| [Blog] A (Crazy) Year in the Life of a Town Supporter Written by CalneBlue on Tuesday, 6th Dec 2011 01:35 At this time last year I submitted a blog to TWTD suggesting that Roy Keane’s personality traits inevitably meant he could never achieve lasting success as a professional football manager. The gamble had backfired and the club needed to make a new appointment sooner rather than later. Thankfully Marcus Evans realised this too, the axe was wielded and in came Paul Jewell. Now, just nine months later it’s difficult to believe that there should be so much pressure building for yet another change. What is happening to our football club? And what are we to make of Paul Jewell? I was initially underwhelmed by his appointment and to be frank a little disappointed since there seemed to be several more imaginative options available (Martin O’Neill, Eddie Howe etc). Yes, he had been successful at the top level but he had also experienced deep lows in his career, most notably in his last job at Derby. I thought he was a decent pundit but I didn’t feel confident that he could take Town back to the heights of the Premier League. But football fans are generally an optimistic bunch and I’m no exception. Give the man a chance since pretty much anyone would be an improvement on his predecessor. I consoled myself that this would either be an inspired choice or we’d be headed towards League One, hopefully the former. In the early days, despite not wanting to, I found myself warming to Paul Jewell. He was bright, optimistic and saying the right things, sensible and positive comments after the darkness that had gone before. The rot had stopped and Championship safety was in the bag. My Sundays had become happy again and we could look forward to the next season with renewed hope. Mr Bullard was an inspiration and any manager who could pull off this kind of imaginative and transformative signing surely deserved my respect. The close season started well and there were further good signings such as Aaron Cresswell, a young and hungry defender that his club clearly didn’t want to lose. Lee Bowyer had completed a solid season at Birmingham and despite his age and reputation certainly was a high-class footballer. Michael Chopra had been persuaded to come in at what seemed like a bargain price, we had an international class goalkeeper on loan, and an Arsenal player with first-team experience. These all looked like high-calibre signings of the sort we’d come not to expect. Even Nathan Ellington looked like a worthwhile gamble as a squad player. Mr Jewell had managed to get all these players into the club and all that was needed was to gel them together. It might take a bit of time but surely success was inevitable. True there were some decisions that were a little disconcerting. Why had we given away for nothing a £1 million international goalkeeper? Was it wise to sign a loan goalkeeper on a 24-hour recall with only Arran Lee-Barratt as cover? Why was the quietest player in the team made captain? Why was Jaime Peters (a star against Arsenal remember) not being given a chance? Why were young promising players with first-team experience being released? But surely Mr Jewell knew what he was doing and this was all part of a master strategy. An opening day 3-0 win over Bristol City seemed to confirm the early optimism. But we were brought crashing down to earth by a defeat against lowly Northampton (complacent team selection?). There followed some embarrassing and mind-boggling reverses, including an unreal 7-1 savaging by Peterborough. Peterborough? This was humiliation on a grand scale. All of a sudden the future wasn’t looking so rosy but the talisman Bullard was re-signed, a diamond is brought out of retirement and a solution found. A run is put together and we are playing like automatic promotion candidates. Did I ever doubt the manager? Just when things were going so well, a deluded referee awards a ridiculous penalty against us at Cardiff, we draw a game we should have won and a new run of poor performances start. Confidence ebbs away, defeats are snatched from the jaws of victory, and the team starts shipping goals like they’re going out of fashion. Team selections appear bizarre, the diamond has lost its shine as teams work out how to play against it, the older players look more than their age, and there is no Plan B. After seven straight defeats, many against mediocre opposition, I wonder where the next point is coming from. Apparently we now resemble a pub team. So, what can long-suffering supporters make of all this? Is Paul Jewell a good manager or not? Has he lost the dressing room? Are the older players a bad influence? Do the players care about the traditions of our beloved club? Why don’t we give our youth a chance? There are so many questions here that the average fan has no way of answering. Of course we’d all like a quick fix and it’s tempting to look longingly at the likes of Steve Bruce and call for a change. We can only hope that the owner has some idea of what is going on inside the club. If he can see that progress is being made and the long-term strategy is being followed then fine, Ipswich has a tradition of not panicking in tricky situations and I would be happy with that. But the sheer craziness of the last year doesn’t make me feel in any way assured that the future is in safe hands. Hold on tight – this rollercoaster ain't stopping yet. Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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