have to cut your loans down but they wouldn't be the same calibre you get right now - they'd be young 'uns from premier league clubs, looking for experience. as i say, its impossible to know if relegation would be a good thing for ipswich or not. it was only good for norwich because of numerous factors involved in the early days of that season. had gunn stayed in charge i expect we'd still be in that league if not lower. as it stands, many would say its been disastrous for coventry - but if they get their act together and get promoted in say three years time and come back a stronger and better side, surely that's been beneficial? its about short term pain for long term gain. unless you really believe you'd either go bust or get relegated to league two, it will probably do you more good than harm, but its still early days this season and with the right manager you could still finish mid table this year.
I'm not exactly sure what you are arguing for both Supers and Tractorbhoy, I fail to see what point you are trying to make!! All footballers are overpaid. But I feel we currently have very few high earners at the club in relation to the rest of the league comparing to the quality we have. And there's noone really at the club I hope we get rid of!! So what I am saying is a) I don't think our squad needs a complete overhaul and b) we don't have many high earners in comparison to this league. So I don't want us to be relegated because we do not need a complete change of personnel which relegation would most likely bring and the only player who we probably would like off the wage bill is Ellington and possibly Chopra (but we'll see what the new management is able to do with him)!!
what i'm saying is you're wrong on both these fronts! i bet you anything you like that not one player in the derby squad who beat you last night is paid anywhere near as much as the top few earners in your team. you may have cut your wage bill dramatically over the summer but that was by releasing numbers – you'll still likely have a number of players earning five figures a week – not many championship clubs do that. if you went down you'd have to lose all those. i think the average wage of a league one footballer is less than £1.5k a week just to give you some perspective - i expect nearly everyone (except youth players) are on more than that amount as it stands. i also think you are overrating your current squads abilities. you are bottom of the league and this is despite having 8 other teams players on your books. take those away and you have one of, if not the weakest squad in the league.
I would agree with you on the Derby front their wage bill is one of the lowest in the league, but not compared to the rest of the Championship!! We have most probably some high earners but not to the extent which we used to and not to the extent I'm sure alot teams in our division do (I am not including the loan signings btw). We've reportedly gone from £18million wage bill to £6 million since Jewell has been in charge. You're right we released numbers and most of those were high earners, plus players like Scotland and Edwards took wage cuts!! Plus I'm not disputing that we would have to loose players if we went down, part of the reason as to why I am confused why you are arguing with me about it!!! Taking all our loan players out of the equation we have a weak squad, little depth and little balance but that is not what I am arguing but we do have some quality players!! I'm saying we do not need to get relegated for the reason you said because I do not feel we need a complete overhaul of the players we currently have on our books, we have some quality in our squad who just need adding to with a bit of experience/presence or different types of players. IMO we have alot of good players for this division, none of whom I really think we need to get rid of, we need to add to them. I do not want to see our next manager get rid of alot of players and bring loads in (like Keane did) we have enough quality to work on. We've got players like Chambers, Edwards, Hewitt, Cresswell, JET, Martin, Hyam, Drury, Taylor, Scotland, Chopra. All of these I feel are good players at this level, the next manager I feel does not need to get rid of them and alot of these could get into alot of other Championship teams!!
i really don't think they would! again, i think you've overestimated how good these players actually are.
I think we (as Ipswich Fans) watching Championship football week in week out are slightly better placed.. (That sounds a bit bitchy Supers - it isn't meant too) I have to agree (in the most part with PTC) we have no balance, little depth and absolutely no belief. Cresswell as a perfect example was good last season and dreadful this, personally I don't think he has become a bad player over the summer, he has simply got into a rut and into bad habits as the rest of the team have. I think with 3 - 5 good signings (loan or permanent) in January and we would have an average mid table side (similar to the likes of Derby, Burnley & Watford who I have always considered to be of a similar standing to ourselves - in the 12th - 16th area of the league)
i've seen you twice - that's more than some of your fans! obviously one or two of them are potentially good but these players are not great shakes. none of them. you'll need a lot of surgery in january, regardless of loanees coming and going. 3-5 signings is quite a lot mid-season by the way and shows exactly how weak you think you are as it stands.
But whenever an Ipswich fans offers an opinion of the Norwich squad it's dismissed. Not that I have myself (as I put you in the same boat as 6 or 7 teams in the Prem who in that fight) and I appreciate you have a genuine interest in Ipswich but in all honesty we are better placed to judge our team. 3 players mid season isn't disastrous if it is to supplement the squad and address issues of balance in certain areas and in all honesty PJ has been let down by his players.. A lot, yes there are some shortfalls in our team/squad but looking around we are not in a doom and gloom situation in terms of talent the likes of Scumthorpe, Preston and Peterborough were when they got relegated, however there is obviously still a lot of work for us to do
as i say, i'm just giving my opinion. you can dismiss it as you please - most do - but judging by your results and the two games i've seen you play this season, ptc has over estimated the ability of your players. whether that be judging them purely on what he's seen of them in the past, this season or judging them by reputation alone, i believe he is wrong about many of them. if you asked me 'are you one of the three weakest teams in the division' i'd reply 'yes, i think you are'. that means you require strengthening, cos your current personnel isn't up to it. interesting you highlight three teams who were arguably the three weakest championship sides of the last five years. not that that is important - you need to compare against the likes of birmingham and millwall, who i believe will struggle this year. are you better than they are? are you better than bristol city, peterborough (yes, probably), sheffield wednesday? i mean, derby are by no means great shakes but they won at your place, as did charlton. i just don't think you're as good as you think you are. you're in big trouble, no matter who comes in. that doesn't mean you'll go down but you're making a habit of being near or in the relegation zone during each of the last few seasons. that must tell you something and your team looks weaker than last season on both paper and grass
If you think we are one of the three worst teams in this division then that is your opinion and currently I would be foolish to argue with you, as we have been very poor in recent weeks (or atleast very poor during decisive periods of matches) However I would question what you are basing this on? Have you actually watched much championship football in great detail from your lofty perch in the Premier league. The standard down here is not that great a lot of the time, otherwise the players of Watford, Millwall etc. would be getting poached by the 'big boys' and if you're basing it solely on results and 30 second snippets on the football league show then your argument is quite a weak one.
