I'm back, I'm back. I haven't really been anywhere I've just struggled to pick it up as easily as I did 606 a few years back. Happy days at the moment though. These are the signings that Marcus Evans' money have needed and deserved since he invested in the club and finally it looks like we are heading in the right direction with the right mix in the squad of experience, big names and youth. Good pre season results look likely to pave the way for a good start to the season and I'm looking forward to it, although I'm not going to go overboard; it's the hope that kills you. Only anomaly is Shane O'Connor and I'll be hugely disappointed if he is sold.
2 v 2 at Cambridge isnt a great harbinger! But I share your optimism - I always do before a ball is kicked in anger!!!
Welcome back Solly. Don't mind JWM, the sky is falling down in his part of the world and he has trouble understanding that pre season is all about practice and seeing where you need to improve. <notpersonalemoticon> Things do feel better this year and a good start and decent league position at christmas could help us strengthen further. Don't get drawn into the doom and gloom some people are darkening our days with.
I've been absent for a while too what with a sunshine holiday, moving house, BT being absolute Robert Fleck's (see emoticon's thread) and somehow not being able to log on here when the internet did start to work at the new pockets towers. I feel optimistic for the new season; doesn't everyone feel the same every July/August? The areas of weakness we seem to have addressed in the off season. I am worried that there may be too many additions in key areas and a bedding in period may be needed. I'm not too worried about pre-season results but I do think that 3 or 4 isn't enough for so many new faces to gel come game one of the new season. Saying that though the season is 46 games long and that really is a marathon. I do think that we'll make a few more signings though and I'm encouraged that PJ is drafting in experienced players in the main. Looking at what has come out of our academy in recent seasons, Wickham and Carson to name but two, I think the onus was on the manager to bring in some old heads to really develop the young guns at Ipswich's disposal. How are the stars of tomorrow going to be inspired or develop when they are playing alongside players that are nearlymen and mercenaries? We've brought in Bowyer and Chopra - players with real drive, determination and a track record of success. If our future is to be littered with trips to Wembley, and realistic claims to be the current pride of Anglia (history counts for nothing when the yellow peril are basking in top flight luxury, i.e. getting spanked 90 minutes a weekend) then a concerted effort needed to be made to bring in winners. I think that's what has happended. It remains to be seen if my optimism is inspired by the Superblues or by the vast amounts of alcohol I have consumed in the last 2 hours, but I feel a lot more positive than when Keano the Klown was in town.
