Owner Marcus Evans is sounding more and more like a desperate man. He would dispute this of course but why do Ipswich want this season to continue? Why should Ipswich, who are currently in 10th place in the League One table and are 7 points behind the play-off spots, having played at least one game more, want this season to resume?
I can understand Oxford, Portsmouth, Fleetwood and Peterborough wanting to go on because they are all in those play-off places and Sunderland in 7th are level on points with Peterborough in sixth; so all of this makes perfect sense. But the Blues are not in a good position at all, and would need to win all of their eight remaining games and hope other teams falter to get to the playoffs, and the chances of this occurring are remarkably slim. Interestingly, Town are the only club so far down the table to show any interest in prolonging the agony, so where is the logic here?
Terry Hunt writing this morning in the East Anglian Daily Times hit the nail on the head when he said that he found it “distasteful and unseemly” to be squabbling over something as trivial as football, whilst hundreds of people are dying from the Coronavirus every day. I think this is a view shared by the majority of Ipswich Town supporters too, and although we all love the game, in the wider context of life itself, it really should be taking a back seat.
Recently Evans wrote a letter to EFL chairman Rick Parry urging the football body to do everything in their power to ensure the season was completed. In the letter, the owner acknowledged the challenges the EFL faced but said that unless the Government suggest that for health reasons football can’t be played behind closed doors, all options should be considered to complete the season on the grounds of sporting integrity alone. ” The focus should be on how we finish the season and not how do we end the season on an incomplete basis,” Marcus wrote.
But as Terry Hunt alluded to today, the terminology adopted by people who want the game to go on is only used for the convenience of their own hidden agenda’s. “Sporting integrity? Surely the best way to show integrity and respect would be to find a way to end the season as quickly as possible and agree on how to resolve the issues of promotion and the play-offs.”
This season has been a nightmare and arguably the worst in living memory. The sooner we wipe the slate clean and start all over again the better in my view and the quicker the man who sits proudly in joint 188th place in the UK Rich List realises it, the better for all of us.
