It seems to me after reading various sites that what fans are after is the following. An expressive and creative team that is defensively solid, plays attacking football whilst leaving no holes at the back. A club that brings in new players to improve the team but doesn't let players leave. To sign home grown local Foreign players A Manager that plays attacking football and will alter his tactics every ten minutes. Build a team for the Premier league whilst standing by the players that got promotion from league one. Bring in young players but not give them time to settle in they need to perform immediately. The club needs to let the fans in on every decision made about everything. To follow the town up or down whilst having constant success.
It might sound simplistic, but what fans ultimately want is to win games. Most supporters will forgive or overlook a lot of their preferences or principles as long as the club is winning week-to-week. If we get automatic promotion this season, then any perceived negative moves in this window - such as selling off pretty much all the promotion-winning squad from two years ago - will have been forgiven or at least understood. McKenna and the team would’ve proven the squad has been strengthened. Particularly if that team goes on to be more competitive in the Premier League. But if we continue to struggle and underperform, then supporters will naturally wonder “what might have been” had we focused more on retaining the likes of Woolfenden, Burgess, Morsy, Luongo, Broadhead, and Chaplin (not counting Tuanzebe, Hutchinson, and Delap who had performed well enough to get Premier League moves). As a fanbase, we went over two decades without a promotion. That squad achieved two promotions in a row (due to various factors of course, including most notably McKenna), so they’re naturally going to be close to our hearts. By moving so many of them on so quickly, it either looks like ruthless pragmatism or a misguided complacency. Time will tell. Even the season we went up two years ago might’ve turned a bit sour had we failed to get promotion. We might’ve focused on the poor defensive statistics. We might’ve bemoaned a lack of academy players in the first team squad. We might’ve questioned the lack of summer signings. If we had beaten Preston and Sheffield Wednesday in recent weeks, I think fans would’ve been more understanding of letting Woolfenden and Chaplin go. With only one league win in the 2025 calendar year, I don’t blame some supporters for losing a little bit of patience and goodwill towards the club and McKenna. So far this season, I haven’t seen a clear sign of what our new identity is and how this undoubtedly talented squad is going to go about winning games. Woolfenden and Chaplin are both entitled to expect first team football in this division. But it’s now on these new players signed this summer to prove they are better than the players we’ve let go.
It definitely isn’t about only winning games. The fans were fully supportive in the first League One season - no glamour, no promotion - because the positive progression and growth and togetherness was clear. Ultimately we want the stars of the day at Portman Road and to be competing regularly in the European competitions. We want to win the East Anglian derbies and put some daylight back in the stats for the bragging rights. We also know there are other clubs with similar resources and ambitions to us and I think that’s probably the realisation that has just bitten Mark Ashton on the arse. This time last year he said that we had built a rocket ship. Must have been one of Elon Musk’s Space X prototypes that come back down and explode on impact.
I can’t speak for other fans but what I want is for us to play decent, progressive,attacking football,win more games than we lose so that we are competitive in whatever division we’re in, and for the players and management to show commitment and desire to do their best for our great Club.
