Is No News Bad News At Portman Road?

The talk is that Rangers reject Joe Garner could be our first signing in the close season but at close to one million quid, he does not come cheap for a player who has largely failed in the Championship at the ripe old age of twenty nine!

If he does sign, which seems likely if personal terms can be agreed, then it will be a start but it is not something that will have supporters renewing season tickets – which are at the lowest since the late 1990s and is indicative of our rather rapid fall from grace of late.

There was talk of us signing Bersant Celina on a season long loan from Manchester City but it now looks as if he will either go to Leeds United or indeed Bolton Wanderers, such is our pulling power these days sadly.

Town have decided to reduce match day ticket prices which has been applauded but this has a lot I think to do with the poor season ticket sales, which could lose the club as much as one million pounds. It is for this reason too that the Early Bird ticketing scheme has been extended beyond the scheduled cut off point of March 17th and there is no longer a deadline set.

These are desperate times to be an Ipswich Town supporter and what Tractor Boys and Tractor girls probably want more than anything is the club to recruit someone who will excite the fans – or has fantastic potential!

Unfortunately however, loan deals and cheap charley buys seem once again to be the order of the day and if this continues, it is hard to imagine any real progression in the season ahead.

Mick McCarthy remains largely tight-lipped on transfers but he usually has one or two new names on board by now so this is serious cause for concern in my view.

Finishing 16th in the table might be the reason so we may have to look lower down the leagues again to find an untapped talent but there will be no guarantee that he would be able to walk straight into the team, even if we do go down this path.

Daryl Murphy might be available again but his wage demands and his desire to go back to Ireland may well mean this will not happen.

The new season thankfully is still a long way off but as things stand, I am not one who is looking forward to it.


Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich