Forgotten Town man, Amir Karic, has launched an attack on Ipswich Town and club manager George Burley. The completely out of favour former reserves defender is highly critical of the Town boss and makes claims of dressing room disharmony in an EADT article bound to impress the club.

Karic, off to the World Cup but with no hope of a Town appearance, thinks that George Burley is out of his depth as Town get themselves involved in a relegation battle: "I think the manager is a little bit lost and doesn't know what to do in this situation."

Karic himself was the subject of Chievo interest earlier in the season, but the move failed to materialise. He claims that Town have tried to offer him a settlement on his contract worth £50,000, a fraction of the money he would receive were he to see out the remaining time on his contract which ends in 2004, something he now seems determined to do.

Karic has also complained at ending up training with the Academy players: "They were fine and very keen, but I have nearly 40 international games for my country so to treat me like that was not right."

The Slovenian says there is dressing room disharmony at Portman Road: "Players have said to me how they feel and it is not positive. Everyone will have their own opinions on the tactics they will think that are wrong [sic]. Many of the players didn't think we should have played Richard Naylor up front on his own against Inter, for example."

He also hit out against the signing of Ulrich Le Pen: "Ulrich Le Pen is a nice enough lad and was a bit unfortunate to get injured in his first game, but why did the Gaffer need to get someone else in that position?"

It may come as no surprise that Karic himself has spent large periods of his reserve career playing on the left side of midfield.

David Sheepshanks and Matt Holland moved quickly to dispute Karic's version of events, the Town chairman saying: "These seem to be the remarks of a bitter player who has sadly not been able to reach the levbels required of him when we signed him."

Skipper Matt Holland added: "The players believe that we have the squad and the coaching staff in place to maintain our place in the Premier League. There is a ver positive mood at the training ground still. The manager is maintaining his belief and these beliefs stood us in good stead in the seasons gone by."

Karic looks ever more unlikely to make any progress at Town and a move away looks ever more probable, if a settle ment can be agreed.

Photo: Action Images

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