 [Blog] Why Football Fans Need Patience at Every Level.Written by DurhamTownFan on Sunday, 26th Feb 2012 18:18 At Ipswich, we are no different. Older generations feel that there is no reason why, given a bit of time and good luck, our team can’t claw its way back up the football ladder like we did in the days of Ramsey and Robson. Slightly younger fans might aim a bit lower, but will all still seem to believe that we could and should, be playing in the top flight on a more regular basis than that seen over the last 15 or so years. The trouble is, only three teams in a league of 24 can ever achieve this ambition every year. Those following teams like West Ham, Derby, Middlesbrough, Forest, Leeds, and even Blackpool, Burnley and Hull will believe the same thing about their team's rightful place in the league ladder. If you go up the league, ambitions are similarly extended. So we saw at Wolves last week, QPR earlier in the season, and going back a bit, also Charlton several years ago where a guaranteed mid-table each year under Alan Curbishley was not deemed sufficient. For a bigger club like Chelsea, expectations are even higher, while almost every other of the 87 lower-ranked league clubs would jump at the chance to swap positions. What this rather long-winder set-up is getting at, is to make the point that in any given season, there are very few outright ‘winners’ in football. Back in the George Burley era, Town played some of the best football fans can remember but missed out on the elusive success of promotion on a yearly basis until 2001. In today’s football, this would be perceived as outright failure, especially if you look at the way teams like Preston, Cardiff and Leeds have chopped and changed over recent times. I think that fans of Ipswich and other league clubs have forgotten this fact in search of instant success. Where ‘should’ Ipswich be at this particular moment in time? No team is entitled to anything in football, and at this present time the current Town team lie exactly where they deserve to be. Based on past history, many neutrals would perhaps like to see clubs like Ipswich, Leeds and Forest in the top tier over dull and ill-supported squads like Wigan or Blackburn. However, we must adjust our ambitions based on where we are right now, where we want to be in two or three years, and where we have been in recent weeks. Go back two months, and almost any Town fan would snap your hand off if you offered them a chance of 16th place, but now many bloggers and commentators seem to be somewhat deliriously laying plans for the play-offs in May, or instant promotion in 2012/13. The team is most definitely a work in progress. Of the current starting XI, only Carlos Edwards has been anything like a regular starter for Ipswich Town over the last two seasons. Indeed, many of our players, including Tommy Smith, JET, Aaron Cresswell, Lee Martin, Luke Hyam, Arran Lee-Barrett and Andy Drury (that’s half the team) are still even learning how to be Championship-level footballers. As such, periods of success and relative failure should be entirely expected, and begrudgingly accepted. So, the aim of this blog, is to convince Ipswich fans to sit back, enjoy their football, and have faith that in time, success will come. It may take two or three years to get back into the top six each year, but I strongly believe that fans should accept this while the above-mentioned players continue to develop what it takes. Fans have to stop calling for Paul Jewell’s head every single time we concede a sloppy goal. I ask them to consider how players learn, except by making the odd mistake, and moreover, how does Jewell learn to manage Ipswich, except by making a few errors of his own? Even if you dwell on his past failures, Jewell has many, many more years of football-playing and management than almost any fan, and I use this to suggest that he is not as blinkered or even stupid as many contributors to debates on this website might suggest. I don’t believe for a second that he didn’t try his hardest to sign the magic centre-halves and right-backs that are so often demanded by online commentators. Maybe Jewell knew more about our squad than we did, and in fact believed in that he didn’t need these players, or that his finances could not stretch to these while keeping the side prudently within budget? Football did not used to be a game of instantaneous boom and bust. I can’t remember many fans asking for Burley’s head after ‘that’ United game in 1995, nor can I remember us being desperate to get rid of either Joe Royle or Jim Magilton in any of the years that we finished in or just outside the play-offs in recent years following his eventual departure. Yes, we pay a lot of money into this club and may feel like we have the right to voice opinions, but so does Marcus Evans! The owner seems to have faith in his long-term vision for our club, informed as it is by many minds better-qualified than many of our own. It's about time our supporters started showing this belief, and to enjoy the fact that we’ll still be playing against some historic and forward-thinking clubs such as our own on a regular basis next year. Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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