Blues manager Paul Cook says he’s made his decisions on the players currently at the club and that nothing that happens in the final three games of the season will change his mind, adding that he could have released some of the squad with no regrets in his frustration following last Saturday’s dismal 0-0 home draw with AFC Wimbledon.

Quizzed on whether anything which happens in the matches at Swindon on Saturday, Shrewsbury next Tuesday and then at home to Fleetwood on the final day could change his thoughts on any individual, Cook said: “No, I’ve made my mind up 100 per cent. All the decisions have been made.

“I’m tired of listening to feeble excuses about why we don’t play well, it’s always somebody’s fault. It’s like pass the blame, pass the parcel for blame. Eventually the parcel has to stop with someone and they have to stand up and be counted.

“As a manager of a football team last Saturday at half-time, that was a performance that gets every manager in the country sacked.

“I won’t be a part of that. There’s not a chance I’ll be a part of that. I’ve watched Plymouth, Bristol Rovers, Lincoln for a period of the game, MK Dons and latterly Wimbledon all come to Portman Road and dominate the game. Come to Portman Road and dominating football games? Are you messing? Come on. It’s not going to carry on.”

Is he keen to do his summer business early? “I 100 per cent get where our supporters are at. We don’t even score a goal at the minute. I’ve never been around a football team like this, and it’s not me going back looking at what Paul Cook’s done, everything in the past is totally irrelevant.

“This is about the future. I’ve never seen a team not win second balls and show a character to win a game like we offered at Portman Road last Saturday.

“So whilst it’s great to speak about the future and what will happen tomorrow, I think we’ve got to stay in the painful today at the minute. And it is very painful.”

When will news of players being released or options taken be announced? “If I could have done it last Saturday at a quarter to five I would have done it, and I’d have done it with no regrets.

“There are processes that you have to go through now and then processes will be taken with everything in mind, players’ well-being, conducting ourselves properly as a club and not on an emotional one.

“The emotional one is your pride, it’s hurt and anger and as a manager I want to show everyone how much I’m hurt.

“That’s gone now. We’re in the realms of 10 days left of the season. The release list will come out, the people who can leave the club will come out and we’ll start signing players and, as they say, it will be a case of out with the old and in with the new. That’s 100 per cent what will happen at this club.”

So, as it stands, no one’s been spoken to about their future? Not current players or any incoming signings? “You lads will always poke and prod me in relation to what you would like me to say, what you want me to say.

“I like to think a lot of the time I represent our supporters. When I represent our supporters I can only tell them that I am up there with their unhappiness, I’m totally with you. Unfortunately, whatever I say or do at the minute will just fall on deaf ears.”

Cook will have had opinions on at least some of the current squad when he came in. Have those thoughts changed? Have some drifted in and out of his thoughts?

“That’s a very, very good question,” he reflected. “One of the answers I would give you, I’m actually trying to throw everyone under the bus at the minute in relation to how I feel because that’s how I feel.

“But within that, I’ve managed long enough to know that we do have some good players in the building, of course we do.

“But at the minute I think we’d all suggest we’re all struggling to find them, aren’t we? Let’s hope that the winds of change will blow through the building and the reality is that next year we’ll have a team on the pitch that we can be very, very proud of.”

While it’s expected there will be a player exodus unlike any previous summer, it’s likely a handful of the existing squad will still be at Portman Road. Is Cook confident that those players will be refreshed and their hearts and minds will be with him next season?

“Watch this space! Watch this space,” Cook said. “At the end of the day, I’ve never feared anything I’ve done as a football manager. I don’t fear getting beat. I fear not having a team on the pitch that reflects me.

“At all my previous clubs, I’ve always had teams on the pitch that reflect me. Going forward, hopefully as soon as I can, I’ll put on the pitch that reflects me, that I know our club and our owners and our fans and everybody in Ipswich will be proud of.

“Today, I’m an Ipswich town manager that’s hurting, I’m not doing well enough in my own job and I always look at myself first - what can I do better? One hundred per cent ‘what can I do better?’

“And then when I look out at the training ground areas, when we travel on the team bus, how much do I trust the people behind me. At the minute I don’t trust many people behind me.”

Town had 27 professional players out of contract this summer, including a number of senior members of the squad. Several youngsters have already departed along with Alan Judge, who would have triggered another year on his deal automatically had he started another league game.

Asked whether he is confident the club can avoid getting into a position with so many players coming out of contract again, he said: “Going forward, it’s a situation, especially with the new ownership coming in, and Mark Ashton coming in, our new CEO, that time of change is coming, and it really is coming.

“We’ve got to get everybody get in place and we’ve got to let people settle into their jobs. The functioning of the club going forward has got to happen.

“But in my world, we can’t be in any worse place than we’re in today. And I’m very much part of that. Make no mistake about it. I am devastated about what I’ve seen over the last 13 games.

“As a manager it falls at my door as well. But eventually as a manager the team replicate you. That team at the minute, our team at the minute does not replicate me in any shape or form.

“So going forward, we’ve got to finish the season properly, we’ve got to conduct ourselves properly, we’ve got to do everything correctly. But as you can work out, it will not be allowed to carry on.”

Photo: TWTD

portmanteau added 20:37 - Apr 29 PC was brought in to turn things around and has spectacularly failed and blames anybody but himself. Why do some people think he will be a completely different person only when all the present players are gone and he is given a new set to manage?
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Drifter3012 added 20:51 - Apr 29 Just read an article on Lancslive about Blackburn wanting Dozzell. It makes interesting reading. Describe him as the ideal creative midfielder. Not sure who the journalist has been watching but I'd be happy to see him go for a nice sum if Mowbray & Venus really want him.
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TimmyH added 20:52 - Apr 29 Only time will tell portmanteau...he's certainly taking a wrecking ball to the old 'institutional ITFC house' of the last few years there's no doubt about that and it needed to be done. If PC starts next season poorly the new owners will start to get concerned I should think but for now we should all get behind him.
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dirtydingusmagee added 21:03 - Apr 29 the sooner we know who is going the better, i just hope PC hasnt fallen for the ''old school loyalty con'' if those players really gave a sh#t they would have done something to show ITFC really meant something to them , imo its ''game over''. THOSE MARKED TO BE GOING SHOULD NOT HAVE ANOTHER GAME IN TOWN SHIRT.
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chocco added 21:16 - Apr 29 I told my pal when PC Took over he wasn't the man he has the same players has Lambert but a worse record when a manager comes in players are meant to get motivated and you see better results he should go along with the players he wants to release.
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Norwichbeater added 21:19 - Apr 29 London blue your comments are probably the most stupid I have Ever read. But you have 16 positives. God help us. The team downed tools before PC turned up. Disgraceful agreed. But his management skills are appalling. Worse manager we have ever had by miles. He has publicly destroyed them when we had every chance of play offs. Stupid man. We would have been in playoffs under lambert. Definitely and I wanted him to go 😡😡😡😡😡😡

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Norwichbeater added 21:28 - Apr 29 You lot are bonkers. Paul cook has failed massively. We would definitely be in playoffs at least under lambert. He is the worst manager we have ever had. Work out how the last 3 games will work out after his comments. He is all over the place at least PL motivated and got fans back. PC can stick his humour where the sun doesn't shine. He is rubbish. Worst ever
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Norwichbeater added 21:36 - Apr 29 Just my opinion. All have a good evening 😄🤣. I hope you all prove me wrong 🤞
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Pilgrimblue added 21:42 - Apr 29 Some very interesting comments but for me this is a culmination of all the very poor management decisions under ME. Goodness knows what sort of support the team would have got had supporters been allowed to attend over the last few months! not sure if Cook's style will pay dividends but it can't be any worse than the last ones surely!! It'll be interesting who will be retained. Some have been dragged down by so maybe players like Bishop will do better in a different team.

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ringwoodblue added 21:56 - Apr 29 Don't really see the point of interviews at this stage of the season. I'd rather the season just ended with no further comment from manager or players and let's hear from Cook again when the released player list is disclosed.
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Norwichbeater added 21:57 - Apr 29 The younger players need guidance on the pitch with a proper captain and leader. Please keep bishop, wolferden, dozzel, downes, nydham, kvy,dobra,
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bobble added 22:12 - Apr 29 these players beat the leaders hull city 2-0 away not long ago.......
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BettyBlue added 22:53 - Apr 29 Paul Cook, you are part of the problem... https://media2.giphy.com/media/l41lL1V5O3DFg5M1a/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47rqjfuyz2i
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slimjim added 22:54 - Apr 29 Blah blah blah bloody fed up listening to it...just get things sorted next season and get your team to do the talking on the pitch where it matters and get us out of this tin pot league.
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BettyBlue added 22:54 - Apr 29 "You're fired"
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BettyBlue added 22:58 - Apr 29 http://gph.is/1SyJXX7
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BettyBlue added 23:12 - Apr 29 So the players who let the club down big time are all sacked... And the manager who made things even worse gets to try and fix it??? Get him out the door now. Its stupid to think we can hand out 48 redundancies and start again. We are stuck with at least half this squad and continually rubbishing them while yourself is an embarrassment proves you are not fit to run this club. IF you really think they are that crap drop them. why hasn't Cook dropped the P45 players and made it obvious who they are?? Lets see who they are? Publicly humiliate them. Play the U23's on Saturday. And hopefully this will make it harder for 1st team squad to get another club or pay check. When are you going to stop talking the talk and start walking the walk? Paul??

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BettyBlue added 23:14 - Apr 29 The U23's deserve some recognition and a reward. Play them against Swindon. WHY not??? Are we still in with a chance of a 0-0 and another point for out late play-off charge.
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bluewarrior added 06:40 - Apr 30 Hard to add anything to what's already been said. The points that very few of these players have the guts to show they are capable regardless of Cook's criticisms chimes with me. Also, the fact that those who want to maintain a career in football don't have the brains to realise that they are playing for their futures. It doesn't look good on anyone's CV to be kicked out of the door of a failing league one club under a raft of criticism and abject performances. I think Cook is right in saying what the fans think. He needs to win us round for so many reasons and he's certainly won me round. Passion, no nonsense approach and utter determination to succeed is absolutely what this club needs. There will need to be a huge investment in new players though to bring the quality in that we will need to get off to a flyer but I think the club has the stature to do that and with the financial clout and outstanding fan base we have, then I think there will be plenty of players that will buy into Cook's vision and be part of an exciting future!

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Kitman added 08:04 - Apr 30 Certainly nailing his colours to the mast with this article. I am just wondering if there isn't some American corporate management style creeping through here..? What the new owners are investing in clearly has to work for them. Investment in us linked to a US pension fund? Good luck with that. I worked for a US owned firm in the 80's. The business was as far removed from football as you could imagine, but I had an under performing office. Visits by line management were therefore not much fun and they blamed the issues on the other members of staff. I stuck up for them. Needless to say that cut no ice. Parting shot from leaving the premises after the inspection visit: “Its them or you!” Perhaps PC has had that call already? OK he's having a clear out. I can't see any reference on who he wants to bring in. I can only imagine it must be players he's had in his teams before or knows how they tick. More of the point. How may are available. Didn't Hurst go out and buy 11 and look where that go us? Very hard to assess which way all this is going to go…………….

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ElephantintheRoom added 09:12 - Apr 30 In the short time he has been here, Cook has performed worse than any other manager in the club's history. Not just in the utterly appalling performances on the field, but in his jaw-dropping complacency and willingness to throw anyone under the bus. It's easy to forget that when he arrived, presumably at the new owner's behest whilst Evans was busy trying to unload the club, Town were in theory 'in touch with the play-offs' and even a mild dead cat bounce against some of the division's weaker teams would have seen them crawl on their hands and knees into the play-offs. Instead we have have witnessed an abject collapse. It's all very well to pine after 'your own' players and start again with some financial doping in the new season, but a manager is supposed to manage, not mismanage. This guy is either incompetent or angling for a pay-off. Either way its probably lose lose for Town - and win-win for Cook as he absolves himself of all blame for quite startling managerial incompetence, whilst awaiting a pay-off that will almost certainly arrive before Xmas.

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dirtydingusmagee added 09:19 - Apr 30 Too true bluewarrior, regardless of what anyone thinks of Cook , on here,or in the squad, the players have not done themselves any favours at all, their action/inaction will have been noted and wont win them any credit when looking to play elsewhere. They may now feel they have shot the manager down, and the club,and they are going , but they will also have shot themselves in the foot. Other managers will be looking for players who are willing to give all for the club, fighters when things are tough, players that want to prove themselves to all. Not rebels ,shirkers, malingerers. trouble makers, so hopefully they will now ge what they really deserve , sweet F A .

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KernewekBlue added 09:24 - Apr 30 There is more than one school of thought on which current squad members should be retained and the management style/results of Paul Cook. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I would defend anyone who states their views genuinely, without resorting to name calling or decrying the considered thoughts of others. However, stating that other contributors here are "bonkers", or that their comments are "stupid", is counter productive to any open forum. If you disagree with another contributor's post, you have the option to disagree by downvoting... don't, for pity's sake, take the childish option of calling someone an idiot just because their view differs from yours. 'Nuff said!

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Bluboi added 10:04 - Apr 30 Focussing on a positive and maybe a sign of green shoots of recovery already starting to sprout, we are 9 games unbeaten at home after losing 7 of the previous 9. Looking forward to Fortress PR and plenty of home wins next season.
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Len_Brennan added 11:26 - Apr 30 It's really interesting how this thread has gone in the last 24 hours, and how divided opinions appear to be. As with politics & social issues in the modern world, we all seem to identify with our man/woman/tribe now, so you are either on one side or the other, one extreme position or the other and therefore consensus around much of the discussion cannot happen. I was very much in the 'Lambert out' camp since December, and very much in the 'Paul Cook is the best possible replacement we can get' camp right from then too. The reason I wanted Paul Lambert out then was that I could see we were heading down the same road as last season & would again miss out on promotion/the playoffs, unnecessarily, in a very poor league. We needed to make the change, which would give the team the bounce it needed, before it was too late. The longer it went on under Lambert, the worse it got, until eventually he got the sack & to my delight he was replaced by Paul Cook. It was much later than I would have liked, but as luck would have it, the league was even worse than I had thought, and nearly all the other playoff contenders were doing their best to help us make the top 6. Happy Days! Not only did I assume that the playoffs were now guaranteed, I started telling people that we can win the league due to our easier run in than our rivals. I wasn't calling on Lambert to be sacked then and Cook appointed in order for him to get us promotion next season, thanks to a full clear out of our players and a war chest assisted recruitment drive; I wanted it to happen in order that we could rescue this season, hopefully get up through the playoffs and reestablish ourselves as a Championship next season. Lambert may have gotten us up next season with a massive transfer fund, maybe even Hurst, and Mick McCarthy most certainly would. My criticism of Cook is that he has failed to achieve anything in the time he is here, in fact we have gotten worse. Hurst was already heading for the door after 14 matches - In the Championship. I'm sure we'll be much better next season, with his newly recruited players in place,. but I don't we should completely ignore his failure at the moment, on the basis that things here have been badly run, the players have underperformed and it should be better next season. Paul Cook was appointed under Marcus Evans; now it's unthinkable that the new owners were not involved in/aware of that decision at the time, given how advanced the takeover was, but had it fallen through & Evans was still in charge, & likely to be for next season, how comfortable would you be with Paul Cook as manager going forward, without the ability to just discard many financial assets with a clause in their contracts, or the funds to bring in the new players that we are all expecting? A good manager's first job is to assess what he has & get the best out of them for the benefit of the club; objectively, Paul Cook has failed miserably in that department, and worse still has responded by throwing the entire playing squad - no matter how many of them may deserve it - under the bus in order to protect himself; something which until now was regarded as a no no.

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