That game away at Bolton summed up in my view all that is wrong with Ipswich Town Football Club.

The performance in many ways matched the lethargy and indifference which is synonymous with seemingly almost every aspect of the club these days, and it is a very sad reflection on our proud football past and former successes.

Tommy Smith has finally called it a day, after 11 years with the Blues and who could possibly blame him?

Our defence has been anything but brilliant this term and yet even when he is fit, he cannot get a look in, so this opportunity to join MLS side Colorado Rapids is an offer he simply could not refuse.

He has been a loyal servant of the club and country and there is little doubt he will be greatly missed by one and all.

Manager Mick McCarthy appears to be going through the motions too. His tenure is nearly up and investment in the squad is as minimal as it always has been under his stewardship.

I firmly believe however, that if he had been rewarded with even half the money that Roy Keane and Paul Jewell were able to splurge then we could well have been back in the Premier League by now.

Yes, it is true that owner Marcus Evans got his fingers burnt a couple of times and consequently went in search of the kind of man that loves the challenge of doing things on a shoestring, but I doubt whether even McCarthy expected it to be for quite so long!

There is also the counter argument that spending oodles of cash does not guarantee you success, as Derby, Middlesbrough,Leeds United and even Norwich will testify, but without it then you really do need a great motivator and an awful lot of luck.

Huddersfield Town defied the odds last season but as soon as they got in the water with the big fish, they also began to spend big!

Bournemouth only have a ground capacity of around 12,000 but they still managed to invest in their future - even when they were a Championship club and let's face it, Marcus Evans certainly has a bob or two.

Yes, I know he is carrying the club debt and I know that wage bills are rising rapidly but staying too long in FC Mediocre is not achieving anything and people start to talk with their feet.

We are now six points adrift of those play-off places again and going nowhere in particular it would seem.

Like a little boat drifting on a big sea we will have to avoid sinking without trace, as as others clubs of similar size, continue to spend, as we just continue to lend.

horsehollerer added 03:36 - Jan 24 Nicely written blog. IMHO, the Bolton game typified last season more than this season. I didn't think it was a lethargic performance, just woefully short of quality. Bolton reminded me of Town when Mick first arrived, scrapping for our lives to get out of the bottom three, and frustrating the heck out of "better" teams. I do feel sorry for Mick this season because we were supposed to have the likes of Huws, Adeyemi and Dozzell available to give us a better balance and allow us to play a bit more football. But the injury crisis is increasingly turning it into another season of attritional battles, even though we clearly have a lot more quality up front, as evidenced by our equaliser at Bolton. I'm not afraid of change, but it does irk me that we will never know what Mick might have been able to achieve with just a little more backing in the transfer market. And assuming his successor will have similar budgetary constraints, our immediate future does appear to be on a knife edge. This time next year we will probably find out whether Mick was indeed performing miracles or whether he was in fact holding us back. Let's hope it turns out to be the latter. COYB.

6

Pilgrimblue added 11:59 - Jan 24 I don't feel sorry for Mick and don't think it's anything to do with money. There are plenty of sides that have less to spend than Town and still manage to succeed. Mick should have gone after Lincoln games last season as any decent owner would have sacked him. Mick doesn't deserve to manage Town and if he'd gone we'd been enjoying the benefits of a new manager. A lot of what we're unhappy about is down to Mick's style, tactics and shameful attitude. He couldn't care less about us fans, the cup or more importantly beating Norwich. I bet if he was in charge at Barnsley he would be entirely different because he'd care about the club. He came here to do a job NOT because he liked us. Job done so goodbye

10

Pessimistic added 16:38 - Jan 24 Well horsehollerer I am not in agreement about that game against Bolton last Saturday. I watched it all and it the first half Town's complacency was the cause of their downfall. It was almost as if they thought they only had to turn up to win it. Although Bolton were not much better, Town only really woke up when they went a goal down. This is a recurring theme I am afraid. Bu thanks for your comments nevertheless.

3

MBG added 07:58 - Jan 25 Our season is over. We are six points behind Sheffield United who are sixth and even if they crash in the remaining 18 games we will not replace them as there are other teams just outside the top six who are better than us. An FA Cup run would have been nice but according to MM that competition isn’t worth bothering about.
3

liam88 added 09:53 - Jan 25 I keep down voting and up voting people by mistake
-2

jas0999 added 18:13 - Jan 25 Yes.
1

Blue_Moses added 00:31 - Jan 26 Yes it is. Season Ticket renewals will be announced soon, time for the club to make an announcement about who is in charge for next year or risk further reductions in support.
4

jayessess added 13:39 - Jan 26 It was over on Boxing Day when we failed to beat QPR really. In a way I'm glad we've not chucked good money after bad to make the play-offs. Better off re-assessing where we are in the Summer.
2

carsey added 17:56 - Jan 27 In answer to the headline question, yes it is
1

BlueandTruesince82 added 11:43 - Jan 28 It is now
1

RoyalAscotBlue added 09:04 - Jan 30 I thought the season was over when the Manager said he was staying, last year. Or was it when the club seriously offended about a thousand of the longest standing (60+) fans in the summer? Or perhaps it was when we let Berra go without any attempt to replace him? Whatever, it was a long long time before the Bolton game.
0

Warkys_Tash added 14:16 - Jan 30 Spot on Pessimistic,sadly :(
0

Blogs 295 bloggers