It has been going from bad to worse for some time, but last night was not just a dream, it was a real-life living nightmare! So much for dreams eh. I was not even close, and I paid for my sins at the two online betting websites I use regularly. There is no more money on my accounts any more, and I have no desire to change it any time soon.
Back to last night’s match at Portman Road and I have to say, it was the most depressing Town performance I have ever witnessed. Even referee Darren Drysdale lost his cool and came mighty close to head-butting little Alan Judge. In fairness to Judge, he was about the only player playing with any passion in a Blues shirt – apart perhaps from Flynn Downes, who saw red again.
As you all know, I have defended manager Paul Lambert for as long as I can remember, but if I was a defence lawyer arguing his corner, I would seriously struggle to be able to mount a serious challenge to the well-held perception that he has to go. This is the saddest period I have ever suffered as a Blues supporter of more than half a century.
It pains me to say it, but something has to change and change quickly. Manager Paul Lambert has suggested that the buck does not stop with him entirely and that there is an awful lot of bad blood and dissatisfaction going on behind the scenes. He was vague about the details, as he is with most things, but after last night, I am beginning to wonder how many of his squad actually want him to stick around? On last night’s showing, it does not appear to be too many.
Mick Mills referred to last night’s performance as “sad.” Deplorable is another word that aptly sums up this collective no-show, and we all have to ask ourselves where on earth will all this end?
It will end with us still in League 1 next season after another lousy season.
Paul Lambert will be put out of his season somewhere along the line. Possibly now but more likely at the end of the season.
As for our Blues, we are a boring and disjointed team to watch. Can’t string together a good run to save our lives and don’t score many.
A good team is supposed to be more than the sum of the parts. We are the reverse. Our team is less than the individual players combined. Something is badly wrong with the whole culture of the club.
Yes, Lambert has become a huge disappointment to us all but there is something corrosive about the wider set up at Portman Road and I’m afraid you can only point the finger at Marcus Evans. Clearly an excellent businessman but his involvement with Ipswich just hasn’t worked.
As for the next step, here’s what I would do:
1) New manager – preferably Eddie Howe or a young/smart track-suited coach backed up by one of our heroes from yesteryear.
2) Clear out some of the older players who clearly are past it.
3) Buy a couple of decent strikers who can score with some regularity. Look at today’s results, Hull has just won 5-0 away at Wigan. We just aren’t capable of putting teams away like that. At best, we grind out narrow (and often lucky) wins against lesser teams.
4) Sort out our ongoing bad disciplinary record, which sadly indicates a lack of leadership from PL and a generally unhappy team.
All and all, the whole club needs a complete overhaul.
Thanks, Richard, for your well-considered response. You have highlighted – or should that read lowlighted some of the most troublesome aspects of the club we love.
It pains me to admit it, but I have been in denial for far too long. Town supporters deserve much more than this and I have arrived at the inescapable conclusion that there is no such thing as a quick fix. We are fundamentally floored, and manager Paul Lambert is probably right when he suggests that him leaving is just touching the surface.
I doubt very much that we would be lucky enough to acquire the services of Eddie Howe, and even if he was available and interested, I am not convinced Marcus Evans would be!
Hi Frank I admire your support for Lambert but you have now realised that this club is going nowhere with him as manager. As Richard has pointed out the clubs decline and problems goes way beyond the manager and ultimately the buck stops with Evans. For the club to move forward Evans needs to put a clear strategy and structure in place and if he is serious about his ambitions for the club will need to invest more on and off the pitch.. look how the upkeep of our stadium has declined.He needs to look at other clubs business models and adopt it to fit our club .. we have been left behind by so called smaller clubs than us for example Brentford, Huddersfield and dare I say it Norwich .Until Evans has a serious look at how he is running the club we are going nowhere and will continue to decline .. unless of course he can sell the club to someone with the ambition to get Ipswich back to where we belong. Keep up the good work I love listening to you on Radio Suffolk…Blue Army
Hi Dean, and thanks for your contribution. Yes, I guess I have finally seen the light. The match against Northampton clearly swung it for me because that performance was deplorable. In fact, I would go as far as to say it was the worst Town display in more than fifty years of watching them. Our visitors are at the foot of the table, cannot score and look certain to return from whence they came, so how did they manage to look so good and us so bad? I was left speechless at the end, and as I said on Radio Suffolk, I cannot defend Paul Lambert anymore. It is not just him of course, but a systemic failure and that is in itself perhaps even more troubling. I appreciate your kind comments by the way.
Welcome to the dark side Frank! 😉
Eddie Howe would be an amazing choice, however I’m sure he has higher aspirations than an L1 team.
PL is right there is a lot wrong behind the scenes, Evans is trying to run the club with a distant hands-off approach which will never work. Evans can never give all of his time to ITFC so I think he needs to appoint a full time Chief Executive to run the club on his behalf.
Hi Rick,
I used to like YES by the way. Still do in fact. OK, I have had to eat an awful lot of humble pie of late, and for good reason. The Blues didn’t turn up the other night, and I can honestly say that in more than fifty years of following the Town, I have never witnessed anything quite as bad as that. It was dreadful from start to finish and I could not defend the manager anymore. Even if Evans hires a new Chief Executive there is no assurance that he will be any good. Simon Clegg was appointed Chief Executive of Ipswich Town in April 2009 replacing Derek Bowden, and we all know what a disaster he was!