I think this is a good debate going on on here and can see points from both sides. Yes there's no doubt that it would be great to have someone like McNally in charge of the club but I think Norwich probably have the best set up they've had ever currently and I'm sure(I hate saying this) but most teams in the whole league would like this set up. Norwich appointed a football man as CEO and a very good manager at the same time, whilst we appointed someone with little idea of running a football club and a useless manager. On both accounts one probably affected the other. Now I would say that the manager is the most important person for your success at the club over the past couple of years. Without him I think you would still be a league one club but maybe without McNally I think you'd may well be a championship club. As with ITFC, we appointed someone who knew nothing about football and someone who was clueless as a manager at the same time, clearly perhaps Cleggs naivity probably affected us in terms of transfers etc but it was not the reason why we are in the position we are in now, it was down to the manager. Make no doubt about it I would like someone at the club who was a football man like Sheepshanks or McNally but I don't think Clegg has been a big factor in why things are bad on the pitch. What I am saying is the main reason for both clubs current standing as more to do with managerial appointments rather than the CEO's, although both have played a part. I'm not by any means saying I'm a fan of Clegg but I just don't think he's the problem at the club, although I would say its a shame we don't have a long term plan at the club, like Superman says I think a 3-4 year plan was needed to be put in place over the summer, probably more for the fans than anyone, so we know where we stand. I think alot of people thought this season because Clegg said we wanted to get to the premierleague as soon as possible that we would be challenging this season especially with some of the bigger name signings we got over the summer, I think a long term plan may have dampened expectations and perhaps taking some of the pressure on Jewell. I completely agree with what tractorbhoy says that when ME first came in, we tried to run before we could walk, the club shouldn't have spent as much money as quickly as it did, it was always going to take time to change the mindset and position of a club who was struggling financially to one that could spend millions. I think perhaps the club has realised some of the mistakes it made and is being a little more realistic now, yes we are still spending a fairly large amount by championship standards but compared to Jim's final season and Keanes 1st season we've tonned it down a little. Guru you say we see Clegg more on TV but I thought alot of fans wanted someone to be the face of the football club?? I do agree though that we are currently paying for a few years of perhaps more naivity off the pitch and poor management on the pitch. I believe if Clegg had been at the club 2 years before Jim got the sack and then we appointed someone like Jewell when we sacked Jim, we would not be in the situation we are in now and we would not be having these conversations. What I'm trying to say is that we are in the situation now because of those poor years of mismanagement but currently I think in Jewell and Clegg currently are in a much better position to take us forward now than we have been for a while and unless like at Norwich where you appointed an exceptional manager and a good CEO at the same time, thats not going to happen at Ipswich but it may do over time, I think we need a couple of years to access the failures of the last few years and settle down, and give the chance to evolve as a football club, rather than the scattergun approach you mention Superman.
ITFCPTC, We need somebody to be the face i agree, but when they are being being the face it should be about the club, i just get the feeling its always about massaging his ego. I see yesterday we 'missed out' on getting a centre half in. Same old, Same old nowadays.
ptc, mcnally is the reason lambert is at norwich. without lambert, norwich would probably still be in league one. without mcnally we'd either be in league two or we wouldn't even exist! thats not me just saying that, i genuinely believe that. we were badly managed on the football side for years but we were managed even worse off the field. paying players like earnshaw or sibierski £20k+ a week knowing full well that we couldn't maintain that wage is so irresponsible. our top earners now earn less than most of your players i expect and we are a league above you! we are on target to clear our debts and make £18m+ profits in the next couple of years, regardless of if we stay in the premier league and we are upgrading our youth system to be category one as well as increase capacity. this isn't through luck, this is through careful preparation from lambert, mcnally and chairman alan bowket. this was all planned for, though even they will admit we've got to this stage much quicker than expected. yes, if lambert were to leave tomorrow we'd probably struggle to stay up, though we are in a healthy position both financially and on the field so would therefore be able to attract a better quality of manager. what i'm saying is it isn't a given that we'd go down. however, if mcnally left the club for whatever reason, i suspect lambert would also leave and i could ultimately see us slide back towards the foot of the championship just as rapidly as we made our way up. its difficult to get across just how important mcnally is to my club!! you all know about our plan - all us fans kept going on about it and have done even when in league one!! you may have thought it unrealistic - you may still do - but at least it is a plan
Indeed Superman I agree with you completely. And if you remember I've always thought since your appointment of Lambert you would do well and tbh none of what has happened to you has suprised me!!! I do think if Lambert were to leave you would go down this year but you do now have foundations in place whatever happens. I also wanted to add in my last post, if you would have appointed McNally and Keane at the same time(I know McNally wouldn't have done) you would be probably bordering on conference football, if you would have appointed Clegg as CEO and still had Lambert as manager I think you probably would be near the top of the Championship, with still a sound footing behind the scenes. If we would of appointed Clegg and then got Lambert instead of Keane I have no doubt we would be in the premierleague. My point though that we cannot compare ourselves to Norwich and what has happened there the past couple of years, the situations are different, there's no doubt that both McNally and Lambert have had a great effect on your club combined. Although we would all like perhaps a CEO who is a footballing man amoungst other things and perhaps a manager who was able to put together a young team with players from lower leagues over the course of a few months, we don't have that. But at the same time I don't think we are a badly run club and I don't feel that atm the decisions Clegg is making is that dentrimental to the club, perhaps some of the naivity in the appointment of Keane and what went with it is clearly as to why we are in this position now but hopefully I think they have learnt from these mistakes. I think what happened at Norwich was a very unique situation and rarely happens in football, although its happened to Ipswich twice with Cobbold and Robson, and Sheepshanks and Burley. The things I have a gripe about Clegg with are the appointment of Roy Keane, although I would imagine it was more of ME's decision and the price of matchday tickets.
getting things right off the pitch will invariably lead to getting things right on it more often than not. you don't often get a club in turmoil or at least struggling behind the scenes producing the goods on the pitch. during your days under burley and sheepshanks (wasn't alive when robson was your manager so can't really comment) you certainly seemed to have a buzz about your club. yes you played good football, yes you were consistently getting good results, but you were sound off the pitch too. i remember many media outlets highlighting ipswich as 'a model for clubs' looking to move forward. it quickly fell apart when the money was spent badly and expectations rapidly grew but maybe you hit a bit of a ceiling. football isn't the same as it was when robson was in charge. my point is, your two most successful times were when you had everything settled in the background. say you were to be promoted this season, what would your clubs approach be? will they throw enormous amounts of money at it? will your owner pocket what he is owed? will evans try and get another 'big name' in to highlight his businesses, which undoubtedly he did with royston? none of you know what he'll do if that were to happen and yet you should know. city fans knew exactly what we were going to do, therefore there were no rumblings of discontent - we all bought into our 7 year plan. in the same way, you knew what your club were going to do when sheepshanks was in charge. it wasn't till evans money came along that things started going wrong. yes you were skint but you were still in a position where you could compete and bring through young players. thats all been lost to the 'quick fix' syndrome. the above are mere ramblings - they may or may not make much sense to any of you, but i'm sure there's something constructive in there somewhere!!
I agree entirely Supers (yet again ) We can't hope to move forward until we have a solid and robust plan to begin with and I just don't think we have that. We might as well be all pissing in the wind for the good its doing us and while we continue to flounder other clubs are forging ahead.
Like I've said Superman, I agree with everything you've said and like I've said in the past you make more sense than alot of town fans. I got alot of flack on 606 for posting an article "Today is a dark day in the history of ITFC" when Keane was appointed a few days after Clegg was appointed. I was being very negative more so about Keane than Clegg. But alot of Town fans were starstruck we have a big name like Keane at the club and a new CEO who was CEO of the British Olympic Association, but things just didn't feel right, it wasn't very like Ipswich Town, I certainly didn't share the same optimism that most town fans had and ultimitely I turned out to be right unfortunately. But I don't think that currently the club is in turmoil on or off the pitch, its not perfect but hopefully we are getting out of a slump and maybe learning from mistakes which happened when ME intially took over but atm we are having to take steps backwards to go forwards. I think perhaps its a reaction to what was always going to be a difficult season and a difficult couple of years. When Keane was in charge noone was complaining about Clegg or ME really apart from when Keane said Clegg couldn't get the players in(that comment still annoys me) but now because we still haven't seen a major improvement in the team results wise with a new manager I think perhaps people are taking it out on the people at the top. Make no mistake about it, Clegg and ME are largely to blame for the situation we currently find ourselves in with regards to the appointment of Keane and the amount of money they allowed for him to spend but with the right manager which hopefully Jewell is I don't believe having Clegg as our CEO is a problem because the thing I do respect ME and Clegg for is that they leave the manager to get on with the job and don't interfere on the pitch(although I wished they hadn't with Keane), they also seem to give managers time and not react rashly to a set of results. When that changes is when I become seriously concerned with where the club is heading.
Clegg needs to go. Since Keane left its clear that ME doesn't trust him to run the club, many of his duties have been removed and now fall within either ME or Jewell's remit. Either sack him or change his job title to 'Olympic Ticket Swindler' I'm pleased ME seems to be making most of the decisions, I have faith in him despite making the wrong choice in appointing Keane. Whenever he's made public statements they've been spot on and he more often than not gets the right outcome when dealing with contracts to new or existing players (although I'm not sure it's something which should fall within his remit), for example Leadbitter not signing because I assume he has been offered less money due to being absolute ****e at playing football! I would assume Clegg is living on borrowed time until the Olympics are over at which point we can appoint someone with a track record of running a football club. For the present I agree it would be best to confirm we have a 3-4 plan in place to reach the PL but that would mean Clegg admitting he was wrong in previous directives and I don't think his ego would allow that.
