| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road 13:41 - Nov 29 with 4930 views | BonneNIL |
That's what it felt like yesterday.
The enthusiasm of a new manager and ownership change, alongside a brand new "Championship" quality squad has pretty much evaporated and yet it's only November. Yesterday a massive cloud of negativity, disappointment, and disillusion hung over the crowd in a way we've not seen since the end of Mick as manager. The general feeling around the ground was pretty grim, people were tetchy, fed up, and to a point angry at what they were seeing. The win, which should have been something to celebrate felt much like a defeat after the final whistle, as we'd put together yet another frankly dismal display and against one of the worse teams in the league who can feel unlucky they didn't come away with something.
The question I raise is, given how bad yesterday felt, and talking to people during and after the game who felt much like that, will the new owners and Ashton be worrying? This isn't just about where we finish for them, the business revolves around keeping supporters happy, selling ST and shirts, and enthusing people to turn out. Ipswich supporters generally will accept a bad result if the game was fun and the football reasonable but yesterday the impression I got is the majority are fed up with the current situation and I can see a loss of ST numbers next season IF this continues. We won and people were still angry because we played poorly. There was nothing to get excited about outside of the wonder goal. We struggled to beat the bottom side at home and we looked bad doing it.
How much money are Gamechanger and their pension fund prepared to lose on this? They have spent £40mil on the club, a bought a raft of expensive players, and expensive contracts and there is absolutely nothing to show for it. This may be an unpopular opinion but had Lambert still been here, with the same squad we had last season we'd be a few places higher in the league because as a team they were just better than what Cook has put together here, and that's not me saying that we should have kept anyone or Lambert it's a sad fact about what is happening here.
Are they prepared to lose the 100mill plus Evans did? Because if they aren't they really should be looking to act, and fast before the goodwill evaporates and we're back down the gates of sub-12k and routinely losing £10mil a year. I don't think signing another boatload of players will fix this either, I think our managerial and coaching setup is failing the club and any investment outside of making changes there will be pouring money down the drain. |  |
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| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 13:45 - Nov 29 with 2840 views | itfcjoe |
Good post, and the worst thing about all this apathy that has returned is that it is all so unnecessary and we are just squandering away such a big opportunity for some real good will, engagement and catching lightning in a bottle.
If there is one thing we've consistently done since our relegation in 2002, it's waste any opportunities we are presented with - when was the last time we really grabbed something with both hands? |  |
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| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 13:47 - Nov 29 with 2787 views | homer_123 |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 13:45 - Nov 29 by itfcjoe |
Good post, and the worst thing about all this apathy that has returned is that it is all so unnecessary and we are just squandering away such a big opportunity for some real good will, engagement and catching lightning in a bottle.
If there is one thing we've consistently done since our relegation in 2002, it's waste any opportunities we are presented with - when was the last time we really grabbed something with both hands? |
Morsy certainly struggles to do that. |  |
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| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 13:50 - Nov 29 with 2760 views | jayessess |
Yep.
I've always thought that the idea we can allow this season to be "transitional" was utterly delusional. It is very unlikely we can continue to be this poor and still have the fanbase on board for much longer. |  |
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| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 13:54 - Nov 29 with 2718 views | BonneNIL |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 13:45 - Nov 29 by itfcjoe |
Good post, and the worst thing about all this apathy that has returned is that it is all so unnecessary and we are just squandering away such a big opportunity for some real good will, engagement and catching lightning in a bottle.
If there is one thing we've consistently done since our relegation in 2002, it's waste any opportunities we are presented with - when was the last time we really grabbed something with both hands? |
Let's say we finish 7th, lose in the Pizza cup and that's our season and the manager stays in post. Some supporters will be happy that we're giving him the time, but how much time does Gamechanger have to turn a profit or sustain big losses? They will lose ST holders. How much time as a club do we have before we get rooted in this league as well? I don't think we have much time at all. Charlton is the closest club in terms of size/reputation who were relegated not much longer after us (with a number of the same players!) and have devolved into a Champ/L1 yoyo club after years of lagging in the Championship also, is that fate acceptable for Town?
The supporters yesterday were totally deflated and fed up, it's not just 6 months of misery, it is close to 20 years so people are losing what little faith and goodwill they had left. | |
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| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 13:55 - Nov 29 with 2704 views | portmanking |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 13:50 - Nov 29 by jayessess |
Yep.
I've always thought that the idea we can allow this season to be "transitional" was utterly delusional. It is very unlikely we can continue to be this poor and still have the fanbase on board for much longer. |
I think most Town fans with their feet on the ground can see that Rome was never going to be built in a day.
God knows how some fans on this forum would have fared during the Burley era of four failed playoff campaigns.
How many times do you keep hitting the reset button until you say enough is enough and give someone a chance to properly build a winning culture? |  | | |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 13:58 - Nov 29 with 2651 views | hype313 |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 13:55 - Nov 29 by portmanking |
I think most Town fans with their feet on the ground can see that Rome was never going to be built in a day.
God knows how some fans on this forum would have fared during the Burley era of four failed playoff campaigns.
How many times do you keep hitting the reset button until you say enough is enough and give someone a chance to properly build a winning culture? |
You cannot compare 4 failed play off campaigns top our current situation, clearly we were doing things right back then, there was a plan, recruitment was logical and the fanbase were rightly disappointed, but understanding of where we were at the time.
I remember the Duncan years, and not fondly, but even then it wasn't as dysfunctional as where we are now. |  |
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| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:00 - Nov 29 with 2645 views | homer_123 |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 13:55 - Nov 29 by portmanking |
I think most Town fans with their feet on the ground can see that Rome was never going to be built in a day.
God knows how some fans on this forum would have fared during the Burley era of four failed playoff campaigns.
How many times do you keep hitting the reset button until you say enough is enough and give someone a chance to properly build a winning culture? |
Under Burley, there was year on year improvement in the football. It was clearly evident he had a way of getting us to pay and built a squad and improved that squad year on year.
We had an identity and way of play from the outset.
How does Cook want us to play exactly? Can anyone properly articulate or describe? What's our identity? | |
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| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:00 - Nov 29 with 2648 views | tractorboy1978 |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 13:50 - Nov 29 by jayessess |
Yep.
I've always thought that the idea we can allow this season to be "transitional" was utterly delusional. It is very unlikely we can continue to be this poor and still have the fanbase on board for much longer. |
It's pretty pathetic in my estimations though if fans take that view. This takeover is the best thing that has happened to us in two decades. We are a club on a massively upward curve over the next 5-10 years with or without Cook. | | | |
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| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:03 - Nov 29 with 2626 views | Fixed_It |
I think the negativity of the SBR Stand is self-perpetuating to be honest. Even the group in SAR Upper were singing 'Can you hear the North Stand sing?' |  |
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| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:05 - Nov 29 with 2595 views | Yallop |
Worse than Lambert days? Sorry you must have been at a different ground to me. Similarly Sunderland away last week we were all buzzing in the stadium and we played some cracking stuff. |  | | |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:13 - Nov 29 with 2525 views | homer_123 |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:05 - Nov 29 by Yallop |
Worse than Lambert days? Sorry you must have been at a different ground to me. Similarly Sunderland away last week we were all buzzing in the stadium and we played some cracking stuff. |
"...we played some cracking stuff."
Agreed - can I ask though, how long do we go with the 'we're playing better football but our points total isn't increasing'? | |
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| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:14 - Nov 29 with 2513 views | jayessess |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 13:55 - Nov 29 by portmanking |
I think most Town fans with their feet on the ground can see that Rome was never going to be built in a day.
God knows how some fans on this forum would have fared during the Burley era of four failed playoff campaigns.
How many times do you keep hitting the reset button until you say enough is enough and give someone a chance to properly build a winning culture? |
If Cook's first full season ends like Burley's did (16 wins, 5 draws, 5 defeats), I don't see that anyone would complain particularly about him getting another go.
But that's all by the by. Even if you're right that "Rome was never going to be built in a day", you can't run a football club on the basis that fans should behave in certain ways. You actually have to run it in the real world and in the real world, if we hover around mid-table for much longer the atmosphere will get worse, the attendances will drop and the place will be miserable. If we take that misery into the Spring and Summer it will affect season ticket sales and we'll carry that into the next season. That's just the truth. | |
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| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:16 - Nov 29 with 2486 views | portmanking |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:00 - Nov 29 by homer_123 |
Under Burley, there was year on year improvement in the football. It was clearly evident he had a way of getting us to pay and built a squad and improved that squad year on year.
We had an identity and way of play from the outset.
How does Cook want us to play exactly? Can anyone properly articulate or describe? What's our identity? |
You just agreed that we played some cracking football at Sunderland.
To say we had an identity from the outset under Burley is hugely revisionist. In fact, we took quite some time to really see the fruits of Burley's labour - and several rounds of transfers too may I add.
There were times when Burley's teams would look good and deserve more points than they received, but we kept the faith that the tide would eventually turn. What's different now? | | | |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:17 - Nov 29 with 2475 views | portmanroadblue |
Agree with the OP, North stand very quiet before and throughout the game. Great display by S6 though.
Think its more out of frustration, we have seen our new team play some fantastic stuff, but just not consistently enough, we need to have a plan B, an out and out playmaker and we need to press and put the oppostion under more pressure throughout the whole game. |  | | |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:18 - Nov 29 with 2472 views | Sawtrich |
It's a clear as day that this team isn't getting promoted. Crewe are bottom, relegation fodder. We beat them through a couple of moments of individual skill, nothing to do with coaching, tactics, structure. It's not a one off, we're mid table, not that good. It's so frustrating because there's been huge investment and the promise of more to come, we could be on the cusp of something really exciting but the team just aren't performing. |  | | |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:19 - Nov 29 with 2464 views | portmanking |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:14 - Nov 29 by jayessess |
If Cook's first full season ends like Burley's did (16 wins, 5 draws, 5 defeats), I don't see that anyone would complain particularly about him getting another go.
But that's all by the by. Even if you're right that "Rome was never going to be built in a day", you can't run a football club on the basis that fans should behave in certain ways. You actually have to run it in the real world and in the real world, if we hover around mid-table for much longer the atmosphere will get worse, the attendances will drop and the place will be miserable. If we take that misery into the Spring and Summer it will affect season ticket sales and we'll carry that into the next season. That's just the truth. |
But this 'misery' that's being created is by a section of fans that want success right now. It's self-perpetuating. The more you complain, the more it drags the rest of the fans the club as a whole down.
Most reasonable fans accept there will be ups and downs this season. An entirely new squad of players/individuals still finding their feet. There's green shoots at times, but you can sense the players' tension at the fans' increasing impatience. Which in itself is another self-perpetuating problem. | | | |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:19 - Nov 29 with 2456 views | homer_123 |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:16 - Nov 29 by portmanking |
You just agreed that we played some cracking football at Sunderland.
To say we had an identity from the outset under Burley is hugely revisionist. In fact, we took quite some time to really see the fruits of Burley's labour - and several rounds of transfers too may I add.
There were times when Burley's teams would look good and deserve more points than they received, but we kept the faith that the tide would eventually turn. What's different now? |
Yep, we played some decent football under Cook. Typically in short spells and we then typically ship goals, switch off and an error leads to a goal. But we can play some decent stuff.
Revisionist about Burley. No, not at all, Burley certainly had a way of play, from the very outset.
What is different now? We are L1 with possibly the highest playing budget (if not the highest certainly top two). Cook has a level of support and investment that Burley didn't have (comparatively speaking). | |
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| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:20 - Nov 29 with 2455 views | jayessess |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:00 - Nov 29 by tractorboy1978 |
It's pretty pathetic in my estimations though if fans take that view. This takeover is the best thing that has happened to us in two decades. We are a club on a massively upward curve over the next 5-10 years with or without Cook. |
Every club has a core fanbase who'll come whatever happens and a wider group who'll come if they're enjoying it. That's not weird, it's just people choosing how they spend their leisure time. | |
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| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:23 - Nov 29 with 2438 views | abracaDOBRA_ |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:03 - Nov 29 by Fixed_It |
I think the negativity of the SBR Stand is self-perpetuating to be honest. Even the group in SAR Upper were singing 'Can you hear the North Stand sing?' |
Never understand when fans sitting in other stands have a pop at the SBR fans. They could always go in the SBR and sing themselves? |  | | |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:23 - Nov 29 with 2424 views | Sawtrich |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:19 - Nov 29 by portmanking |
But this 'misery' that's being created is by a section of fans that want success right now. It's self-perpetuating. The more you complain, the more it drags the rest of the fans the club as a whole down.
Most reasonable fans accept there will be ups and downs this season. An entirely new squad of players/individuals still finding their feet. There's green shoots at times, but you can sense the players' tension at the fans' increasing impatience. Which in itself is another self-perpetuating problem. |
There's people moaning we're too impatient and it's upsetting the team and there's people moaning we're happy clappers who are accepting failure too easily. | | | |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:25 - Nov 29 with 2414 views | portmanking |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:23 - Nov 29 by Sawtrich |
There's people moaning we're too impatient and it's upsetting the team and there's people moaning we're happy clappers who are accepting failure too easily. |
I don't think anyone that loves the club accepts failure easily. It hurts that we're still in the third tier. But at what point do you acknowledge our place in the pyramid and accept that it might take some time to build something sustainable with longevity and momentum?
Or do those shouting loudest just want us to become a Watford and change the manager every 12 months and wait for one to get lucky for a year? Then what? | | | |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:27 - Nov 29 with 2384 views | blueboyd |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 13:55 - Nov 29 by portmanking |
I think most Town fans with their feet on the ground can see that Rome was never going to be built in a day.
God knows how some fans on this forum would have fared during the Burley era of four failed playoff campaigns.
How many times do you keep hitting the reset button until you say enough is enough and give someone a chance to properly build a winning culture? |
I think you will find the more annoyed fans are those that have been supporting for years, I have seen people be very pro cook and this is their first season as a ST holder. | | | |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:27 - Nov 29 with 2382 views | jayessess |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:19 - Nov 29 by portmanking |
But this 'misery' that's being created is by a section of fans that want success right now. It's self-perpetuating. The more you complain, the more it drags the rest of the fans the club as a whole down.
Most reasonable fans accept there will be ups and downs this season. An entirely new squad of players/individuals still finding their feet. There's green shoots at times, but you can sense the players' tension at the fans' increasing impatience. Which in itself is another self-perpetuating problem. |
But again, how this misery is generated or how you think fans should behave does not matter. I go to every game, I sing every game, applaud the manager on, applaud the players off whether they're good, bad or indifferent. I can't magically make the people around me happier with what they're seeing, I can't make casual match-going fans want to come back after watching us get demolished by Rotherham. We all have to live in the world that exists, not the one we wish existed. | |
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| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:29 - Nov 29 with 2356 views | thebooks |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:23 - Nov 29 by abracaDOBRA_ |
Never understand when fans sitting in other stands have a pop at the SBR fans. They could always go in the SBR and sing themselves? |
Yes, strange point this. I had a season ticket in the SAR upper in the Hurst season and it was deadly quiet all the time. The SBR lower was always awesome from that end of the ground. I now sit in the SBR lower, and the support for Cook has been constant, apart from the last couple of games.
I’d find it fairly ironic – and frankly very surprising – if the first song from the SAR would be to slag off the SBR. |  | | |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:30 - Nov 29 with 2336 views | portmanking |
| A massive cloud is back hanging over Portman Road on 14:27 - Nov 29 by jayessess |
But again, how this misery is generated or how you think fans should behave does not matter. I go to every game, I sing every game, applaud the manager on, applaud the players off whether they're good, bad or indifferent. I can't magically make the people around me happier with what they're seeing, I can't make casual match-going fans want to come back after watching us get demolished by Rotherham. We all have to live in the world that exists, not the one we wish existed. |
Yes and the real world is that we were well-beaten by a Rotherham side that's kept faith with its manager for 4-5 seasons, largely kept a core squad together and maintained a clear identity all the way through. Heaven forbid a team that well-oiled would defeat a side still finding its feet. THAT'S the real world that exists. The one people wish existed is the one where this squad yielded 100 points and 100 goals, despite half-a-dozen of our new recruits not arriving until 3-4 games into the campaign. | | | |
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