I have just found this excellent blog and thought to share this with you. A great summary in my view, perfectly balanced and sums up our present dire situation. Much food for thought for all the Jewell apologists still out there! (You know who you are!) I see the argument raise its head time after time. When fans discuss the current dismal situation with the club a regular argument offered by those that think Paul Jewell should have more time is that ‘This situation is because of Roy Keane’. Does it have any validity? Now, cards on the table from the off, I personally think Paul Jewell is tactically inept, contradictory and his ability to coach better performances from players has yet to be shown. In addition, he has never (ever, at any club) shown any aptitude towards nurturing youth talent- something which I would expect as a pre-requisite for any ITFC manager. That said, I don’t consider Roy Keane any better. He spent a mass of cash. Hooked us into huge contracts and then, apparently, bullied the players into bad performances/results. On the upside for both, they are/were very frank in interviews. Keane was good at giving youths a chance, although let good players go. Jewell brought a good young signing (in my opinion) of Aaron Cresswell and hopeful ones in JET, Scott Loach and Elliott Hewitt. So, to the question. Is the current situation Jewell’s fault? My immediate answer is ‘No’. Without question. How could it be? When Keane left we were in a poor state (League Cup semi or not), Gareth McAuley and David Norris's contracts were running out, we had only won two in 10 and morale (in the stands and apparently in the team) was dismally low. Now, as an incoming manager to a decent team like Ipswich, with relatively great facilities, what would be your initial plans? We can assume that Jewell was brought in to promote us ASAP (hopefully that first season) judging by the players brought in. I’d assert that Jewell was very much financially backed by Marcus Evans - although I have issues with those above Jewell too, it isn’t through this. If you add up the wages offered to Jimmy Bullard, Lee Bowyer, Ivar Ingimarsson, Nathan Ellington, Ibrahima Sonko, David Stockdale, Daryl Murphy, Keith Andrews, Danny Collins and Alex McCarthy, plus the likely signing on fees, plus the pay-offs to those Jewell changed his mind on. Plus the transfer fees for JET, Cresswell, Michael Chopra, Ryan Stevenson and Hewitt. And now the further wages being paid to the current crop of seven loanees, there is no relative lacking in support for Jewell’s escapades. In fact, on the back of a *** packet, I estimated the above and it resulted in approaching the figure we got for Connor Wickham’s sale. Even if you adjust for the fact ‘someone’ had to come in, and alternatives cost less in wages, it is still several £million. Jewell has most certainly spent the ‘family savings’, just not as obviously as Keane - although I will concede that Keane spent more all in all. So, Jewell had several players leaving, or out of contract, and stated that he would need to rebuild. At the time I thought this was a great position. We had a little cash, a new manager would want to play a certain way, he would essentially have a clean slate to work from and could bring players in to suit whatever formation that he deemed required. If he wanted to play 4-4-2/4-1-2-1-2/4-2-2-2-1, and we were short of a goalkeeper, right-back, two centre-halves, a left-back, two central midfielders, a wide player and two strikers, hee would have five whole months to scout like hell and find the right players to fit the positions needed. That’s right. We needed around 10 new players. That much was clear at the time. Jewell had several months to source them, get a list of 20/30/40 for each position if need be. Clubs have access to whose contracts are running out, they have lots of contact from agents desperate to sell their clients on, they have a large group of scouts to send out all over the country (and further) AND there were a few younger players coming through (anyone remember Luke Hyam, Josh Carson, Tommy Smith, Shane O’Connor, Cody Cropper or Callum Bennett?). So, Jewell, in his wisdom, went for the ‘well-done’ ex-Premier player main course, seasoned with a good dose of loanee and served with a cancelled contract sauce. You don’t need to be on Masterchef to know how that Jewell concoction would turn out. Not only were the players brought in, in the main, either wasted cash or mind-boggling, the initial concept that Jewell could bring in players to fit his desired formation was a stunning failure. Jewell appeared to have absolutely no concept of the formation he wanted. He played narrow, played standard 4-4-2, played one man up front, played with two tall wide men so all and sundry could pump the ball to them in some 1980s Wimbledon fashion. All that looked disjointed and the players brought in to play them seemed just as stunned as the fans. Where was the cohesion? Yes, there were a few high points. West Ham at home being the main one, in my opinion. Yep, it’s great when we win like that, but it seemed despite the manager rather than because. By late 2011 almost every single player that Jewell was playing had either been signed by him, or had signed a new contract with him. It was Jewell’s team. No question. Now, some may suggest that it takes time for a new team to gel. I totally agree, and this is where it gets more surprising. How can a team gel when you tinker with it so furiously? When you bring in a new player every several games from another club? When you release players you had brought in yourself? When the tactics you select don’t appear to suit the players you brought in/kept? Jewell was brought in as an EXPERIENCED manager. He had managed over 500 matches previously and was the man to instantly take us to the next level. Fast forward 12 months after his appointment and he is apologising for players not being signed in time (cue Grant Leadbitter exiting for nothing), getting too many loanees in, relying too much on ex-Premier players, the same mistakes being made by HIS players over and over (coaching issues?) etc etc. All the while utterly failing our younger players. Experienced manager? Just another way of saying ‘out of date’ perhaps? So, to the current day. All the players at the club for the last year or so have been here through Jewell. We are currently back to playing one striker and ‘big wide men’- the ‘JET and Murphy wide, so hump to them’ formation. Recent transfer activity brought us Paul Taylor. He looked lively, without goals, but how exactly would he fit into this formation? Does he replace Chopra? Is Taylor a player you would seriously play up front on his own? Does this indicate anything other than desperation? Add in the current influx of loanees allied with the reverting to shuffling our OWN younger players to the background and the picture is clear. This is Jewell’s mess. In the ‘Is it Keane’s fault’ scenario, I just keep returning to the question, ‘Where?’ Jewell had his own players, readily admits that he has been totally supported financially by Marcus Evans (or rather, the debt has been sufficiently increased by Evans), has made all of the tactical, selection and purchase decisions himself over the last 22 months and has still come up very short. Keane was an exciting appointment that worked out very poorly. Jewell is no less disappointing and, if anything, because of the experience he was feted to have, perhaps even more disappointing. Keane was poor, Jewell is Megson-esque. Keane has a lot of things to be blamed for, but Jewell’s ongoing ineptitude is not one of them.
Fairly good blog and some very good points raised.....I feel an essay coming on....... I'm of the opinion that out of everyone at out club Keane has put us further back than anybody. Given the situation he was in and the tools he was given he ripped us apart. We've had managers who I haven't warmed to in the past but IMO we've never had a manager who I've felt had the potential to ruin our club, which in the end he did. And what ever manager were to come in after his reign was going to have a hell of a task, as this blog alludes to we had a very poor squad with a lack of harmony, it was a squad that was the furthest from a traditional ITFC squad I have ever known with players you felt had no connection to the club and I think many were there because of working with Keane over coming to the club, we were Roy Keanes Ipswich not Ipswich!! We had players who had shown no form in the entire time they were here and players who were on very good wages. Despite the mess we were in there was no plan from the top, still PL at the first opportunity and also fans expectations were that we were going to challenge that season (it was never going to happen)!! IMO this is why PJ went for the get the experience in, we needed 10 players minimum yet we wanted to be more prudent in terms of transfer fees and we had one summer transfer window to do this, this was a mistake we needed a few more long term signings and now this season we have gone to the other end of the scale and probably now he should have brought a few more experienced players in over the summer. My biggest problem with PJ teams is a lack of resilience, I actually think he is a good talent spotter and generally brings in very good players but he hasn't brought in what we've needed soon enough and when things aren't going our way (quite alot) we fold, theirs no leadership on or off the pitch, it just seems we accept things aren't going our way, there's noone shouting at each other telling people to dig in. I still think PJ is a decent manager but only at a club already going in the right direction, I actually think if he would have been appointed when Keane was he would have done a decent job with us. Both managers have to take the blame, you cannot blame Keane for the things that are currently happening but he put us in a position that's very hard to reverse and left us in a position whereby we had to recreate a team over a short space of time but PJ has been unable to reverse the tide. In my eyes though Keane destroyed us on every level if PJ were to leave today, our league position is awful but our wages are under control and we do have some good players. I agree that PJ has made some very strange tactical decisions but I think that about every single manager who's been in charge at ITFC. And the argument that he is unable to coach better performances from players on the whole I disagree with, players like Martin, Edwards & Scotland look like completely different players than they did under the last regime where I thought they were a waste of space. On the opinion that Keane gave youth a chance, that he did in his 2nd season but I mainly believe that was a statement to the club (not giving him money or signing players) and also the older players (I'm putting these untried youngsters, often out of position because you're crap basically), I'm not sure there were many players who he actually believed in and he didn't exactly nuture them, he just chucked them in at the deep end. I also believe PJ has been fairly well backed, not to the extent of his predecesors but he's had a fair amount of money to spend, last season he must of had spent alot of wages but this season we've gone to having to have the wages to be correct, it seems as long as the wages are low enough we are willing to spend the transfer fee as long as we do not think it's excessive, which I think is right. But as a club we've gone from one disaster to another. When ME took over we needed to invest in a couple of decent players, we didn't need major investment so he the went and gave a load of money to Jim and Keane to spend, it wasn't needed and it didn't work. He saw that this didn't work so he didn't want give the next manager as much to spend but it was still PL at the first opportunity, IMO this couldn't be done, we needed alot of investment but we wanted to get to the PL to quickly so we went for the old has beens but then that didn't work, so now we have a case of going the other way again and going for the young and hungry players on low wages, when IMO we could do with a little bit more investment and perhaps a little manouverability in terms of the wages just to get a more competitive squad together. So basically ME as a club has perhaps made the right decisions at the wrong times, we've gone from a club who perhaps needed only a little bit of investment but pumped loads of money in to now needing investment in the team and not giving any. And in terms of PJ we've gone from a team who has too many old heads and needing some young and hungry players to a team that needs some old heads!!! I think perhaps this goes for PJ in terms of players also, he brings in good players but not players that we need most, he doesn't neccessarily bring in players to compliment those we currently have. For example Chambers IMO is a decent defender but he needs a leader next to him but we've just got Tommy Smith, IMO we need a Big Target man upfront to compliment the strikers we already have, so we bring in DJ who again is a very good player but similar to what we've got, we need a proper winger so we bring in Taylor again is a very good player but is best centrally just behind the striker like both JET and Martin are!!! I do get the feeling PJ will get the right team eventually but not before it's too late. Keane cannot be to blame for the mistakes this summer or this season but Keane destroyed the club if PJ left today, we're in trouble but we have a good core of players and players mainly playing for the shirt and wages are finally under control.
We have a good core of players but lets get real 7 of them aren't ours and will go back to their respective clubs before christmas. Jewell says one thing and goes and does the exact opposite! The now infamous statement when he recognises his own mistakes about bringing in too many loans and wanting to now build for the future, fast forward 4 or 5 months and we are now back to having older loan players again! He just can't help himself. Keane was a poor appointment and Jewell is just as bad and is in danger of compounding the mistakes made by Keane! A new broom is desperately needed!
Keane screwed us up by getting rid of footballing talent and making us so workmanlike and defensively minded that we rarely ventured out of our own half. The problem being that although we played a 10-0-0 formation we still conceded stupid goal after stupid goal. It was the most boring stage of football I have ever experienced but at least he seemed to get the players in he wanted (mainly over rated premier league reserves but thats another topic) Jewell talks sense, is too honest (what you call excuses I see as blatant honesty but repeating the same things over and over again means problems arent being resolved) but is unable to tighten us regardless of tactic. With him I do feel that things should be better and I can understand where a lot of the things he does should work but they havent but does this mean he is just a good talker (scouse wit?) but bad at putting his ideas in practice? The Bowyer & Sonko signings on paper looked like adding the experienced steel rather than the likes of Norris being a headless charging bull but failed. I feel he has been majorly let down by the board but what he has done has also been very 'jump in with both feet' when we needed a few experienced heads we got hundreds of them, when we needed a loan or two in the current situation we got 500 hundred of them. When he makes long term signings for the club I think he generally does well but when he gets to the panic stage all logic flies out of the window. I cant see the Keane left us any decent outlook but with Jewell I think we have something to work with. Possibly this makes it even worse - the fact that you feel things should be so much better than they are. Where Keane made us professional and made the atmosphere and PR seem like hell on earth, Jewell has made it a place of fun (taking away the results and the frustration it brings) but maybe this happy element is the reason we are so unconvincing. We dont seem professional enough to take chances or clear the box - its a very casual affair. I dont agree that Jewell has been given a decent budget. The players Keane signed, as they came with the Premier League price tags would have wages to suit I assume and on transfer fees alone Roy spent more in one summer than Jewell has in total. RK's squad wage bill was 17M a year, Jewells is currently 6m. Although i think Jewell has been given the worst budget of any ME era managers, it doesnt remove the fact that he has made 3 1 million pound signings (Chopra, JET & Taylor) and we are yet to see any kind of form for 2 of them with the third unluckily injured. With the current budget I dont see it being large enough for us to make a realistic play off bid but that doesnt hide the fact that 2nd bottom is a joke and totally unacceptable. So Smaller budget but still not reaching the heights expected when this is taken into consideration. In summary both managers have been failures just one done it with a snarl and one with a smile. Neither could find balance, neither had more than a 3 or 4 game period when we looked like we were onto something good, neither came out overly succesful in the transfer market. When the history of ITFC is writen tthe pages of both managers will have very fews positives to read. Where we go next is one that could kill or Cure the Club and to be honest I dont trust ME to make that decision correctly.
Well said TB. As you say, it's worrying to think about who ME will choose as the next manager. McCarthy will be at Bolton by the time he makes a decision on Jewell.
How we as supporters all long for the days of George Burley when the football his teams played was a joy to watch. Neat incisive one-touch football with a sharp cutting edge. The daysof Johno and Stewie up front with the spine of Holland, Mogga, Venus & Wrighty, the midfield magic from Magilton and the crossing ability of Clapham and Wilnis. What a team and what an era, one that is a million light years away from what we have had to endure over the past 4 years. McCarthy is bound for Bolton so how about a radical plan of Tarricco as head coach and Burley or Mills as director of football?
The thing is JWM we are playing football like we were under the Burley era, at times we are playing better football than I've see us play since the Burley years. Infact I'd say PJ's style is more like Burleys than any other manager we've had since. Royle was much more direct, hit it forward as quickly as possible to our forwards and we only then started playing football in the final third picking up loose balls. Under Jim we played the purist football but it was only for about 20 mins in a match and Keane was just the most uninspiring football I've ever seen. I'd definitely say PJ's style of football is similar to that of Burleys it's just we haven't got the character or resiliance like the Burley team had!! I really liked Burley but I'm not really sure if you should go back although my heart says yes, my head says no!! As for Tarricco I have no idea about (I thought you wanted and experienced manager JWM??) I'm not sure he'd be a risk worth taking, he seems a good coach but does he have the temperament to be a manager??? If we were to take a risk on a No. 2 I'd prefer to go for someone like Venus, he comes accross as very knowledgeable on all things football. As for Mick Mills his knowledge of all things Ipswich and his insight on the games and tactics are spot on, IMO he should really get himself a job on national TV because he speaks more sense than anyone I've heard for a long time on football matters, it would be great if he could be involved in the club in some role (maybe a coach??) but his managerial record is pretty dire. As I've said before my prime candidate would be for us to offer Paul Tisdale a 5 year contract!!
Sorry ptc but I totally disagree with this! PJ's style of playing is nothing like Burley! For one thing Burley's teams were set up with 2 up front and Scowie playing in the hole. Burley's team's played attacking one-touch football that was an absolute joy to watch and when we went a goal up it was more than likely going on to win the game. Burley's teams would put the opposition to the sword once they got the first goal. PJ's team folds like a pack of cards all too easily. The team under BFJ was almost as good in as much as we could score shed loads of goals and play decent football at the same time. BFJ's archilles heel was in the fact that we also conceded too many hence the scorelines like Ipswich 6 Crewe 4! BFJ's team would wipe the floor with this current lot. For the life of me I cant see how you can draw any similarity between now and back in Burley's era! If MM goes to Bolton then I would settle either for Billy Davis or go down the radical route and offer Tarricco the chance with an experienced director of football working beside him. Burley would be a great shout for this role.
Just because we are loosing currently alot and you don't like PJ doesn't mean that you can't think there are any similarities between PJ's style and Burleys. So you don't think we are playing good passing one touch football atm? What style of football do you think we are playing. IMO when in possession of the ball we are currently playing football like we were under the Burley era, like I say we just don't have the same character or resiliance but in terms of style of play it is similar. I fail to see how it is nothing like the Burley era. Just because you liked Burley and don't like PJ doesn't mean you cannot see the similarities!! Is it really completely different??? Like I said apart from Keane the football we played under Royle was the furthest away from Burleys style. It was very direct, we often wouldn't play it out from the back through the midfield we bypass the midfield aim a long ball up at the strikers or over the top then pick up the scraps, which is when we started playing football.
ptc Burley set his team up for all out attack with 2 up front! Jewell set's his team up with the priority of not losing and playing 1 up front! Big, Big difference wouldn't you agree? There are many differences between the two and I can't believe that we are arguing about this!
I fail to see how Jewell sets his teams up with the priority of not loosing, yes he appears to like only playing 1 upfront but setting up his team with a priority of not loosing is something you can't accuse Jewell of. If anything every now and again he should do. So would you say as Keane mostly played 2 upfront that his style of play was more similar to Burleys than Jewell is?? Just because they play different formations does not mean the style of play is different. JWM the actual style of play not the formation do you think PJ is similar to Burley? Passing and movement, I'm not talking about 1 upfront, which btw most teams appear to adopt these days! Just because you don't like the guy doesn't mean you can't say anything remotely positive about him, to compare him to our last successful manager!!!
Burley also used to prefer 3 CB's and PJ only has 2, this must mean Burley set up his teams for all out defence!!!
Why did no one reply when I posted this 2 days ago? http://www.not606.com/showthread.php/173497-A-good-blog
I actually saw that at the time and read through it, but of course Warky has just found it and would like to share it with you! He's a little slow, go easy on him.
Sorry Wright, didnt reply as I dont normally read TTWD links as I think most of it is crap. Shows that some decent stuff is posted between the hysteria
