Yes Lancs that is a mouthwatering team. But it seems that you and JWM's frustrations are more with what has happened to the club before Jewell came here rather than what is happening now!! For me there's no question we should have been a PL club by now and the amount of money wasted and wasted opportunities are sickening. Magilton could have pushed us on alot better when ME came in (ala Reading this year) spent alot of money we got rid brought Keane in and at the end of the day we had a squad that had £20 million spent on it, yet we find ourselves worse off than before ME came in, this is disgracefull, the position we find ourselves in. But thats happened now and we must assess the situation of what it is now and how things were when PJ took over, they were a shambles!! Because we spent millions of pounds and expected promotion pretty soon after Keane came in we expect PJ to do it pretty quickly when the situation we are in is not as good. For me although in the past year and half we have struggled, which was highly likely after the Keane era there are signs from the club that we are finally going in some sort of positive direction and one that is sustainable, by means its not perfect but its better than it was a few years ago. But yes we have wasted a golden oppertunity and I will forever hate Keane for it!!!
No but there is a major difference between doing the best job you can, which is something we havent done in the last 4 seasons, and saying that anything other than automatic promotion is a failure. We need to win promotion by earning it and hopefully, slowly we are building a team. This isnt football manager whereby 11 excellent players automatically fit together and break all known records. As for your team I would say yes to the midfield, No to strike force - Wickham didnt do enough to be considered a regular first team striker for me plus we would be so far in debt we would be sinking - We broke even last season after including his transfer fee. Dont know how you would have kept McAuley once a bigger club/ more wages were offered and I dont think Rosenior is that great.
He is a player that always gives 100% and a model pro but that said he does seem to lack a cutting edge or defense splitting pass, i'd say he is an average player.
In all fairness weighty, I'd be a model pro and give 110% to play for Ipswich, but you wouldn't want me anywhere near the team!
I'm not bothered if he leaves i'm just giving a opinion mate, i think he has been poor most of this season but before that he was one of our better players...
tractorbhoy - we wouldn't be broke if we were back in the Prem ptc - you have failed to realise that we haven't improved at all on Roy Keane's league placings! Ergo if you dislike Keane then you should dislike Jewell equally, surely?
I don't just judge managers on league position Lancs. It might surprise you but there are a few other things to take into account aswell!!
All the noises coming out of portman road suggest that we will be belt tightening in the summer so more loans and freebies will be brought in to plug the gaps. Yippee!
On the other hand it could mean that we will be looking at hungry players from the lower leagues. Yippee..
I think it has to be the way forward, we've spent way to much money on players and wages for nothing since ME has come in and part of the reason why we find ourselves in the situation we find ourselves in. We need/needed to be more wise with the cash, i think it's just unfortunate that it's happening now when we appear to have a manager who probably would have spent the previous £20 million spent a darn site more effectively than the previous managers. That is why I always wanted Keane to be sacked pretty much as soon as he came in because I could see him wasting so much money that in the end ME wouldn't give the next manager quite so much to play with. Although the current economic climate, also obviously has an effect!!
Everyone will be tightening the belt to a certain degree with the new fair play rules coming in, we aren't the only club to be doing this. The average wage will come down, the problem is that newly relegated teams will have an even bigger advantage with their parachute payments than ever before. I can see a gap opening up between those teams who have been in the prem over the last couple of seasons and the rest of us. What I'd give just to be a yo-yo club.
Such as? The upkeep of the turnstiles? The only other factor is the youth coming through for future years... so... erm...
Jewell's record of lower league signings : Andy Drury - probably our best central midfielder Aaron Cresswell - the best left back we've had for years Your point being JWM?
He would have sold Drury in January if Crawley had come up with more money Cresswell is overated imo.
Cresswell has saved 2 or 3 goals from crossing the line this season and hasn't done too bad after coming from Tranmere, he will benefit from his first season at this level and could be better next year. Who would you rather have? It's possible we could have sold Drury but we didn't and he has since proved his worth to PJ and will be a regular next season I suspect. There's no winning with some people. People hate it when we overpay for prem rejects who don't perform and say we don't scout the lower leagues. Then when we bring a lower league player in they don't give them time to adjust to the step up. Not every signing is going to set the world alight immediately.
Look Cresswell will be a very good player and will have a bright future but his performances this season haven't all been good and that is a fair comment. He wasn't much of a financial gamble either so fair play to Jewell for getting him. He will have to step it up next year as i want to see more dangerous crosses coming in from the flanks, we know he is capable but we haven't seen enough of that this year.
