And as we proudly sit in fourth place in the Sky bet Championship isn’t it about time that someone else got a mention?
We have all of late sung the praises of Mick McCarthy who on a shoestring budget has got Ipswich Town football club into fourth place in the Sky bet Championship.
Mick McCarthy would however be the first to admit that he could not have done it without his right hand man Terry Connor and this unlikely pairing has performed minor miracles before, when they took unfancied Wolves to the pinnacle of English football and kept them there for many years.
Under McCarthy and Connor, Wolves became champions of the Championship in 2007 and they kept them in the Prem for another three seasons, until finally things went pear-shaped and they returned from whence they came.
Before their complete demise though, Terry Connor took over the reins but it was to be short-lived and I think we all know now that he was always destined to be a coach and not a manager, as he could not guide the Wolves to a single win in his brief spell in charge there.
They say that in life opposites attract and in football too this certainly seems to be the case.
Perhaps the only things these two have in common are their love of football and their Yorkshire roots – although there is of course fierce rivalry between Leeds and Barnsley even if it is the same county!
Mick McCarthy was a defender and he sees the game that way. Terry Connor was a forward and he sees the game that way. Together they marinate so well and that is why we have a team at present that is both strong in attack and strong in defence because we are getting the best of both footballing worlds!
In many ways Terry Connor is the unsung hero of the current Ipswich Town success story. He works diligently week in and week out with the forwards and we can see the startling difference it has made to Daryl Murphy in particular, who is playing arguably the best football of his entire career with Town.
So hats off to our Terry! He deserves all the plaudits for his wonderful coaching skills and who knows, he may even get Conor Sammon to score occasionally. Now that would be a remarkable achievement!
