At the risk of reaching the conclusion of a blog within record time, yes, it is indeed time for a change. And as much as it saddens me, I fail to see how we can propel ourselves into mid-table security under the current regime. Furthermore, without a mini-revolution at the top I don't see much improvement in the years to come either.

Now these comments are hardly new or revolutionary, for at least 74% of us have similarly concluded that Mr Jewell won't be able to turn this season around.

But unlike some, I don't think Paul Jewell deserves the vilification he is receiving either. I don't believe he is a bad manager and I certainly don't believe he is undeserving of our respect. There can be no-one who can say that he ever shies away from a challenging question, or that he will not do his utmost to answer that question honestly.

Neither can anyone deny that he hasn't tasted considerable success at Bradford and Wigan, identifying and motivating mediocre-good players to achieve great things. And let's face it, unlike some, Mr Jewell is genuinely feeling the failure of our current downturn every bit as us fans.

But... and this is a considerable but, he has also suffered considerable failure in the past with the likes of Sheffield Wednesday and Derby where I am sure he also tried his best. There may well have been mitigating factors behind these failures, but these episodes in his career should not be ignored.

So what do I conclude from this? Well, Mr Jewell is a decent manager, and a decent person. He deserves our respect and whilst our manager, he deserves our support. Ultimately, he wants the same thing as us. Success for Ipswich Town.

The only problem is this. History tells us that once in a slump, without significant change it is very difficult to reverse downward momentum. Some players and staff become resigned to their fate, others will fight desperately to reverse it (with the result of forgetting the reasons why they were successful in the first place...).

I think at the moment Mr Jewell currently falls into the second category. Whilst one or two of the loan signings he has brought reveal promise, they are not our players, nor young, and certainly can not be built upon for next season.

Over the coming months, I think we can expect to see a whole raft of changes to our playing style, tactics and first team sheet, all aimed at improving our fortunes. And I would expect nothing less of our manager to try everything he can to turn our fortunes around.

But the simple truth is this. It would take a great manager, incumbent in his post, to turn this season around. I'm afraid, Paul is only of the decent variety. Perhaps a new outside assistant manager could be brought in? In the mould of John Gorman or Bryan Hamilton for the underachieving Mr Hutchings perhaps (whose previous managerial record is hardly glittering). This may well be his only hope.

A new manager on the other hand, does not have to be great, he only has to be decent. A new manager can ride a new wave of optimism from the fans, can rely on unquestioning endeavour from his players (at least in the short-term) and should expect unflinching support from his board.

If we maintain the status quo however, we will get nothing better that 16th. A new appointment on the the other hand, and If the momentum goes his way in the first few months, then the top half is realistic, with the forecast of next season being much improved.

naa added 18:22 - Oct 9 Not a bad blog, certainly trying to be fair. Personally, I think the season is still there, we're only 9 games in after all. However, Jewell said that his plan was more of a building approach this year, and I applauded him for that, but now we have loads of loan players in through desperation (and I feel that we need most of them). But for me, the Cardiff game summed things up this season. Plenty of possession first half, and no threat at al from Cardiff, but little from ourselves too. The reason for this I think is in the basic tactic, which is to get it onto the wings. We don't do this very quickly - attacks are ponderous at best - so by the time someone wide has it they have little option but to swing a cross in at head height. This is meat and drink to defenders in this division, but also of little use to our tiny strike force. If wing play is to be our approach then we need to get the ball in quick and feeed the ball in low to the strikers. We need more movement forwards and it would really help to have a midfielder with an eye for a forward pass, like Magilton or Garvan (thanks for that one Roy). If Jewell can get the team playing like this is another matter. Maybe he has tried but the players just aren't capable or motivated enough. Anyway, Marcus Evans needs to think long and hard about why this club has gone downhill since he turned up with his money (though sadly, Jewell has seen little of that for wages this season). If he is to make a change who would turn it around? Redknapp was always pie in the sky, but he would be the wrong man for many reasons, not least because he likes to spend a lot of money on a lot of players, something we really don't want to be doing all over again. We have a decent side on paper - thin in places, certainly, but really not at all bad - as proven by the way we gave Brighton and Cardiff a good game each. I'm still of the opinion that Jewell just might be able to get something going, it's not too late certainly. But his time must also be running out.

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Edmunds5 added 18:34 - Oct 9 I agree that Jewell seems a good bloke and that he has had a decent level of success in the past. But I think things have changed now and I just think Jewell is lacking in many areas of management. Yes last season we got on a decent run of form and have played some fluid football but I just dont think he has the tactical awareness or motivational skills to improve things. There is a lack of creativty, and I would suspect plain, boring training methods. Managers from a similar era to Jewell can obviously be successfull, i.e Kenny Jackett at Millwall and Neil Warnock, but they know how to try and get a team solid and hard to beat and strike me as managers who can motivate players better than Jewell. Yes we have played well at times but ultimately we are not getting enough points on the board, I would love Jewell to succeed at this club and I have supported him in the past, but I just cannot see things improving unless a new manager is brought in and gives us a sense of direction and a renewed energy.

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whiskey added 19:39 - Oct 9 Good effort. Constructive criticism: 1. We have no idea about his training methods so lets not comment on them. 2. He came in and things haven't turned around, so whose to say that a decent manager would turn things around now? Talk about a desperate signing! 3. He has been a part of the process of signing new players, not the be all and end all of the process. Ultimately, his fate is tied to Mr. Clegg's transfer market negotiating skills and Mr. Evans business acumen. Evans has a long term strategy, you can bet your last pound on that, and there are probably very few people who can even guess what it looks like. 4. To say that "history tells us..." is a liberal choice of words; please list your sources. It's like saying, "statistics show us..." Meaningless. Otherwise, nice, and good effort.

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Blue041273 added 21:35 - Oct 9 Whiskey A mite condescending in my view. Apologies for being a pedant but, 1. Blue ray made no comment at all on the training methods; 2. A new manager now would not be a desperate signing. Blackburn and Bolton have taken a positive step and decided that a managerial change is necessary before things get any worse. A desperate signing would be leaving it until later in the season when the task of saving us from relegation may well be too much for anyone. 3. All the players brought in were initiated by the Manager. You might, possibly, be justified in criticising SC & ME for not completing the signing some targets (and even that is just speculation) but all the players actually signed are down to PJ and no-one else. This is his team. 4. History is not usually interpreted 'as a liberal form of words'. History is always based in fact. With regard to Blue ray's point, in it's context he is pretty much correct. Very few teams have managed to arrest a slump and turn things round to spectacular effect. The way things are going it doesn't look like we might be one of them. Again apologies for being so pedantic but Blue ray's blog has much to commend it and I'm sure most will agree with it.

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whiskey added 21:57 - Oct 9 No, you're right, I was mixed up between his blog and Edmund's reply thanks for putting me right.
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Edmunds5 added 22:05 - Oct 9 blame the whiskey
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whiskey added 23:43 - Oct 9 quite
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TractorRoyNo1 added 00:39 - Oct 10 he's still only in the job, because evans (and / or his close advisors) cannot find anyone (they think is likely to be better) to replace him at present, so with every finger crossed (and compensation money in the bank) they hope and pray to stay in this league and then shake his hand in May and say 'good luck with your careeer on sky tv'
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pazelle added 12:52 - Oct 10 Jewell's signed some good young players (JET, Cresswell, Chambers, Loach, N'Daw,), has got some good performances out of Hyam, Martin and Scotland among others - so if he did go we'd be in decent shape. It's almost like last season didn't count as his approach with Bowyer, Ingimarsson etc didn't work and then from January he used the younger players and performances and results improved. With those foundations set, he added a much needed goalkeeper and centreback - but unfortunately some players form has dropped since earlier in the year and we are having some terrible luck. Pretty sure he won't go in this intl break, the 3 or 4 fixtures afterwards seem easier and we need a couple of wins there - especially in the home games. But we stink of Coventry at the moment, and we need to fight and earn our luck which at the moment is looking similar to 01/02... If only Scott Loach held on to that ball! And JET scored that chance! I'm on the fence, but sometimes I jump on the Jewell out lawn and have a scream!

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VINNIEBLUE added 13:16 - Oct 10 Good blog well balanced and well wriitern. PJ have opted to try an build a young team for the future of the club. It was was working for a short while but since we've had this terrible run of form he is trying to steady the ship by bring in these loan players and re-establish us to mid-table. Once accumplished then I think he will re-intruduce some of the youngsters again and go back to original plan. I think thats all he can do if thats what he is trying to achive. Personally I think it's the right plan for this size of club and the budget we have. And the right plan for who ever mangers the club.

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JimmyJazz added 11:04 - Oct 11 The main comment I took out of the blog was we need a new assistant manager. Well that doesn't sound like a good idea, regardless of how good Hutchings is. PJ and CH have mostly always worked together, so how would it be to tell the manager that his assistant has to go, to be replaced by someone he's not familiar with working with? If things improve who gets the credit? The assistant. PJ might as well tender his resignation if that suggestion was put to him.

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