Ipswich Town Must Look Forward Not Back

Everything that could be said has been said. That damning 6-1 defeat at Charlton has left us all licking our wounds and this includes the manager himself. Now we must dust ourselves down and look forward and not back, as the new season kicks off at Portman Road on Saturday.

The one ray of hope is that Joe Garner is likely to be fit to face Birmingham, which is just as well because at least he is in form, while the rest of the squad appear not to be.

Illness has apparently plagued our pre-season preparations but the details of what kind of sickness this is remain rather vague? I assume they are all suffering from flu like symptoms but with the Town medical team always on hand, I would have thought they would have found ways of reducing it spreading?

If we can believe what Mick McCarthy said on the subject, he suggested that it was brought into the club by Bersant Celina, who having gone down with it himself then recovered and gave it to others before getting it himself again! What a bizarre set of circumstances, if this is indeed how it all transpired?

We must also note that our search for a number nine seems to have reached a dead end and the confident boast by manager Mick Mccarthy that we would have one installed before we kicked off the new season, is another major fail in my view.

It is far better not to build up supporters hopes, only for them to be quickly dashed again – especially in the light of what occurred to the Blues at the weekend!

The renewed optimism felt by most of us a few weeks ago is nothing more that a distance memory. Collectively we are all feeling down in the dumps and the lack of activity on the transfer market simply adds to our woes. We are desperately understaffed!

Yet against all this doom and gloom, we have to try to remain positive because at this stage we have not lost a competitive game and we must hope that the players will be determined to get supporters onside next Saturday and that means a winning start.

Birmingham manager Harry Redknapp will not be so happy that Town took a thumping because he will know that coming to Portman Road is never easy and even less so when you are facing a side that is carrying a lot of wounded pride.



Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich