Former Blues star Kieron Dyer has urged dissenting fans to forget their protests and get behind Town’s confidence-hit players as they go into “the toughest run ever” with relegation to the third tier of English football for the first time in 60 years, he believes, a very real possibility.

Ipswich-born Dyer, pictured above appearing on a recent Life's a Pitch, says he was listening to BBC Radio Suffolk on Saturday evening following the 2-0 defeat at Huddersfield - which saw the 14th-placed Blues drop to within nine points of the bottom three - and was concerned by some of the calls.

“I was driving home and I was listened to the Radio Suffolk phone-in and I didn’t realise it had got that bad,” he told TWTD.

“Basically the majority of the callers were talking about boycotting games and protesting because they’re fed up, saying this is their club and the manager and owner are ruining their club.

“I’m an Ipswich fan and everyone’s entitled to their opinion and I don’t pay money to go to games, while they pay their hard-earned money, so if that’s how they feel, then that’s how they feel.

“But I’ve just seen the run of games we’ve got in February and we have got the toughest run ever, and I would just say to the fans that the worst thing that can happen to our football club is us getting relegated.

“I look at our form and the lack of confidence from our players, because that’s what it is, the players have got absolutely no confidence, they all look shot.

“And if there are going to start to be protests and people boycotting the games, then it’s just going to make it even worse because it’s a toxic atmosphere as it is.

“It’s just going to make it even more unbearable for the players, they won’t get any more confidence and we could end up getting relegated.

“All I would say to the fans is, you’re all Ipswich fans, you want the best for your club, if you’re not happy with the owner and manager, I understand that, but let’s support the team and get us mathematically safe.

“And once we’re mathematically safe, protest or whatever you feel has to be done to be heard, then I totally agree, but I don’t think it’s the time with the way the team’s playing, where we are in the league and with the run we have to abandon the club and the players because everyone needs to stick together. Otherwise it’s going to be a really dire situation.

“We need everyone to get together - even some sections of the local media that sometimes seem to antagonise the fans and want the doom and gloom - get us safe and then do what you want. Let’s just get us safe first. This club cannot be in League One.”

Dyer, 38, says he knows what it’s like to be booed by your own fans from his time at Newcastle United and says it can have a huge impact on a player.

“I’ve been booed by 50,000 people and I was a confident player on the pitch,” he added. “But when I was being booed it affected me so badly some games, it was like I’ve never kicked a ball before, it was like I couldn’t even lace my boots up.

“Why Bobby Robson was so good was because he made everyone play feel a million dollars and they went on the pitch and played to the best of their ability.

“Our players at the moment are just fragile. Terry Butcher came out after the game against Lincoln and said they were a disgrace. I think that’s a harsh word because I think the term disgrace should only be levelled at a player who doesn’t want to play for the club, someone who doesn’t try when they’re on the pitch.

“Our players are trying 100 per cent. I go up to the training ground and I look at the stats. The running stats are through the roof.

“Everyone’s trying to put his shift in, it’s just that they’re so fragile. They’re so lacking in confidence.

“The fans pay good money so when they go to a football match if they want to have a moan, I get that, but our club has never booed players really. I’ve never really come across that.

“I know Scowy had a little bit from the boo boys when I was here, but nothing too brutal.

“But, for example, Jonathan Douglas, he’s getting sarcastically cheered off when he comes off and booed. How is that going to help him? He tries his nuts off every time he’s on the pitch.

“I get that fans might not think he’s good enough but the guy is putting a shift in. Don’t boo the players, that’s all I urge. Everyone stick together.

“There’s no better feeling than playing in a great atmosphere and the fans are on your side, it gives you more confidence than anything. I’ve been there, I’m speaking personally.”

He added: “Freddie Sears, I’ve worked with Freddie at West Ham, I see someone so low on confidence. Yes, he’ll still run, he’ll still put a shift in.

“Look at Christophe Berra in the last few weeks. It was only last season or 18 months ago that people were saying he was one of the best centre-halves in the league. Now he’s struggling. It’s not through a lack of trying, just a lack of confidence.

“It seems to me the players don’t want to play at home because there’s often that negative atmosphere.”

Former England international Dyer, who having retired in 2013 watches most games from the East of England Co-op Stand, says supporters stuck by their team in the last Portman Road fixture, the 3-2 victory over Blackburn, and he hopes the same will be the case when seventh-placed Derby visit next Tuesday.

“At the last game I went to the fans were brilliant, especially when it went to one-all. The fans could easily have switched but they stayed with the team and that was one of our better performances.

“But, as I say, the fans are entitled to their opinions, they spend good money, I don’t spend money to watch Ipswich, so they’re in a very different situation to me, but just stick with the team and give as much support, get us safe. The worst thing for this club at the moment would be if we went down.”

Dyer, who is currently an academy sponsor and previously coached at Playford Road, disagrees with some supporters’ perceptions of manager Mick McCarthy, who he believes has been a victim of his own comparative success in his earlier seasons.

“The grumble I hear from fans about Mick is the way he comes across in post-match interviews and they’re calling him arrogant,” he said.

“Mick is not arrogant, but he is very blunt and he feels that he doesn’t have to answer for things and that’s the just the way he is, and that riles the fans.

“The football’s not been great for a while, I totally get that. But Mick has overachieved, he has had no money to spend and he has found gems.

“He’s found Daryl Murphy for peanuts, he found Didz for peanuts, he found Tyrone Mings, he found the two loans, Jonny Williams the first time, Ryan Fraser.

“But you can’t keep producing free transfers and players for 50 grand that are going to get us to play great football to win the league.

“He’s overachieved, now the reality is that it’s hard to compete in this league with free transfers and cheap signings.

“And that’s where the owner [Marcus Evans] has to take responsibility, I feel. But again, and I’m not sticking up for the owner, but you’ve got an owner who has given all this money to Roy Keane and Paul Jewell and we were in the relegation places.

“He’s then employed a manager who he’s given no money to and we’ve got into the play-offs one year, nearly in the play-offs another and we’ve always been in the top half of the league.

“He thinks this is the way forward now. Because Mick has done well with no money the owner thinks that’s the norm now.

“But it’s not the norm. You can’t get success on free transfers and cheap signings. It’s crazy.

“I was peed off with the owner because I thought we should have got Cat One for the academy, gone all out for Cat One.

“Then again - like with the Mick situation where he’s thinking he doesn’t have to spend money because we’re doing really well - I’m saying we should go for Cat One and was fed up we didn’t get to Cat One.

“But then you think of it from the owner’s point of view and we’re Cat Two and are producing Andre Dozzell, we’ve produced Teddy Bishop, we’ve got Ben Knight coming through, we’ve got Tristan Nydam coming through, we’ve just sold Charlie Brown for £750,000 to Chelsea.

“He must be thinking ‘Why do we need to go to Cat One?’. But if we want to have the best academy, in my opinion we have to be in Cat One.”

He added: “I feel sorry for everyone, I feel sorry for the fans, I feel sorry for Mick and I feel sorry for the owner because he’s not a football man, he hasn’t got a background in football.

“He’s seeing the academy producing players, he’s seeing Mick getting great results with no money, so he thinks it’s the norm.

“Mick’s overachieved, now the reality is that he’s struggling like hell because he hasn’t been given the funds or the quality of the players and that has a knock-on effect on to the fans.”

Photo: TWTD

BlueSmith94 added 13:39 - Jan 25 Keiren Dyer is a blue through and through, he loves the club and one day I would love to see him as manager. This is a brilliant article, and hes right we shouldnt protest and boycott the games, because thats what Coventry do and we are no where near in bad a shape as them. Im not happy with the football, but its not like we are in a relegation scrap. But its my club and I will support them, I have never booed them and never will. Ill get fustrated with the players because they make the mistakes, ill get fustrated with the Manager because he makes the wrong decisions in my opinion. Especially Douglas because he may work his socks off but that doesnt make him a good player, he doesnt contribute much going forward or defensively. At the QPR game we wasnt booing Douglas, we were booing the fact we were 1-1, on the front foot and Mick put him on to hold out the draw. And that cost us the game becasue we should have won that. I like what he said about Evans, because hes right. He spend alot of money on Keane and Jewell and it failed. His own money wasted on two poor decisions, he has learned from that and is being more careful on what he spends. I think the acadamy is something we should be proud off and Mick and Evans should take alot of credit for that. Lets stop moaning, get behind the team! COYB

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blueboy1981 added 17:50 - Jan 25 Mr Diddle & Co ......... I think over my entire postings my 'up' marks from fellow people exceed my 'down' marks ten fold ...... which knocks your theory into a cocked hat once and for all. Respect from the people I mentioned, are most definitely NOT the type of people I desire any kind of respect from. I'm afraid that in you, and your confederates case - TRUTH is hard to swallow. End of.

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happybeingblue added 17:51 - Jan 25 i remember scowy getting booed by the north stand, blimey i wish we had a player of his quality now , he was involved in an excellent squad at the time and hit a barren run in front of goal but he was a local boy and had a touch of class about him at times lacking a bit of pace, but he was good in the air, but agree with dyer , booing dougie and co is not on full stop! come on town booboy fans , TAKE NOTE

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stringtheory added 18:15 - Jan 25 Well said Churchmans crate - however, realism is not popular on this site.
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the_beat added 04:04 - Jan 29 We are talking about professional footballers, not primary school children. If I turned up at work and put in a totally inept performance, on occasions not really appearing to care I would be told by my boss that I was incompetent, not fragile. These 'fragile' people earn as much in a week as many of their supporters (the people who indirectly pay their wages) earn in a year. I don't feel that Sir Bobby would be saying 'the poor chaps are fragile'.

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