 | News
Comment | No Dividends For PLC Shareholders
at 13:48:59
If the supporters have less than a one per cent interest any dividend paid to them would have been paltry in any case. Is this the first indication of extraordinary greed and entitlement by Gamechanger? |
| News
Comment | Leeds Thrashed at QPR
at 02:49:49
This just goes to prove that speculation is pointless. The ultimate irony would be if we clinch promotion Tuesday night when everyone has been saying all season that it would go down to the last day. |
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Comment | Town Agents' Fees ÂŁ1,263,523
at 13:06:40
How hard would it be for the governing body to have a rule that the agent’s fee must be paid by the party for whom the agent acts ie. the player. As has been pointed out, it works out to an average of 60k per transaction and for many other clubs it is a lot more than that. It’s an absurd amount of money for what is probably a few telephone calls and meetings. This is a prime example of why some aspects of the game should be overseen by an independent regulator. |
| News
Comment | Town Agents' Fees ÂŁ1,263,523
at 06:08:16
Nothing exemplifies the shocking way football is governed than agents’ fees. In every other industry the lawyer, accountant, adviser etc. is paid by the party they represent but in football it’s the club that pays. Absolutely ridiculous. |
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Comment | Ipswich Town 0-0 Watford - Match Report
at 09:03:51
The result was slightly disappointing but Watford are tricky opponents and the one point means it's still in our hands. Leicester and Leeds dropped points when their fixtures looked easier so we've gained in relative terms. Also in our favour, Southampton are still alive and they'll be desperate to win when they travel to Leicester and might still have a mathematical chance when they go to Leeds on the last day of the season. After Middlesbrough we have challenging away games at Hull and Coventry but we will have had a much needed two week break before then and we might have Burns and Hirst back. When we play Coventry it will be our game in hand and we'll know exactly what result we need. For Coventry it will be their fourth game in ten days with one of those matches having been the FA Cup semi-final so they'll be tired and maybe flat. There are endless permutations but the bottom line is that it's in our hands and the way the fixtures have lined up helps us. |
| Blog
Comment | Let’s All Take a Deep Breath
at 00:22:54
The whingers are a tiny minority and I can't recall anyone saying that if we don't go up automatically it will be a disaster. When a team concedes two goals in the circumstances we did at Cardiff, it's natural that fans will be critical. But most are intelligent and mature enough to put it into context. Let's not make a mountain out of a molehill. |
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Comment | Town Announce New ÂŁ105m Investment From Bright Path Sports Partners
at 04:22:40
Private equity investors have a reputation for being sharp operators. I'm not sure what expertise they can bring. Let's hope that for this "expertise" we don't see huge consultancy and management fees going to Bright Path. On the other hand, Portman Road needs expansion because a successful ITFC would be limiting itself if the capacity remains stuck at 29,000. If the bulk of the 105 million goes into stadium improvements and the club continues to be well run then it will have been worth it. Time will tell. |
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Comment | Ipswich Town 3-2 Bristol City - Match Report
at 22:50:25
We seem to make heavy weather of beating these teams at home - Port Vale last season and more recently Rotherham and Bristol City. This is the seventh time this season we've fallen behind and come back to snatch victory. It must be really frustrating for Leeds and Southampton. There are now ten games to go and anything can happen. But with the character of this team one thing is for sure - if we don't win automatic promotion it won't be because we couldn't cope with the pressure. |
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Comment | Ipswich Town 1-2 Maidstone United - Match Report
at 00:37:31
I’m angry and in disbelief but I’m trying to keep a sense of perspective. Ok, we played poorly, but given the number of chances created if we had won by five goals no-one would have said the scoreline flattered us. Freak results happen. It’s what makes football what it is. Argentina lost to Saudi Arabia in their opening match at the 2022 World Cup and then went on to win the tournament. It’s how we respond to this result that matters. We have to keep the faith. |
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Comment | Burgess: A Huge Honour
at 17:45:46
Massimo Luongo in my opinion deserves to be in the Australian team. Burgess had a good season last season, but everyone would agree that Luongo was even better. Given that Australia's biggest weakness s in midfield I'm surprised he wasn't called up. But then it could be that he's considered a bit too old or Luongo himself might have decided that at this stage of his career he doesn't want to be involved in international football. |
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Comment | Town Make Companies House Filings
at 21:52:23
After the Marcus Evans takeover most of the commentary was "Thank you Marcus for saving our club". Anyone who was a bit sceptical was dismissed as a Norwich fan or just plain stupid. Just a few years later the same fans who were in thrall to Marcus Evans were saying how he had ruined our great club. A bit of scepticism is a good thing so don't go rubbisihing people like Elephant and others like me who are uncomfortable with the way football clubs are owned and managed these days. I'm not saying Gamechanger are crooked or unethical but the fact remains they took over the club to make a good rate of return for the members of their pension fund. If our club does well and they get an offer that will deliver them a good return they will sell. It's as simple as that. The new owner might be the son of a dictator in some backwater country, a kleptocrat .... The reality is that even though the money the fans put into a football club through attendances, merchandise buying etc. dwarfs the money investors put in, the fans have absolutely no say in the way football is managed. |
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Comment | Fleetwood Town 2-2 Ipswich Town - Match Report
at 02:53:16
Congratulations on a fantastic season. At the start of the season there were gripes that we weren't clinical enough. Well, we were easily the highest scorers in the Football League. The reason we are not Champions is obvious - our defence is not at the level of the rest of the team. We failed to beat bottom half teams like Lincoln, Cheltenham and Fleetwood. Out of a possible eighteen points we collected a measly five against these teams and in all of them it was sloppy goal that cost us. Keiran McKenna knows he will have to bring in at least two quality defenders. |
| News
Comment | Broadhead Nets Last-Gasp Debut Goal to Claim Point For Wales
at 07:52:22
It's a sign of the growing stature of our club that we have players on international duty. I remember the glory days of the mid/late 70's and early 80's when most of our players regularly played internationally:
England - Mick Mills, Kevin Beattie, Terry Butcher, Russell Osman, Brian Talbot, Paul Mariner
Scotland - George Burley, John Wark, Alan Brazil
Northern Ireland - Allan Hunter
Netherlands - Arnold Muhren, Frans Thijssen |
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Comment | Barton: McKenna a Man Under Pressure
at 14:11:00
Everyone knows KM is under pressure. Barton takes a cheap shot by saying KM should have had better results given the resources available to him. The jury is still out on KM but it's clear Barton has no class.
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Comment | McKenna: Once We Win a Game or Two, the Narrative and Situation Look Very Different
at 21:50:24
The next eight league matches could define our season. Our form and confidence is currently low but Morecambe at home and Cambridge United away are matches we should win. It's crucial we don't lose our next match at home to Sheffield Wednesday. Let's assume a draw. Let's also assume a draw away to Bristol Rovers. That's 8 points. The following four matches are against teams currently in the bottom six and we play three of those at home. Four wins and 12 points is not wishful thinking. Therefore, those eight fixtures could yield us 20 points which would make our overall record 71 points from 35 games. Over that same period Plymouth and Sheffield Wednesday play each other and Plymouth in particular have another couple of hard matches. It might just be enough to put us back in the top two. But even if we're not in the automatic promotion places, we will not be too far away and momentum will be on our side. It's crucial we have a very decent points haul by that point because three out of the next four fixtures look really tough: Bolton(a), Shrewsbury(h), Barnsley(a), Derby (a). If we don't collect a high number of points in our next eight games, automatic promotion will probably be out of reach and even a top six finish might start to look dicey.
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| Blog
Comment | Big Club, Little Club
at 00:57:54
Great blog as usual. An era can define a team for decades. In the ten seasons from 1972/73 to 1981/82 ITFC finished in the top six on nine occassions and in 1977/78 where they missed out, they won the FA Cup. Had today's European rules applied then, ITFC would have qualified for the Champions League on seven occassions and for the Europa League on the other three. An unquestionably big team e.g. Tottenham Hotspur would take such a record any old day. Furthermore, our support has held up remarkably well despite the dire performances. In 2018/19 when we were relegated to League One our attendances still averaged 17,741. This season we are averaging almost 21,000. The other teams you compare us to cannot claim such support. We never were and never will be a big club. However, I would argue our remarkable achievements from all those years ago still resonate and that along with our pretty strong following makes ITFC quite a bit more than a small club. |
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Comment | John Cobbold’s Ace Gardener
at 12:29:01
It's a pity he fell out with the club at the end of the 1977/78 season. He could have given the club that extra bit of depth which so often means the difference between winning silverware and just missing out. In particular, he would have been as asset in the 1980/81 season when the pile-up of fixtures cost us the league. I know many think of Colin Viljoen as an old stager but he would have been only 32 during the course of 1980/81. Mick Mills was only a few months younger. If only...... |
| Blog
Comment | Politics and Ipswich Town
at 23:22:13
Another good read. If you look at anything closely enough you can always find patterns or parallels but as everyone knows there is no relationship between what happens in British politics and the fortunes of ITFC. I, too, thought it was Lady Blanche Cobbold who said she preferred a gin and tonic over meeting Margaret Thatcher. |
| Blog
Comment | Does the NFL Point to Football’s Future?
at 20:55:57
A very good blog. Equalisation measures are needed for the long term health of the game. The NFL has prospered by adopting such measures but perhaps the best example is Australian Rules football. The crowds relative to the size of the population beat whichever European or South American league you care to name. The league body in Aussie Rules receives lucrative amounts for television rights and from commercial sponsorship. All of the league's income is distributed to the clubs equally. Furthermore, there is a salary cap and a draft system. The earliest picks in the draft go to the teams that finished the lowest in the previous season's competition. This levels out the playing field and because the competition is so even and unpredictable it generates huge spectator and commercial interest. It all becomes self-perpetuating. They call it 'growing the pie'. In the global game of football, and the Premier League is the most egregious example, there is no concern about growing the game. Self-interest rules the day because the governance of the game is so poor. Things have to change but I'm not holding my breath. |
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Comment | The Man Who Loved Limericks
at 11:50:43
I wish I could get my hands on Mel Henderson's book but I do have a copy of Brian Scovell's book titled Football Gentry: The Cobbold Brothers and I can tell you it was a scream. Mr John was an eccentric but there was an underlying shrewdness so it was no coincidence ITFC's greatest era coincided with the two decades or so that he was Chairman. He exemplified or better still - created the culture that made ITFC such a special club. I still have difficulty coming to terms with the fact the fans willingly discarded this culture by selling out to Marcus Evans. |
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