Totally agree. It's been said his confidence is rock bottom right now, similar to how it was at Spurs before we signed him. This could set him back years.
Doesn't seem like they've got anyone on the pitch to say "lads just ****ing clear it! We are already 5 nowt down"
Its if's and but's....But...if he stayed here this season, with this team and this coach...He would have ripped this league a new A-Hole.... But his agent convinced the lad money was to be made and off he went... I would hate to see it... but I can see Clarke drifting soon and playing for the likes of Portsmouth or Hull...teams like that
Dunno if I'm talking out my arse here - some people will probably think what's new - but I'm wondering if Clarke is popular at Ipswich. You normally see on the pitch especially this season with Sunderland, there's a player you give the ball to cos you know they'll do something with it but watching today, Clarke has hardly had the ball passed to him. As was said by Frazier, Davis is going into the positions he used to here and Clarke is looking like that school kid who no one wants in their team and won't pass to him. Think this has been totally the wrong move for him career wise. Ipswich were always gonna struggle
I hate to see the lad struggling. However there is a little bit of a cautionary tale there that may work in SAFCs favour.
He certainly won't be tempting the likes of Palace, Fulham or Brentford so will be back in the Championship if Ipswich drop. He'll be on PL wages but lacking confidence so they might sell him on ... ... sadly, I wouldn't want him back now, we've moved on imo.
He does imo, no doubt. He's been part of the whole thing and the players are his ... ... plus he's been bigged up as the next great British coach and future United boss. He'll end up as another Chris Wilder imo, too good for the Championship ... not good enough for the PL.
I would be amazed if Ipswich changed the manager... Surely the guy has credit in the bank for successive promotions... If they go down... I think they will...then they will expect an immediate return
Reading the TWTD forum and it's pretty clear Clarke is being scapegoated, despite some fans saying he was one of their better performers today. Comments like "ship him back to Sunderland", "can't see him starting a game for town in too much of a hurry", "I never relax or feel confident when he's playing", "One positive is that Philogene already looks more effective than Clarke". I know it's just a message board, but those kinds of attitudes can feed back to a player (or players) and if you're low in confidence it won't help and probably undermines your confidence further. Maybe if they're relegated dropping into the championship might help him recover his form, but I doubt it from the way they play, it doesn't suit him and I'm not sure McKenna would persist with him while he tries to adapt to playing differently. And from those fan comments he's on a hiding to nothing if he produces a few sub par/nondescript performances while he tries to adapt. I hold absolutely no ill will to Jack Clarke and genuinely hope for the best for him, but Harte has really f@cked up the lads career by engineering a move to totally the wrong club, something he'd been doing for almost a year before the move happened.
To play devils advocate, what do you think Harte/Clarke should have done? His two seasons in the championship earned him a prem move which he wanted to test himself and probs to make more money. I don’t think the likes of a say Brentford/Brighton/Palace thought he was get in their team or thought they could attract better for the money. I think Ipswich was probably his only route to the prem. Obviously he could have stayed, but we finished last season really poorly and couldn’t guarantee his opportunity of prem football like Ipswich could. Ended up working out for us though, money let us bring in the likes of Isidor/le fee and mundle looks like he works in the system just as well as Clarke did.
Very good points and well put. The inherent problem, for players like Clarke, is that there are only twenty PL clubs. He was never going to the likes of Arsenal, Man City, Man Utd, Liverpool, Villa, Newcastle, etc ... ... there's always around 8 clubs in danger of a relegation battle so it's hard to choose the right one. Ipswich were flying and have big money to spend so you'd think they might cling on. But they've become a bit of a 'knee jerk' operation and brought in players in a 'Forest' kind of way. I just hope, and believe, Sunderland have a better plan mapped out if we get there.
As the prem money has gone out of control, there’s has actually been an emergence of smaller clubs performing well (Brighton/Brentford/Bournemouth/Fulham) even palace to a degree. Those clubs have plans and are decisive with them even if decisions are unpopular (see Bournemouth sacking O’Neil for Ireola and Brighton sacking houghton for Potter). A trait I’ve noticed in the championship developing is this massive gamble of spending a load to try and get promotion with no plan on how to sustain success once promotion is achieved. Last season the 3 promoted teams all came back down, only two at the very best (possibly none) will come back up. This year the 3 promoted teams are all in the drop zone. Time will tell if what we’re doing will be successful but I like that we’ve got an identity and strategy that we’re sticking too and I think that’s what’s needed if you’re going to have long term success when against the resources most teams in the prem have.
I appreciate your question, mate, playing devil's advocate is always a good thing, I personally think. It helps you think things through more thoroughly. Speaking as me, I'd either have wanted a move to a team that did suit how I play or stay put. But that's me, a 51 year old man who's learned the hard way that the grass isn't always greener. What 24 year old me would have done might have been different. I'm a lot more risk averse these days than I was when I was younger. But either way I'd want to know a move was "right" and not the only one on offer, especially if I'm happy where I am. Today if I'm not sure I'd not take it, when I was younger I might have been prepared to gamble a bit more and take the chance. But in either case I'd want something better than Harte has delivered.
