David Sheepshanks has announced that George Burley has been sacked. In a full statement on the Official Site he thanked George for his service, having taking us to Wembley glory, a high position in the Premier League and competing in the UEFA Cup.

However, Sheepshanks was clearly not happy with last season, and the start to this, despite a large investment in the transfer market: "After the heady successes of our first year back in the Premiership, last season was a year of bitter disappointments, which culminated in our losing Premiership status. This was despite a huge investment in additional players for combined transfer fees of approaching £15 million.

"The board still took the view that George Burley was the right man to lead us back to the Premiership, but this season, even though retaining a Premiership squad, performances have not improved.

"Given our single minded ambition to gain promotion this season the Directors have decided that it is time to draw a line under a frustrating twelve months. As custodians of Ipswich Town Football Club the board have acted now in order to give new management the best possible chance of achieving our goal.

"We have given Tony Mowbray the responsibility of managing first team affairs in a caretaker role. The board will interview candidates for manager in the coming days and weeks amongst whom Tony Mowbray will be considered.

"Looking forward, there is a long way to go with 36 matches to play starting with an important match against Sheffield Wednesday at home on Saturday. Our supporters have again been superb this season and I ask everyone to rally around Tony Mowbray and the players and give them all the encouragement they need."

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