Town MD Ian Milne has urged fans to “stay with” manager Mick McCarthy and his team, despite last night’s humiliating FA Cup exit at Lincoln City.

Supporters have reacted angrily to the 1-0 defeat at Sincil Bank, only the Blues' second FA Cup defeat to non-league opposition since they joined the Football League, Peterborough United having won 3-2 in the third round at Portman Road in 1960.

In a statement to BBC Suffolk, Milne said: "Over the two matches Lincoln City were clearly the better organised team. That resulted in them deserving to win and we should, and have, congratulated them.

"We clearly did not perform to the standard we can do and an example of that is the good win we got against Blackburn last Saturday.

"However, nobody in the squad takes any pleasure in producing that type of football in front of our great away fans or indeed to the wider television audience.

"As usual Mick had been honest in his after-match comments and I have nothing to add to that regarding the game.

"I would add that over the last few days we have added players to the squad and we have bids in for others.

"So in these difficult times we would ask our fans to stay with Mick and the boys as we make improvements to the squad and get our injured players match fit, as our aim is to return to winning, entertaining football as we started to do against Blackburn."

Photo: ITFC

Ryorry added 11:44 - Jan 18 In 42 years of supporting Town, that is the most ridiculous comment I've ever heard from anyone at the club.
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Kesgraveblue57 added 11:45 - Jan 18 Milne you're not a football man, and quite frankly reading from a script that is even a bigger insult to the fans.but tell me one thing is Ipswich town a tax right off for the Evans empire for running at a lose must be beneficial to Evans. McCarthy has failed miserably in any other trade or business he would've been sacked for incompetents, there is a loss of at least 8000 fans at the gate and this is caused by the type of football the Ipswich public has to watch

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pennblue added 11:45 - Jan 18 He's lost the dressing room. They are not playing any more, the best players are also hacked off there has been underinvestment in the squad. If you are a decent player, you want to go up to the Prem, and you can see that ain't happening on our shoe string budget, so you either give up (which seems to be the case), or you want out.
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greenfinch added 11:45 - Jan 18 This is a new all time low, I don't think it's the shock cup exit that's the problem these things happen from time to time but it's the way our Ipswich went out that hurts, spineless, gutless, clueless etc etc, mick you say your a proud and honest Man then you must know your time is up, bye bye
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notoriousITFC added 11:47 - Jan 18 I know we have some serious dead wood knocking around. Knudsen probably not the worst of them (because he has got a loopy, longish throw). What does Mick see in him??
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ericgatesrules added 11:47 - Jan 18 toxtethblue. No idea who you are. My apology was a sarcastic one. Thanks for your advice though.
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dukey44 added 11:48 - Jan 18 Jesus there is NO OTHER TEAM that put up with this dross they remove the manager???
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miltonsnephew added 11:49 - Jan 18 That's cheap coming from someone who clearly isn't a football man and doesn't know what he's doing. It's a mess, we need 5-6 proper £1mill-£3mill players, we've scraped by with free's, loans and cast off's we need proper players in. See what Mick has done with cast offs!? Imagine what he could do with decent players. This club needs a lift, make the signings or change the management to take the club in a new direction, fresh impetus, direction and tactics. I think we need to hear from the owner of what he sees best to do with our beloved club.

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shakytown added 11:49 - Jan 18 The whole club from top to bottom is just a joke.
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Gogs added 11:50 - Jan 18 I think if there were 'green shoots of recovery', 'light at the end of the tunnel' however you want to phrase it, fans would stick with the owners and management, I think we're pretty patient in comparison to most teams. The truth is that since the Evans takeover, we may have stabilised off the pitch in so far as we don't look like we're about to immediately go bust, but on the pitch, we have lurched from one disaster to the next. Yes, MM rescued us from the threat of relegation post RK/PJ, but it's pretty clear the season we got to the play-offs was a blip in an otherwise continuous downward trajectory. We now have a team consisting largely of has-beens and never-has-beens playing a desperately dull brand of football, who can seemingly no longer grind out results. On top of that, ticket prices are far too high for a lot of people, so where's the incentive for the fans to 'stay with' MM or ITFC at all? I just can't see any incentive at all. I hardly ever go these days because of those reasons. I bet on Lincoln to beat us last night, I'd seen it coming. I'm sure I'm not the only one who did so either. How has it come to this, that I was confident that a non-league side would beat ITFC? Something has to change, and sooner rather than later or crowds of 15,000 and mid table championship will soon be out of reach.

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BlueMachines added 11:50 - Jan 18 You can't stay with Muck if you already don't support him. He lost me sometime ago.
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Tufty added 11:52 - Jan 18 Tell you what you stick with Mick Mr Milne - I am off to Colchester
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Marcus added 11:53 - Jan 18 Sorry, Milne, I respect you're doing your job but it's time for the chairman to speak for himself. McCarthy has lost the vast majority of support and it's now at the point where it's clearly for the benefit of the club as a whole to look for a replacement. The decline this season has been so rapid that something needs to be done. It's now too late for changes before the transfer window. However this defeat was serious. Who do you think was watching? MILLIONS of potential supporters around the world, stay away customers and potential new signings. What they saw was a lackluster performance where we totally failed to string together passes against a team three divisions below us. We accept the FA Cup has some crazy results, this WAS NOT one of them. It was a case of being outclassed by a team we should be dominating or at least managing effectively against. Action is needed to win supporters back and inaction isn't doing the job. There's talk of a boycott - perhaps you'll just say that a few didn't turn up. Perhaps it's needed that people protest outside the stadium? It would be better if things didn't have to go that far.

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jas0999 added 11:55 - Jan 18 Milne and Evans are either deluded or simply don't care. Or both. Last night was the norm. Blackburn was an exception. This has been shocking now since late 2015. Fed up of hearing we have bids in for players. Evans doesn't close the deals unless around ten k. No respect to them, but we need better than Moore and Spence in order to progress. That statement makes me so angry. EVANS OUT

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DoseOfReality added 11:57 - Jan 18 hahahahaha... Bunch of jokers from top to bottom... REAL FANS STAY AWAY OR NOTHING WILL CHANGE
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Taricco_Fan added 11:57 - Jan 18 Translation: Stick with Mick because we cannot afford to sack him.
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muhrensleftfoot added 12:00 - Jan 18 Clegg out
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Garv added 12:01 - Jan 18 Why?
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vanmunt added 12:04 - Jan 18 OK, I will break my News Years resolution not to post online any more just to say... F*** Off Milne, that was the most inept dross I have ever witnessed in my life.. and I am not standing for it. ITFC are as good as dead to me as long as that bent nose northern tw*t is still here.
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martin587 added 12:05 - Jan 18 IT clearly shows MM has LOST the dressing room,so just how can you keep him on. The team will only get worse, the support will dwindle even further.How long can this club servive under this management.
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Surco72 added 12:05 - Jan 18 Was not the statement I was expecting from the club this morning !! I cannot stick with MM ,Milne as i saw this rubbish coming when we top of the league over 2 seasons ago with no investment and massive slump after Christmas when Murphy stopped scoring and have not renewed my ticket or money since and now I am no longer interested in what the club has to say until MM has been replaced . Anybody still prepared to go you are not doing the club any favours but that is your choice , I will see you all again when a new start finally happens

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Nazemariner added 12:05 - Jan 18 What a C~^t!
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Lightningboy added 12:06 - Jan 18 @ osborne1nil Spot on - imho Skuse & Douglas are the worst midfield duo i've ever seen on a football pitch full stop. I'll excuse Douglas as he's 3 years past his peak but how Skuse gets on the team sheet week in week out is beyond me - some say he does a good job?...doing what exactly?...Seriously,I could jog about the centre of the pitch knocking the ball aimlessly sideways & backwards for 90 minutes...i'd be ashamed if i'd scored just 1 goal in 200 odd appearances...the guy is just so lacklustre and for me he is everything that is wrong with the current team..needs a good kick up the 4rse. The sooner the likes of Skuse,Douglas,Best,Coke,Knudsen etc are gone from this club the better but the first thing that needs getting shot of are McCarthy and his sidekicks.

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mattwin added 12:07 - Jan 18 Milne says that we have signed players over the last week and have bids in for more.........Both the guys he's signed are useless and the bids won't get accepted as the will be miles short of what the club wants or the individual player won't want to join as we are sh#t with no ambition
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mattwin added 12:08 - Jan 18 Has Milne been smoking his crack pipe again over night ???
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