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Skipper Chambers Linked With Chicago Fire
at 21:37:00

I'm not one to usually post on here but some of the comments above have driven me to make some observations. I come from a footballing family (including a former Town player who didn't quite make it) so I hope some of this is said from a position of at least a little knowledge about the game.

It appears as fans we have been on a downhill slope for so long that we are prepared to accept mediocrity in our team so readily that we forget what ITFC is all about. There is no doubting Luke Chambers' commitment, heart and passion for our club but surely those things are prerequisites for any player who pulls on the blue shirt of our beloved club. All of Bobby' Robson's players had it, so did George Burley's and also Joe Royle's.

However, the clue is in the name of the game - football. Unfortunately, although Chambers is a great leader, in terms of football ability he's mediocre at best. Before some of you scream at me for making him a scapegoat or insulting him, this is an observation and not in any way a criticism of him as a person. I don't question any of his personal qualities, just his footballing ability. I'll also make the point here that he's not the only player in our squad who is limited as a footballer by a long way. I still watch my father in his 70s play football in the back garden with his grandchildren and even now, he can trap a ball within a millimetre of his right foot and pass it directly someone else within even thinking about it, and this is someone who didn't even make it in the game. This is not something you can train into someone, they either have that natural ability or not, and you can train into players the other stuff like positional sense, but without being able to control and pass a football, a player is already playing catch up and will have a limit to the level he can achieve.

I have much higher expectations for Ipswich Town centre backs. I sort of remember Terry Butcher's wonderful 30 yarder late in the relegation season 1985/86 (can't remember who against) or how about Kevin Beattie's first touch against Bohemians Prague in 1980/81 when he clubbed a 20 yard free kick into the top corner just after coming on as a sub. For those of you who say we can't attract such quality now, my answer in simple - you don't have to buy them - with a proper youth set up there's no need - that's what Robson did. As for making excuses such as being played out of position, a good footballer can play anywhere, providing he has the basic skills of being able play football. I'm sorry, but Chambers just doesn't posses those skills, and these are being showed up more and more as he ages.

Playing out of position also leads me to the next point, and the mention above of comparing Chambers to the legend that is Mick Mills was ill advised at best. Mills played most of his career at left back, but was right footed, and he was a proper footballer. If you don't believe me, try watching the 26 minute YouTube video of the 6-0 thrashing of Man Utd in 1979 (doesn't listening to Gerry Harrison takes you back BTW). Mills played centre midfield (yes a regular full back in the midfield holding role) and please watch the brilliant first touch pass to Alan Brazil for the first goal, and the general range of passing. Just awesome - are we really comparing that to Luke Chambers?

I'm very happy that PL appears to understand some of this and at last we have a manager who wants us to play football the right way. His problem is that he has such a lack of footballing quality in his squad that even the loan players couldn't save us because the rot was so deep rooted he was on a hiding to nothing. The proof will be in what he can do with a hopefully much younger, leaner squad with a full pre-season behind him.

So I say big thanks to Luke Chambers for doing his very best and showing great commitment to the cause, but it's time for him to move on. The good news is that he has all the qualities that mean maybe one day he will make it as a manger. For now, hopefully Lambert will give the likes of Luke Woolfenden their chance, because with Evans' continued underinvestment, that's our only hope.

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McCarthy Denies Aiming Tirade at Fans
at 21:11:27

Having spent the last few years not commenting on this site, but reading everyone's comments with great interest, today's events have proved too much and so I feel compelled to join in. I hope I speak with some knowledge having been brought up in a football household (my father played for our wonderful football club in the early 1960s), although I don't in any way claim to be an expert.

Firstly I say this to those who think it's ok for McCarthy to behave in the way that he has towards us supporters (not just today, by for the last 3 or so years) because he's getting a lot of stick and it's therefore ok to give it back, I believe you are misguided. When you are put in a position of responsibility, one of the prerequisites for the job is that you behave with dignity, making sure you represent the club in the best way possible in whatever you do, particularly in the public domain. This should be irrespective of how much provocation you receive, because as the manager of the great Ipswich Town Football Club, that is what is expected of you. He has singularly failed in this respect. What he did today was tit for tat, what a child would do because they know no better, and not the professional behaviour which is the very least we should expect from our manager. It is just another instance that confirms that he doesn't understand the privileged position he is in, and how lucky he is. He has never understood Ipswich Town, and simply never will. We are not another Sunderland or Wolves, we are a club who has statues of Sir Alf and Sir Bobby outside our ground, one of only 12 British clubs who have managed to win the FA Cup, the League and a major European competition. Quite simply, McCarthy has significantly contributed to our club being a pale shadow of it's former self, and a shameful embarrassment.

That leads me to my next point. Some appear to think it's ok that we are dished up the most appalling, hoofball football because McCarthy has done well without any funds and we should be careful what we wish for. However, football is littered with stories about clubs being successful because they believed in a proper football philosophy that didn't need huge finances, just proper coaching and unwavering belief in a style of play which first and foremost must entertain its customers (Eddie Howe at Bournemouth springs immediately to mind). This includes bringing on younger players, teaching them to pass the ball to each other - playing the Ipswich Town way. That is the way it happened when my father played for our great club, and again under Sir Bobby, George Burley and Joe Royle, and that's the way it should be now. I can think of many managers which I would prefer to be our manager including Garry Monk, Mark Warburton, Marco Silva. Let's hope MM goes asap or even better, he shows some dignity and walks away himself.

My last point is that I find the notion that some have made on this site, that because we criticise our club, sometimes even our manager in a public place, means that we are not true supporters, because we should support the club and all of those who are part of it whatever happens. My father gave up his season ticket half way through last season because he could no longer stomach watching the absolute garbage served up by McCarthy's team. This is a man who is Ipswich through and through and is a real supporter who actually played for the club he loves. Being a supporter does not mean following a club blindly, passively allowing everything to happen around us without any criticism. If you support a club, you have to be prepared to engage both positively and negatively with the club in order to try to make it better for all of us. Being a supporter doesn't mean being a groupie like for a rock group, it means you care deeply about the club, and being part of it is not just another form of bland entertainment (or not if you watch a Mick McCarthy side), but it is embedded in your soul. That means making sensible, well though though, critical comment is a perfectly valid thing to do.

MM is therefore just not up to the job, neither professional or tactically and has a management style that should have been left in the 1970s. He's already caused untold damage to our club and today's events provide Evans with enough to dismiss him forthwith. Please can we have our club back!

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Keane: I\'ve Learned a Lot About My Players
at 21:38:37

Can't agree with the comment that McAuley is a bad captain but an ok player. He's just about the worst CB we've ever had. He displays no agression, he consistently commits the defender's cardinal sin by letting the ball bounce rather than attacking it full blooded, he cannot inspire his teammates, he hardly ever gets booked and he's dragging Pim down to his level when what the boy needs is a hard uncompromising leader next to him to show him how to play CB - in summary McAuley''s another in the long line of poor Magilton signings which Keane somehow has to get rid of. It's going to a long and tough job to raise the quality level in the squad.

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