Play football or go away. Sounds like Mick knows the score now, but has he still got the bravery to stick with a passing game if we get thumped e.g. Reading ?

Huddersfield were thumped in October last year and did not win again until well into December, but their manager had the guts to stick with their approach......and how did that end ? Oh yeah

Is he saying here that if he tries to play football and we're struggling he'll revert to a different system ie: the one of old? In essence, if he fails, he'll revert to his tried an tested, which is exactly what we don't want rendering him a failure anyway?

Best get the team playing from the off without any fear then.

On Saturday we did play nice attractive football particularly in the first half but the negatives were that we lacked any kind of penetration up top and the central defence looked very shaky. The front two of Gillingham had more about them than Sears and Garner which is worrying. The midfield looks to be well stocked now with some exciting prospects especially young Downes who was outstanding. We need a tall target man for sure and in my opinion a centre back to replace Berra as what we have now is not good enough Webster apart.

This makes no sense. Even when we were higher up the table the football was pretty awful. And even a couple of years ago when we just missed out on playoffs, it was because of Murphy and not great team passing football.

And, then, even when he made the decision "we will play awful football in an attempt to stay up" and game after game it didn't work he simply carried on without trying to change the approach.

I have little time for this man.

Won't last long if we do

I'm not even sure McCarthy knows how to get a team to play attractive, pass-and-move, attacking football. Time will tell I guess and we'll know in a month or so, but I'm not confident. He's played the same way all of his managerial career, I'm not sure if he's capable of changing now.

He says that the end of last season was trying to avoid relegation but that was when we were playing 'nicer, more attractive' football (until the last couple of games when he obviously didn't care).

From the pe-season games so far we seem to be playing on the ground with no hoof ball. Keep that up Mick!

....... then get the players to do just that - and play the IPSWICH TOWN way. Simple.

And they don't have to be big money buys either - most important of all - get HOOFBALL out of your head once and for all.

Easier said than done is that bit ... !!

....... this man talks in riddles - always has, always will.

..... saying the right things to be able to secure another £1million in wages for the coming season - he's no fool, but he thinks everyone else is.

...... 'proof of the pudding' is always in the eating - so let's taste some of it, should we ? - before we believe anything else you have to say Mr McCarthy.

Although not having followed MM's managerial career in detail before he came to us, I'm not sure his teams have ever played "nice, attractive football". His Ipswich teams have never exactly been easy on the eye, and I think lots of us have been gagging for a more passing, attractive game for ages, so why does he only acknowledge the need for it now? I'm glad he's said it, however is it in his nature to play like that long-term? It takes a while for a team to change its philosophy, and even then you need the right players to make it successful. I like MM, he clearly loves the game, but we've been in the doldrums for so long and not only with him. You look at other teams and see them taking risks with their managerial appointments. Yes, they don't always work, but often they do. Wagner at Huddersfield, Neil at Norwich, Stam at Reading etc have all been positive for those clubs. When MM does finally go, perhaps we should look at following their lead.

Hmmmm I'm not sure MM knows how to play any other way. Talking to fans of his last clubs their appears to be the 'same old' pattern emerging, as McCarthys philosophy seems to be:-

Hard to beat
Team full of proper blokes
Park the bus, try and nick a win
Draw specialist l
Favourites
Pedestrian play
If it moves HOOF it, if it's the ball then that's a bonus!!!

Which ever way you look at it, he just don't fit with our traditions of being a footballing club IMO, you could say he is ruining our reputation.
Btw, I do like Mick the bloke, but loath Mick the manager!

I don't see things changing much to be honest. There are some serious Clubs in the Championship now and we cannot compete with many of them.

Evans only ambition is to stay in the Championship as a mid-table club so as soon as there is even a hint of that being under threat MM will revert to type and it will be sterile, don't get beat at any cost fare, once again.

Think the comments here have been harsh. I think we certainly can play attractive football, if you look at the players we have. Spence loves to run with the ball, Webster is very good with his feet. Kenlock, if he plays, similar to Spence, although not as good imo.

The good football starts with the defence, we certainly have 3/4 defenders who can play with the ball. Getting it into the feet of players like Ward, Huws, Celina, Bishop, these are the ones who can cut defences open, slide it into space for players like Sears, McGoldrick, Garner to get a shot on goal.

Give him a chance. Let's hope we can put in a good performance and victory tonight to build up some confidence ahead of the real stuff.

I have to be honest here I just do not get the slating of MM, if we look at the real facts.
The football has been crap and entertainment minimal except a few games here and there, it is not the Ipswich way and being a fan has been a chore. I travel over 120 miles to get to a game and with the M25 it often takes 3 plus hours and when the football is poor the questions of why I bother are prominent.
However as I have said before, we should all support the team and the Manager, we have had no real investment for years after Keane & Jewell wasted money, with the team we have had being loans, free signings or cheap how could we ever expect to have talent and compete let alone entertain as we have built a team of good honest players and those that try but genuinely have little skill or technical ability. I do not see how this is MM's fault. He has tried and to a degree succeeded in trying to get flair players - Williams & Frazer got injured all the time, Laurence a big success, then the players we had with flair, Bishop & Didzy also injury prone, what else could he do but revert to safety first? I think the signs of improvement although too slow are good, hopefully we keep Bart, the signings of Webster and Ward last year are good and improving previous seasons, only Sears prior to that was the type I want to see. Now with Garner, Huws and Adeyami, Cellini and hopefully the emergence of Downes, Dozzell, Bishop (back fit) and another addition he is building a team that can play. My upset is with the lack of investment and I think MM is the scapegoat for that (though well rewarded).
This season will have its up and downs and football in my opinion will be better but at times I guess we may return to type especially until confidence is built and if the team get the support without fans turning on them or the manager it will help. I hated asa player Jonathon Douglas but the abuse he got from the terraces meant he went even further in to his shell as did his team mates, what good did that do?
Lets back the boys and see where we go together.

He is basically saying if we play "football", it won't be the way to achieve a respectable league position. So the dross we served up last season was capable of winning the league in your opinion does it.

How do the Bournemouth's, Huddersfield's etc get promoted I wonder? Perhaps by playing attractive football similar to those who all play that way in the Premier League.

MM is again talking in riddles, he states he'd like to play the passing game, but if it doesn't work he will play the hoof ball that landed us up at the wrong end of the table last season, so if that's the only tactics you've got Mick, then either you will be gone, or we will definitely be relegation candidates this coming season, in my mind he should have gone age ago, we want a manager here that wants to entertain the fans with attractive on the ground footie, gee he does my head in, Bring back Joe Royale or George Burley

Good. Only concern is wasn't that the plan last season too? Did we not (try) and keep it down during pre-season only to hoof from the off?

For me we didn't play hoofball as much last season, but we were completely incapable of playing any kind of style. Totally scared of losing and incredibly negative. Boring boring Mick McCarthy. We could sign Ronaldo but I honestly do not believe he has the ability to change!

Good god!...the season hasn't even started and he's talking cobblers already, we were hardly playing deck football last season Mick were we?

If he wants us to play this way someone needs to teach the central defenders (chambers) & the defensive midfielder (Scuse) to not be scared of the ball. In my opinion Scuse needs to be dropped & a more foward thinking players needs to step into this position. Until that happens we will have more defenders than attackers on the pitch. That will never lead to attractive football. Mick will never change.

You play the game to the strengths of the players you have, so the more players who like to receive the ball to feet, even in tight areas, you have in your side the more likely you are to play passing football, hopefully now we have a bit more of this with the players coming in..

By Jingo, I think he's finally got it!

"Town boss Mick McCarthy says he'd love the Blues to “play nicer, more attractive football”"

If he has ever been anywhere near this forum, he can't have failed to spot that what we've craved is for our beloved team to play good, attractive football.

"Hoofball" is not a word we'd ever have wanted to become associated with ITFC. Unfortunately, during his tenure to date, that is what has transpired.

" I'm not asking anybody to be patient, I think they've run out of patience... "

Oh, Hell yes... a long, long time ago matey!

Has It finally sunk in that enough is enough and no more will be tolerated?

Has Marcus Evans seen the harvest of the fruit of his financial labours dwindling away year on year and accepted that the manager, whoever that may be at any given moment, needs to backed by acquiring players that can do the job of trying to get us back to the higher echelons of the English league?

Now is the time for a new era at the club... a time when we can all watch with a twinkle in our eyes as we get back to winning ways, playing good football which will eventually see us reclaim our place amongst the elite.

Let's play ball!

The memory of the Lincoln debacle will haunt me for a very long time. Being beaten by a non-league club is one thing, but being beaten whilst playing hoofball and being made to look like a non-league team is quite another.