skysports breaking news, aiden mcgeadie has left celtic and completed signing with spartak moscow, this will probably mean that celtic will sign the stoke winger whos name escapes me right now which inturn will probably mean stoke will sign walters to replace him, this could be the start of a big transfer cycle which will hopefully culminate with us landing mccormack, well, thats the in the ideal, or celtic might just sign mccormack in the worst case scenario. i await with anticipation........

Would be sorry to see Walters go. But £3m would be a big help, if spent wisely! We have been here before, so it might have been better if Keano had kept quite even if what he did say was very understandable! At least then Jon being the professional that he is might have put this behind him and committed himself to helping the club get promotion. Then again we are not party to what they said to each other and whether he wants out of Ipswich as distinct from the opportunity of playing in the premership and keeping his wife on-side.

Walters has been a fine servant to Ipswich Town, but sadly he isn't the player he was (for whatever reasons). If Stoke want to pay £3m+, and he wants to go, then he should go with our blessing and good wishes. Then we can get in a replacement with the drive and determination Walters used to have, and off we go!

Been a big fan of Walters for a few years, but he's not been producing for a while, 3mill on a 100k investment, good business in my book! I can feel another Richard Wright developing here though, happy to sit on the bench with occasioanl appearences for Stoke......ah well, suppose the monies good

Borge. I agree, though i'm inclined to disagree with the weight of blame you lay upon the new owner and chief exec; and indeed the manager. I also can't agree with your assertion that the club should be run beyond its means, which is how I read your assertion that Evans is less interested than before: when we don't sign players because they demand too much, or when clubs ask too much of us in the knowledge Evans is a very wealthy man it is simply employing basic common sense. Speculate to accumulate is a different concept in football.

More broadly I point to a combination of new elements in football:

Firstly, the changed nature of English football:
I would happily wager that the net import of players to the UK over the last decade is far in advance when compared to those leaving the UK. These players have gradually, inevitably filtered down into the Championship too; transforming this into the most competitive league. Also parachutes, and new wealthy owners. This has changed the needs of clubs who wish to remain competitive in the league. Look at the size of the clubs who have been relegated in recent years from the Championship. I believe that part of the battle the current ownership face is to keep ITFC competitive in the Championship. There are then other factors attached to our coincidence of success. The raft of youth quality available to Burley, for instance, has disappeared. It'll return. There are signs of it now it seems, though only one Burley styled wonder kid. There will naturally be peaks and troughs, and only so much of this can be addressed by the club.


Fans:
Perhaps it's online media which is driving the cultural change; perhaps faster, hungrier, more competitive society on a broader level. But fans seem to have forgotten how to enjoy supporting a club when it's losing. The demands of the fans naturally drive clubs, and ITFC is now no different. Of course, all clubs have always been ambitious. Yet now, there exists an unrelenting pressure on the team in ignorance of what they face. There is expectation without understanding. And there is only ever one solution; to buy, and spend. Else face the united fans who will help to ensure your failure.

Players:
Footballers finally understand that they are practically speaking, bigger than their clubs. They do hold the cards, that if good enough, they can get the transfers they want; and that no club wants to pay sulky footballers to sit on a bench, just to prove their contractual point. Clubs cannot afford it, unless they're Man City or Liverpool it would seems (Robinho and Mascherano respectively). I am from the school of tough love. Players don't need cuddling, they need to earn their money like everyone else.

Current Owner/Managment:
Perhaps, it might be fair to assert, that our current combination of purportedly hostile manager (who I believe will have done what our club needed to reflect the times; by purging the deadwood Championship par standard players in a bid to rebuild a good squad and further, to bring us an edge) and a wealthy owner with declared intent to return to the premier league, we may perhaps be on a less cordial stance with other clubs than at any other time I can remember, making deals a massive chore. Players are assets, and their value is more efficiently understood than previously. Clegg, though, I believe contrarily to be outstanding. He does not react like impatient fans who judge their club in emotional hyperbole after each game, he understands a far bigger picture for the club and is, I believe, a shrewd and firm business man.

There are no doubt a million other factors.

I really felt under Majilton the club would only decline at a pace. I now feel we are on a new track, with more direction and belief. But not at the stake of the club as an entity by sending it on a Kamikaze spending spree. By keeping our eyes on the bigger picture all the time.

A very sound and reasoned response - it's nice to think that such a debate is possible on these pages!

I wasn't suggesting that we undertake a calamitous spending spree, rather I was pointing out that having promised to do his utmost to get us promoted, Evans now appears less eager to back his manager and/or the club. This may be as you suggest the sign of a shrewd businessman protecting his wealth, but his continued anonymity does little to confirm this to be the case and only serve to generate gossip and speculation.

You are right to a degree that Clegg's approach should also be applauded, but I feel it is slightly too reticent. It very clearly frustrates Keano and if we are to genuinely make an impression on the league we need a strong and settled team (or at least a settled team). This cannot be achieved with continued speculation over which players may or may not come in, and significantly greater effort should have been exerted earlier in pre-season to enable the manager to get players in and have sufficient time to build them into a team. This is now the fifth season running where this has not happened and with the seeming inability of both Magilton and Keane to decide on their strongest team, we have continued to tread water, unable to generate the consistency that comes with a settled team.

Ultimately all I want is to watch a decent passing team. To know that we are continuing what others started is what makes me proud. Maybe I am old fashioned, but I know my views are shared by the vast majority of those that sit around me at home games.

Unfortunately you are quite right when you suggest that fans no longer understand how to enjoy competing, they only desire victory regardless of the method. This for me goes against everything that Ipswich has stood for and I can't help feeling that most of those on here that think that way were born post the early 1980s and have little or no tangible link with the 'glory days'. I myself was born in 1976 and although deemed too young by my dad to attend games during Bobby Robson's era, at least have some link to the period that made our club great.

I will go to tomorrow's game excited and hopeful that for the first time in four years we will see some decent football (the third goal at Middlesborough certainly raised expectations), but saddened by the fact that the club I love is rapidly changing and probably not for the better.

Thank you for such a sound and well reasoned response!

COYB!

Borge / PutYaBootsOnKeano - that's a very mature and sensible debate you've just had there...I think you're on the wrong site, though, as this site is for slagging off anything and everything to do with Ipswich, isn't it?

I think the Club is changing like everything else does and will change, but i for one know that when Evans took this club over it was not a Premiership club and i dont know the exact financial situation of the club was at that time but i bet any one that ITFC may not be the wealthiest club about but we are financialy stable to say the least especially compared to other clubs and we as fans must not take this situation for granted! Also when Keane came in, ITFC was not exactly title favourites under the previous management and we were probably going no where and did not really have much "to write home about" when it came to potential of squad members or youth players. As for Evans wanting to be a private man , good luck to him and i have every bit of confidence in Clegg who is a business man (maybe not experienced in football but he is in figures and doing his job to the mandate that has been set) the mandate of not bankrupting our club for over paid ninnies who DO NOT garuantee promotion!
As i have posted previously and probably agree with you borge things are changing but sit back and look at what is going on, we have now got youth, we have hunger and the team spirit looks good, we have a manger who now looks like (after last seasons performance in mind especially)he does have a plan and he will not take no sh*t (as for players not wanting to come here all i say is bullsh*t)and use his huge amount of experience as a player to maybe turn us into something special once again. Many players have left us but we actually look strong on the pitch and the talk in football circles is changing regarding the blues, we are becoming hard to beat etc etc..
I think after last seasons dissapointment following the high expectation that there was when keane joined us that many fans have become frustrated to the point of just disliking the people who run this club. Please look at what we are becomming again and see that things are really not that bad and i for one (if Keane does not fall out with Clegg&Evans)really will not be suprised if we are in the top three come the end of the season.
COYB COYB

The player who allegedly refused to be pictured in a Town kit should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. No shirt ... no pay...... if true and not taken out of context then they are a disgrace

Walters is not that good player, so we should sell him if we get 2M or more... But still Keane have no right to complain about his media reports willling to play in premier league.
Keane is complete idiot in front of microphones, remember last season: "Some players have played their last game in ITFC (including McAuley, Garv, etc.)" ...
Now he praised how important Mac is...

Some characteristically stupid comments from keane here, I don't like how he publicly slams players, he did the same with lisbie and I didn't like him just as much as the next fan but its the same situation. Walters wants to leave, let's let him (at the right price).