Town’s 2016 comes to an end when Bristol City visit Portman Road this evening with boss Mick McCarthy admitting that it’s been his toughest year in charge of the Blues.

McCarthy’s side sit in 16th in the table with a large number of fans calling for his head after a disappointing calendar year in which Town’s form from their 45 games has been a disappointing won 14, drawn 15 and lost 16.

They will be looking to improve on a 2016 home record of won nine, drawn eight and lost six against the Robins, having won only two of their last nine at Portman Road.

“Does anybody need me to tell them it’s been my hardest? If you need the admission from the manager, then of course it has,” McCarthy said.

“Prior to that it’s all not quite all been sweetness and light but certainly more enjoyable. That’s only how it’s finished. I thought the end of the 2015/16 season, finishing seventh, I know it dropped away at the end, but that wasn’t so bad. But we’ve been having it tough since then and it’s been the hardest part.”

What does he believe has led to the downturn? “A number of factors. I think that we’ve probably lost our identity a little bit, how my teams have played.

“We lost Murph just at the end of the window and we had Varns injured, Didz injured, Pits has been injured. Leon Best was playing up front on his own for a time, and Freddie. So we changed the way we’ve played and I’m not sure that’s suited us, to be honest.

“I still think the deal for Murph was the right deal for him and for the club eventually if we can replace him.

“But we’re missing him, we’re missing that focal point, that power, that pace. We’re still trying to find that and in missing that we’ve not been able to play probably the way we have and been successful at doing it.

“I think teams probably enjoy playing against us a lot more than they ever did beforehand. But we’re going to get back to the other way that they don’t enjoy playing.”

He believes there’s a need to go back to the basics he instilled in his side when he first came in at Town in November 2012.

“All those things that nobody ever complained about when we were winning, strangely enough,” he added.

“When you’re playing and you’re playing in the opposition half and you’re tackling and winning it and are being positive, I think that’s ultimately what people like to see.

“And if you can do it wonderfully well and skilfully like I saw Tottenham do on Wednesday night, that’s OK as well, that’s better still.

“This pressing and stuff that Liverpool do, we’ve been doing that ever since I walked through the door.

“But I don’t think we’re doing it as well as we were. That’s probably a problem as well, teams are playing against us that couldn’t when I first came here.”

Although he admits the pressure is greater now than it has been at any previous time at Town, it’s not coming from owner Marcus Evans.

“I don’t feel under any pressure from Marcus, from the club, I’m not feeling that,” he said.

“But I’m certainly under pressure from the fans and I guess the more they sing whatever they sing, negative stuff about me, about Marcus and decide not to turn up, that puts pressure on.

“And I preferred it when we were getting nice things shouted about us and we were getting support.

“But that’s down to us, that’s me and the players. They don’t turn up wanting to shout bad things at me they actually turn up wanting to support us. So it’s me and the players that have got to change that.”

He added: “People don’t actually turn up wanting to shout negative things at me, I get that.

“There’ll be a few because they’re sick of me, they’re bored of me, they’re bored of what I do, they’re bored of what I say, they’re bored of how I look, they’re bored that I haven’t had a shave, they’re bored of my hair. They’re just bored, they want to get shot of me, because it happens.

“People get bored of doing the same things. Do the players get bored of it? All of those things, so I get that.

“But I think that’ll be a small minority that actually turn up and want to be negative. That’ll just be some that want to see me out of the job and they’ve had enough of me.

“I reckon that’s 10 per cent. But the majority turn up, want to see the team win, want to support them, want to be positive, want to be happy, want to go home happy. Just like I do.

“So I don’t think they turn up doing that. I ask them not to turn up [with a negative attitude]. There’s a big difference.

“There’s a big difference in asking them not to turn up [and be negative] and accusing them of being that way, which I didn’t.”

McCarthy says he’s been through similarly tough spells at other clubs, citing a time at Wolves at the end of the 2007/08 season when fans at Molineux also called for his head.

“The year we finished seventh outside the play-offs,” he recalled. “[Owner] Steve Morgan had come in at that time and they’d have had me out the door by then and we won the Championship the following year and I ended up having another three seasons.

“But people do [get bored]. We all think something else is going to turn it around and be slightly sexier, slightly better looking or less old, different chat.

“But I think that’s a small minority that get sick of it and want a change. I fully understand, you go through the managers, I’ve been here four years I’m the sixth longest serving [manager in the EFL].”

He added: “That season we finished seventh we’d had nothing to spend. It had been a million quid to spend when I went in and I built a team on it and finished sixth in the first season and then we finished seventh and that wasn’t good enough.

“The following season we bought Christophe Berra and we bought Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and they made a huge difference to us.”

Despite the additional pressure, he says he doesn’t find it hard to put it to one side and assess the situation with clarity.

“It’s not tough, I’ve been doing it for a long time,” he continued. “I’ve had spells where it’s been tough before and come out the other side and been happy about it.

“I think a lot about it, that’s an understatement, and consider everything I should be doing and what I could do, can we change it, can we do something different. But I’m pretty clear in my thoughts, I’m OK, I have clarity in what I want to do.”

He says Evans’s support has never wavered: “I’d hate to have that call where he rings me up and says, ‘By the way I’m fully behind you, you’ve no chance of being sacked’. That’s the last thing I ever want.

“I come into these press conferences and you end up talking about or your position and it’s a bit disconcerting.

“I understand it because they’re the questions you all want to ask, but I never have that discussion with Marcus at all.

“He wants to get back to winning, just like I do, he wants to get back to playing well. Actually, if you’re winning everybody thinks you’re playing well.

“It’s about winning for us and getting points. And he’ll support me the best way he can by not being negative and not putting any more pressure on me than is already there.”

He added: “I think it cuts both ways. When I was having a great time here and apparently Aston Villa, Ireland and everybody else were wanting my services, I never courted that at all. I never went looking for it.

“And, by the way, if I had, Marcus would know about it because it’s a small old world is football.

“That’s when I gave my support in a lot of ways. We’ve had a good relationship all the way through.

“And do you know what, if it does end up that I do leave the club at some stage, because ultimately I will whenever that might be, I don’t think that will be acrimonious at all, it might just be the time.”

Photo: TWTD

grubbyoik added 16:01 - Dec 30 My toughest years have been 2009 to 2016..
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therein61 added 17:58 - Dec 30 This year has been my toughest year as a town fan ever since in 1962/63 season when Jackie Milburn took the players to flipping bingo sessions to build team spirit!! which at the time was beyond belief poor old Jackie didn't have a clue how to manage a football club! seems like 53 years on the past has come back to haunt us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! although if Mick took the squad to bingo he would have to be the caller as he's the greatest!!

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dukey44 added 18:53 - Dec 30 Sorry dizzy boy pressed wrong arrow I want him out!!!
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