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It’s Time To Bring Him Back

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If manager Keiran McKenna ever read this, he will know how keen I am for Macauley Bonne to return to Portman Road. It is not just my opinion, but a view shared by Ipswich Town legend Mick Mills, and I think for very good reason.

He argues that Bonne had enough credit in the bank from the start of the season to make allowances for his prolonged lean spell. I agree. After all, it was not until the last game of the season that Wes Burns surpassed him as our top scorer, and only because Macauley Bonne fed him that decisive pass, as Wes reminded him afterwards!

Another reason that McKenna should seriously consider bringing him back is that he’s a home-grown lad who plays with his heart on his sleeve. His goal celebrations tell us all we need to know about his commitment to the cause, and after the way he was shown the door at fourteen, he always feels he has something to prove here. Bonne is a clever player and being in and out of the side certainly seemed to affect his sharpness and his confidence, as the season progressed. He needs to be loved and there is little doubt that supporters love him – and he loves Ipswich Town!

And perhaps the most obvious reason to recall a player who scored 11 goals in his first 16 appearances for the club, is that newcomer Dominic Ball and Macauley Bonne know a thing or two about being rejected at an early age in their careers. They have both proved their doubters wrong and have gone on to play in the Championship. They have a lot in common, and for a dressing room to gel, it makes sense to have players who can relate to each other, and they both, of course, played for QPR.

And yet, not scoring goals for a sustained period might just do Town a huge favour too! There was talk at the beginning of this year that QPR manager Mark Warburton might recall Bonne from his season-long loan spell, but thankfully, this did not materialise. Although he did not score again for the Blues, his failure might just work to our advantage. If Town wants him now, he might be available at a much more affordable price; and although he signed a three-year deal with QPR in October 2020, he might just leave on a free. He was not recalled in January by QPR and has scored just 3 goals in 34 matches for The Hoops, so he could be seen as a surplus to requirements. Is it time for him to be reunited with a former teammate Dominic Ball? I certainly hope so! He is a player of rare loyalty that I think deserves to shine here again.

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10 comments

  • Paul miller says:

    Give him a deal at itfc we all love him 🤙 x

    • Frank Weston says:

      Thanks, Paul. It is nice to see someone agrees with me and Mick Mills for that matter. The fickle nature of football means that people forget how good Bonne was at the start of the last campaign, and how he was largely frozen out of the first-team picture, firstly by Paul Cook who hired him, and then Kieran McKenna to some extent too.

  • John Blagg says:

    I’m sorry I don’t agree. Alex Mathie (former striker)said on commentaries that good strikers are judged when they don’t have the ball. He doesn’t make intelligent runs like James Norwood did who was released recently. He can’t play with his back to goal. And he’s bad on one to ones.

    • Frank Weston says:

      Thanks for your comments John but, as you might expect, I cannot agree with you. We are a broad church of opinions here of course, but James Norwood was, in my view, one of the dumbest footballers ever to wear an Ipswich Town shirt. This is not just because of his obligatory yellow cards, but also because he was technically far inferior to Bonne in that he struggled to take a ball down in the air, and his passing was, quite frankly, atrocious. He also missed some real sitters – although that could be applied to Bonne as well. All strikers are guilty of this from time to time but less so the higher you go.

  • Redhotitfc says:

    Not so sure about this. I think it would all depend on his wage and QPRs demands. If he takes a large chunk of the league 1 cap we should give him a miss. Promotion is our aim and that means we can’t afford to be sentimental. He’s definitely got quality, just think we could get someone better.

    • Frank Weston says:

      I get you Redhotitfc, but Mick Mills suggested that he should be retained because he is an important squad member and has credit in the bank for the goals he scored earlier in the season and his goal tally was only surpassed on the last day of the season by Wes Burns, who was grateful for the pass from none other than Macauley Bonne that made him Town’s top goalscorer! I believe that Bonne would happily accept a pay cut to play for his boyhood team again, and he certainly has something in common with Dom Ball – not just because they were teammates at QPR but also because of the way they suffered from club rejection much earlier in their careers.

  • Christopher Overett says:

    There’s no way we should sign Bonne. The fact he’s ” one of our own”, is totally irrelevant. The fact is, he did this past season what he does at every club he plays for. Starts well, then fades away. Hes always offside, and to score just 1 goal in 31 games for a striker simply isn’t good enough. On top of that, he brings little else to the team. Not for me. Having said that, if we did sign him I’d obviously back him. But for the money he’d cost us, don’t think he’d be worth the risk. And all that’s depending anyway on if he’d be happy to take a big pay cut. Remember, we’d have to pay all his wages this time.

    • Frank Weston says:

      I understand your concerns Christopher, but you are being a bit economical with the truth. He started in just 25 matches and scored 12 goals, and he made another 6 appearances as a substitute. This is the point I have been making. We have a big squad, but when he plays from the off he is much more likely to find the net. He scored 11 goals in his first 16 league appearances, which by anybody’s standards is a good outcome. As for ‘always offside’ some of the brilliant goals he scored earlier in the season were because he beat the offside trap with some clever movement, and every striker knows that a lot of their successes are born out of marginal decisions. Beating the offside trap is not easy.

  • barry girling says:

    Not viable to sign him in view of his poor goalscoring record.Also in our division not tall or physical enough.Sorry sentiment does not count. There must be much better options available.

    • Frank Weston says:

      This is not an entirely sentimental request Barry – although I accept that it does play a part in it. He scored 11 goals in his first 16 league games and that was no fluke. All strikers suffer from a loss of form and if he had not been frozen out of the first-team picture, then I think he would have added to his score tally. Remember, he was only surpassed as our leading goalscorer on the last day of the season when he supplied Wes Burns with his second goal.

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