Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman has defended himself following Blues defender Luke Woolfenden’s claim the former Wolves striker would have been disappointed by Town’s promotion to the Premier League.

Speaking during Monday’s promotion parade in the park, Woolfenden was asked whether things could get any better than that.

“It will get better when we have a moment’s silence for Don Goodman,” the centre-half responded.

“I think he’ll be absolutely gutted we got promoted. He’s been calling us a crap all season. Put that in your pipe, Don, and have a good weekend mate!”

Woolfenden made similar comments live on Sky’s coverage of the parade, which Goodman was made aware of by a colleague.

“Paul Gilmore, the Sky reporter, called me to warn that it happened and had gone out unedited on Sky News when it wasn't supposed to,” Goodman told OLBG. “It was really kind of Paul but I was very surprised, to be honest.

“I've been nothing but complimentary about Ipswich Town from the moment they beat Sunderland on the opening day up until their promotion was confirmed.

“It just seems like Luke Woolfenden has a problem with me rather than anyone else at the club. I'm going to be a grown-up about it, but unfortunately Luke has been a little immature.

“The only other thing I can think of that Luke may have taken personally was my observation reference what it usually takes from a defensive perspective to get into the top two of the Championship.

“They had conceded a lot of goals compared to the likes of Leicester City and Leeds United and it's a fact that across the last 10 years and 20 automatically-promoted teams, there has not been a side which has conceded more than Ipswich's 57 goals. That is a fact.

“I can only imagine being a defender, that's where Luke has taken it personally. I genuinely can't think of anything else.”

Goodman, who was targeted by George Burley during his time as a player at Wolves in the late 1990s, continued: “'Perhaps it was me saying before the derby game that Norwich could beat Ipswich at Carrow Road if they ‘brought their A-game’. I then got dog's abuse while walking through Ipswich fans at Carrow Road and that wasn't pleasant.

“All for saying what to most football fans, with Norwich being at home, something that probably made sense.

“To have hundreds of people booing you, calling your names, a few getting in your face, being very personable and making horrible comments, was not pleasant.

“If Luke can find any footage where, quoting him, I've called them ‘crap all season’ he needs to dig it out and show me. In fact, I don't think I would have kept my job with Sky Sports if I was calling Ipswich ‘crap all season’.

“I don't know what Luke has heard or seen but I feel really sad that on the biggest and best day of his footballing life, he's thinking about me. Go and celebrate with your friends and family, you have just achieved the most incredible thing. Unfortunately, I feel sad that Luke has got me on his brain even though I've praised them all season long.

“If someone wants to call me out in such a public way in front of thousands of fans, I need to address it. There's no bitterness in the slightest from me and I genuinely wish them all the best next season. I have nothing but admiration for everyone at the football club.”

Reflecting on how Town might approach their first season back in the Premier League, Goodman added: “It surprises me that, and I'm not talking about Ipswich Town, but promoted teams in general tend to spend large amounts of their money on strikers, number 10s and wide players.

“The first area promoted teams should look to solidify is the defence. It's important that nobody takes this as a dig at Ipswich.

“Sheffield United have conceded 100 goals. Luton have conceded 78 and Burnley 74. There is no team anywhere close to those numbers and there are several players in those teams who were defending successfully last season.

“Anyone with half a brain can understand why that is the case. The teams promoted to the Premier League will be up against most of the best attackers in the world.”

Photo: Sipa USA

bobble added 22:53 - May 10 the tiny violin award of the season goes to.....don goodman.....
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blueshamrock added 22:54 - May 10 All Season Goodman has bee telling us how it's Leeds and One other ,never rated Towns efforts and had been insulting towards Town in recent times on Sky ,well done Woolfie for calling out this lazy unskilled numbskull ,hope his Leeds don't make it out of the Playoffs and he can sit in his own smell for the Summer .
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Glory_Hunter added 22:55 - May 10 "I'm going to be a grown-up about it, but unfortunately Luke has been a little immature." Then goes on some rant like a spoiled brat. Ffs Don, you've dished it out fella, take it on the chin.
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Gforce added 23:18 - May 10 He's right about one thing though, strengthening our defence has to be the number one priority.
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essexblue added 23:22 - May 10 Don Goodman. Just because you might have said one or two good things when it was effectively all over and we were up, you can’t hide behind that. This isn’t a recent or this season thing. He has always been very negative towards us. Maybe previous years when things weren’t great maybe understandable but he still overdid it. But it has still been constant last couple of years. Everyone knows and Woolfy rightly called you out. At least you won’t be commentating on us next year!

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Ryorry added 02:08 - May 11 So, either D. Goodman has zero self-awareness, or he’s shamelessly fibbing.
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pennblue added 05:24 - May 11 So now he tries to stitch Luke up by thinking if he bangs on about defence Luke will be replaced. Hopefully sky sports look at these comments and think seriously about getting in a more knowledgable professional pundit. This guy clearly does not know what he os talking about and unwilling to admit he got it wrong about us
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trncbluearmy added 07:09 - May 11 Yeah right and some us noticed your little dig last night when commenting on the crewe game Can't help yourself can you WEAREPREMIERLEAGUE COYB
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UhlenbeekDownTheWing added 07:13 - May 11 Hinchcliffe and Goodman are as bad as each other imo. Looking forward to not having to listen to their 90s view of ‘get the ball in the mixer…be more precise…the goalkeeper playing out from the back makes me nervous…’ pointless observations
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Saxonblue74 added 07:23 - May 11 We've got Carragher and Neville to look forward to next season, you'll all be longing for Goodmans dulcid tones after a couple of games!
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ArnieM added 07:30 - May 11 lol Goodman is clearly rattled that Woolfenden has called him out. I hate Sky , so good. BUT like it or not Goodman does make a valid point at the end of his rant, when he states promoted teams spend £m’s on strikers , when they should be investing in defenders. He's a 100% correct with that comment.
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pensionerblue added 07:50 - May 11 The one thing you can be sure of is that although it is full of quotes Goodman did not write this article. He had obviously been altered to the fact that LW had been critical of him and from there he took advice as to how to respond and someone else wrote the words used in the article on his behalf. Although LW may have been slightly out of order to comment as he did to me the article is a cheap reply. I accept that although Goodman may have praised our performances at various times during the season it is a fact that he gave us little or no chance of achieving promotion to the Premier League instead favouring the so called bigger clubs.

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delias_cheesy_flaps added 07:54 - May 11 Goodman was born in Leeds, that goes some way to explaining his biased views this season. But I find myself agreeing with his defensive comment, we certainly need at least two quality premier defenders if we hope to stay in this league. I'm afraid our current incumbents would ship goals at an alarming rate facing premier strikers.
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SussexTractor added 07:54 - May 11 Let’s move on. Football pundits love the publicity with their comments and broadcasters love the controversial ones and will only pay them more money to appear - just look at Roy Keane, the dark Lord, as another example. Keane has done more damage to ITFC than Don Goodman will ever do. His comments on need to invest in the defence, I think have a modicum of merit.

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Ipswichbusiness added 08:05 - May 11 I dislike criticising individual players as it is a team game and we all make mistakes. If you concede 57 goals over a season then that cannot be the fault of one player. However, I do fear what the likes of Haaland will do to us. We have to be stronger at the back somehow, be it a change of personnel or tactics. Also, the team as a whole has very little Premiership experience, we will need to buy some in.

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Wickets added 08:24 - May 11 Maybe we conceded more goals because we play exiting attacking football! Just a thought,
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dirtydingusmagee added 08:53 - May 11 Ipswich business ,i have to agree re defenders, next season the likes of Haaland will turn Woolfenden to stone , i know he is ''one of our own'' but he has shown too many times in Championship that he is liable to costly mistakes .The Premiership is a very unforgiving place. We have had two fantastic seasons to get where we are now, and its a going to be a very different level next season, survival will be regarded as success , hopefully with ITFC being run by a better team and KM as manager we will pass the test and continue to build, but it wont be easy lets not have any elusions about that .

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Carberry added 09:00 - May 11 Woolfenden's comments are rather like the bloke in the pub, aren't they? Goodman is right, if that is running around his head on the best day of his life, then he's got a problem. Goodman is paid to have an opinion and his was Leeds and Leicester would go up, as did most pundits and if you take the passion away many of us would have said so too. He is right about recruitment, we have been able to go up through our attacking prowess, not our defending; apart from Davis (maybe) the other 3 need replacing if we are to stay up. In fact McKenna has a massive decision to make, does he reward the players for getting us up by keeping them playing in the Prem or re-build the whole team to be able to survive. It's like being Burnley or Forest and neither is pretty. I also worry that our scouting system seems to stop at Felixstowe, we can't do this without looking abroad. Anyway, in McKenna we trust, don't we?

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BartonBluee added 09:24 - May 11 Goodman is right to cop stick for his comments on Town this season. What surprises me is how Prutton (ex-Leeds) his little sidekick McAnuff, Lee Hendrie and the countless others have got away with it. All season they have been writing Town off. I'm baking a lovely humble pie this weekend and sending it off to Sky Sports HQ.
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alfromcol added 09:44 - May 11 As we have sung all season, KMc knows exactly what we need. No need to panic folks, mid-table finish should be achievable. Leicester and others to get penalty points. COYBs
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FreddySteady added 09:45 - May 11 This is all a bit silly I reckon. A stupid little spat that could overshadow all the positivity of recent times. We should probably be prepared for more publicity, good or bad, next season but I do actually think Goodman has a valid point re our defence.
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Baino added 09:48 - May 11 To be fair to Goodman, McAnuff has be the most critical and down on us out of the EFL team at Sky Sports. Having said that I just can not stand any of the EFL co coms team, I feel they're all really negative one minute and then contradict themselves two seconds later! Although they were all decent players, they were never at the top, top level winning Premier league titles or playing for their country. At least Neville, Carragher, Keane have all been at the peak of the game and I feel they rarely have opinions that are off the cuff and make little sense and if they do they take the time to explain why they think that opinion and even back down on occasions and admit when they are wrong. Well, Neville and Carragher do maybe not Keane! Haha!

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Eeyore added 09:48 - May 11 I did notice that as soon as Ipswich had a dips in form and Leeds/Southampton caught up, he stopped talking about Ipswich as automatic promotion contenders. Reminded me of Sutton a little bit at times. However it is understandable that unless you are in your 50s or older you probably don’t see Ipswich as a serious club. Reputation has to be built again unfortunately. Woofenden needs to concentrate on his football and repeat his media training!

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Baino added 09:55 - May 11 Also, @dirtydingusmagee "i know he is ''one of our own'' but he has shown too many times in Championship that he is liable to costly mistakes" That is spot on. I feel Woolfy is decent but he's not an up and coming youngster anymore, he is a senior member of the squad. He can, and will have to improve, and I feel when players are one of our own we tend to, as fans, wear blue tinted specs. All supporters of all teams do it, it's not a criticism, but we need to be as balanced as we can when we look at our players and where you're born and who you supported as a kid doesn't equal ability.

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janeb123 added 09:57 - May 11 When i saw both Jackson and Woolfenden commentschant i wondered what the American owners thought of this? Not too bothered if Jackson doesnt get a new contract. As for Woolfenden, my advice would to be humble. Next season could be make or break regards his future earnings.
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