Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at home to Cardiff City at left Paul Jewell’s Ipswich Town bluer than a choking Smurf and in the Championship drop zone to boot, so it seemed safe to assume that the Portman Road faithful are feeling lower than a John Terry retort about the direction their club’s going in. I hotfooted it on over to online Blues joint TWTD.co.uk to find folks queuing up to air this grievances with regards our latest Embattled Manager of the Week…
Embattled Manager of the Week…
Paul Jewell, Ipswich Town
Stands accused of…
SouperJim, TWTD.co.uk…
I’m absolutely fuming that he is still in charge, dead man walking and the owner unwilling to act while there is still a chance that we can consolidate without having to pay him off.
Either;
a) Jewell and co suddenly work out how to put a team together, have a plan b during games, gain the ability to make a difference once the players cross the white line, make a substitution which isn’t just like for like. Somebody tells JET he has to make the far post. Somebody tells the squad that 4-5-1 is an attacking formation and the wide men have to actually support the striker occasionally. Jewell realises that telling the team to all sit on the edge of the box second half and try to hold on to a single goal lead is asking for trouble and we finally dig ourselves out of this.
b) Things get so bad (we lose our next 5 games) that Evans is finally forced to act. Hutchings in charge for Burnley.
c) We potter along, same old failings which Jewell clearly can’t fix. The season is a write-off, we scrape together enough points to finish 20th come the end of the season and Jewell goes then. I’ve wasted another £400+petrol on the same old rubbish.
At the moment I’m feeling option C. Anybody got an option D?
warky1970, TWTD.co.uk…
“You don’t really want to single players out, but there’s no hiding, two goalkeeping errors have cost us the game.”
Brilliant bit of man management Jewellio. You cretin.
Sergio, TWTD.co.uk…
Fourteen months ago Jewell was using the excuse that his team needed time to ‘gel’ after signing nine players in the summer. Last night six of the fourteen players used were loanees! how are they meant to ‘gel Mr Jewell?!
He is now using the excuse that he is building for the future, where?
Seven loanees at the club. edwards & scotland are probably on their last season, martin appears to be running down his contract. Drury (in my opinion) isn’t good enough. That leaves Loach, Chambers, Creswell, Carson, JET & Chopra. (forgive me if i’ve missed someone) I don’t hold a lot of hope for the future!
drbitfc, TWTD.co.uk…
We need a manager with some passion. It was noticeable yesterday that fatso, as usual, offered very little passion from the touchline.
When he isn’t sitting down staring at the ground, he just stands there, confused and silent.
Yesterday MacKay was constantly cajoling and encouraging his team, berating and praising in equal measure.
When the manager shows little desire, or even belief, its always going to be reflected on the pitch.
Hutchings has become the voice from the touchline Jewell just looks like he’s out on day release.
BlueBadger, TWTD.co.uk…
To be honest, I’m more concerned about Jewell’s dreadful signings, poor planning, inability to change tactics or coach players than whether he stands up or sits down during a match.
unbelievablue, TWTD.co.uk…
By all accounts (at least, those accounts that I trust), we’ve been playing pretty well but not managing to convert draws to wins, and losses to draws. Perhaps with the exception of the Charlton game from what I hear.
For me, it isn’t as simple as “it’s a results business”. If it was as simple as that, Jewell would have to go. But we aren’t picking up points when we play well, which to me is more worrying than losing when we play badly. This is a factor in why I feel we should sack Jewell now, but not the only one.
Time is key. Jewell has had ‘time’ (for a given value of the word) and yet we have nothing resembling a settled side. Loanees are fine when they supplement a progressive team, but not when seven of them (whether with a view to a permanent deal or not) make up the spine of the team.
There’s quite a vibe around the club now, which is lingering like a dewy mist of discontent and gloom. Unfortunately for Jewell, this is only in part due to his failures as ITFC manager. Keane before him has done far more long term damage than Jewell.
However, considering the exceptionally poor vibe around the club, the lack of results (whether we are performing or not), and, importantly, the lack of a cohesive, united squad despite financial backing, I think it’s time for a change.
Who you say? Mick McCarthy, I say.
Ely Blue, TWTD.co.uk…
You can blame the manager for not seeing that we were under the cosh and bringing on someone like N’Daw to shore things up in place of JET or Martin……….. Oh I forget the useless fat scouser dropped him for some unknown reason
In his defence…
RetroBlue, TWTD.co.uk…
Having watched Towns last 3 games , we are not a million miles away from a decent side. But we currently lack confidence, and have a problem in front of both goals. TBH I think it is now down to the players to stand up and be counted. eg it was not Jewells fault that JET missed a sitter , or that Loach singly handedly gifted Cardiff victory yesterday. It was not Jewells fault that Murphy missed a hat trick of chance at Brighton.
At some point , these highly paid so called professionals need to take individual and collective responsibility . And that does not mean taking to bloody twitter saying “ok it was all my fault”. Thats not good enough.