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Reply | Players you really misjudged
at 23:39 2 May 2024
For me there are two Jacksons:
- Jackson the centre forward who I’m not even sure is League 1 standard.
- Jackson the right winger who has been very capable cover for Burns, has got multiple assists and goals from the right, tracks back really well and has rarely let us down.
Not a world beater, but for me his performances this year on the right means he has done more than enough to be held in the highest regard for his contributions this season - and along with JD and Woolfie have been through thick and thin.
If he does leave in the summer I will be sad. |
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Reply | Then and now. A few words. A transformation.
at 06:54 30 Apr 2024
Such a great post - thank you.
I want to pick up on one aspect of your post and that is about the nature of transformation.
My job title is actually Executive Director, Strategy and Transformation for a very large public sector agency in Australia. My whole job and indeed my career has been focused on change and chasing that elusive nirvana of 'sustainable change'.
There's an often used phrase that 'culture eats strategy for breakfast' that I think is really pertinent here, especially given your comments about the players eating pizza and joking around after a loss a few years ago. It's all well and good having a clear strategy/plan to improve, but often this can be rendered meaningless if the culture of the organisation isn't attuned to the ambition and the staff don't buy into the need or drive for change.
This is perhaps the single most impressive factor in the Gamechanger/O'Leary/Ashton regime; and why if the desperate day comes that McKenna looks for pastures new I am confident that we will still thrive. The owners and senior executives of our club have made it clear what we stand for as an organisation, and have hired good people to execute the plan and manage the cultural expectations they have set.
In McKenna they have the prototype head coach for the era we are now in - a progressive, deep thinking, calm and (if we believe what we hear) fair/kind person. They have also invested in the right leaders in the squad who mirror the head coach's qualities. People like Chaplin, Morsy, Burgess and Luongo stand by the values of our club and demonstrate this in their actions and their words. In other words they all both talk the talk and walk the walk.
In many many ways ITFC in the 21st century are an absolute text book case for organisational psychology/development:
- the way we performed in 00/01 to finish 5th with pretty much the same squad that got us promoted demonstrated the virtue of loyalty, consistency and a unified approach
- the way it fell apart the next season when we pursued a hasty and ill conceived expansion plan; including bringing in people who were the wrong fit
- the way we bounced back from adversity (i.e. administration) using the strength of a few key personalities (Royle, Magilton the player, Kuqi, De Vos), but ultimately didn't have the resources or plan to see that through to completion
- the new life promised by our new investor who was pretty much looking for a quick buck and thought success could be easily bought
- followed by the years of stagnation and eventual decline when that owner didn't get the quick return they expected and lost interest
- ad now a genuine new world with new investors who realised that sustained success needs strong foundations
I genuinely believe that McKenna has accelerated our progress because he has skills and expertise beyond what we could have predicted or planned for; but our club now has some solid foundations for the first time since the late 90s. Regardless of how the next week goes, we are on the right trajectory.
We have our club back. |
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Reply | My one wish
at 07:19 27 Apr 2024
Surely if managed properly there’s a way everyone can be accommodated. I’d be on the pitch but I know my old man doesn’t have the mobility to get onto the pitch.
The club should accept and embrace a pitch invasion on the final whistle, but then reasonably ask everyone to clear the pitch after 15 minutes so a proper lap of honour can be done.
No need to treat the fans like children like they did last year. |
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Reply | Will you be disappointed…
at 08:46 23 Apr 2024
Yes, but…
…probably in the same way I was disappointed that I missed out on a First at Uni by less than 1%.
The immediate sense of disappointment was soon replaced by pride, satisfaction and ultimately a logical understanding of where I fell short (in Town’s case it will be playing 5-6 games without a centre forward after Hirst went down*).
For Town this season, even if they don’t win another point, it’s objectively been an incredible performance - both on and off the field; and once the initial pain has subsided no one could look back at this season with anything other than overwhelming pride. We’ve got our club back, we stand for something and we can go again.
*Not a dig at Jackson, I think he’s a reasonable back up for the right wing - he’s just not a centre forward. |
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Reply | Least disliked team from each division
at 05:51 19 Apr 2024
The first two are because my wife grew up between Newcastle and Sunderland and in her extended there are fans of both teams so I always hope (as long as it's not to the detriment of Town) that they do well.
EPL: Newcastle
Champ: Sunderland
L1: Barnsley - class set of fans at the play-off final
L2: Barrow - my best friend when I was in the UK was from there and a huge fan. I've been to many a non-league game in Essex and London with him to cheer them on. Any fans that do the miles they do deserve credit. I did not enjoy the FA Cup loss to them one bit though - my mate was not a 'class fan' that day!!!
Scotland: Hearts (been my scottish side since I was a kid and I have no recollection why - maybe because I'd never seen a team play in purple before??) |
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Reply | Who is, or was, the best footballer on here.......?
at 00:25 12 Apr 2024
Was a pacy right-winger when I was 12/13 years old and got into the Suffolk U-14 squad but didn’t quite make the team.
Lost a bit of pace and converted to a full back and at U-16 level played locally for Ipswich Exiles in a year when we went undefeated and won every trophy available. Played 3-4 times for their adult team as a 16 year old.
Missed the whole season when 17 due to first a fractured metatarsal and then broken wrist - the latter when playing 5-a-side two weeks after getting the all clear on my foot injury.
Went to one of the biggest unis in the country at 18 and there were about 600 lads trying out for four teams. Got selected and played four years in the 2nd XI. As others have said, top end uni football is a pretty high standard with most of the 1st XI having played in professional academies as teenagers.
Moved to West London after I graduated and started to train with Hanwell Town who were then in the London League (I think Tier 9 in the football pyramid) but my job meant I was away a lot during the week and they wouldn’t sign me because of ‘commitment issues’. Pretty much stopped playing then because the working away meant lots of hotel breakfasts and evening beers paid for by my employer and that wasn’t really conducive to decent level sports!! |
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Reply | What’s the single biggest reason you want us to go up?
at 15:59 9 Apr 2024
Undoubtedly there are some downsides - but if we are actually now run by people who know what they’re doing then it’s the next step in establishing ourselves in the group of clubs who regularly finish 10th-15th and to potentially push for the bottom end of the European spots. Plus a greater chance that we could snag an FA or League Cup (I’d quite like the latter because it would give us the full set).
Worst case scenario is we get relegated straight back with a lot more $$$ behind us. Just as long as we don’t overreach like Leicester, Forest and Everton have done. |
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Reply | Anyone been to Ubud
at 05:48 21 Mar 2024
The Aussie Rules and Aussie Rugby League matches should all finished by the time of kick off - but would comment that sports bar and Ubud do not obviously go hand in hand - and its not exactly easy to pop down to Seminyak where the chances are greater.
You might need to sign up to a month's pass for an international subscription on TownTV if you do want to watch it? |
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Reply | Burgess vs. Blackburn
at 09:30 20 Mar 2024
The game will finish at about 10pm local time in Canberra. You can't fly back to Europe from Canberra, and the last flight out of Canberra to Sydney is about 8pm. Which means he would at earliest be on the first flight out in the morning at 6am - by which time he's probably only had 3-4 hours sleep max.
Get into Sydney around 7:30am Wednesday but by then the morning flights to Europe will have all departed. The next wave of European departures will be about 1-2pm Sydney time - which gets him into London around 6-7am Thursday (UK time). Then has to trek around the M25 back to Ipswich - unless he flies Emirates and can come into Stansted instead of Heathrow; but even so he won't be back to Ipswich until about 10am.
At that point he will have been travelling for about 36 hours having only had 3-4 hours sleep on the Tuesday night - I suspect the last thing we would do is then chuck him on a 5 hour coach trip up to Lancashire (assuming we travel up on the Thursday).
Even if the Australian FA or ITFC stump up for business class travel and lounge access at Singapore/Dubai he'll be exhausted and sore.
Not forgetting the fact that at 6ft5in tall even the best business class setup will be pretty cramped.
The only possible option really is to fly him back to Manchester from Sydney - which would see him land there at about 9-10am on Thursday - but I can't see us taking the risk when we have Fridge or Axel who could step in. |
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Reply | Jackson....
at 23:54 16 Mar 2024
So pleased for him.
His single biggest issue is he was sold to the fans as a centre forward and if we judge him in that (including as the stop gap between Hirst and Moore) - he’s clearly not up to this level,
But as a right winger, he a more than capable back up and he showed this again yesterday. I was very happy with him coming on to replace Burns but if he’d come on to replace Moore I would have been shaking my head. |
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Reply | Omari
at 23:47 16 Mar 2024
He’s certainly one of the best and only Lawrence comes close in the Evans/Gamechanger eras (Celina had his moments, but Lawrence and Hutchinson have won us multiple games over the season).
It’s hard to judge him against the likes of Magilton, Reuser, Murphy, McGoldrick and Kuqi because we signed them after the loan and so what they mean to us is amplified by what they did once they became permanent players. |
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Thread | Uncanny resemblance to Wrexham/Sunderland series...
at 02:32 15 Mar 2024
I finally managed to catch Season 3 of Sunderland Til I Die over the last couple of weeks - but given it had been 3-4 years since Season 2 I went back and watched Seasons 1 and 2 again.
It's really uncanny how if you watched Season 1 and 2 of Sunderland Til I Die and then went into Season 2 of Welcome to Wrexham - it would almost perfectly mirror the experience of following Ipswich over the 2018-2023 period.
From the despair of falling out of the Championship with an ageing team and an owner who didn't give two sh1ts (STID S1), to thinking jumping back would be easy only to discover the purgatory of getting stuck in League 1 (STID S2), then moving into the euphoria of new American owners, smashing the league with record goals scored, but still not securing promotion until the penultimate weekend (WTW S2). Plus add in the association with a global celebrity - it's uncanny.
And it's quite probable that Season 3 of Welcome to Wrexham will mirror our season this year with them having bounced around the top four of League 2 all year and still now in with a shout of back to back promotions.
The only thing that our journey is missing in comparison is the sheer incompetence of the new Sunderland owners in Season 2 of STID - although some of the Lambert reign had similarities (great initial fan engagement/PR followed up by sh1te on the pitch).
So many times I've watched both series and thought - yup, been there, experienced the same. |
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Reply | Of the three teams we are competing with
at 09:14 14 Mar 2024
A hard one for me.
- Leeds: I studied there and have this conflicted view that I love the city, support Yorkshire at Cricket and Leeds in the Rugby - but never fully warmed to Leeds Utd; but equally I don't hate them in the way many do. I also think they are by far the best team we've played and are really the only set of fans who can say their team is better than ours.
- Southampton: Never really been a fan of the team and the fans got a bit chirpy when they were on that good run - plus there's the whole Russell Martin being a budgie legend that also counts against them.
- Leicester: Their fans have been assuming they're going to be promoted since about October, so it would be funny as f*** if they stuffed it up from here. Now the whole financial fair play has reared its head.
So on balance I think I'd prefer Leeds and Ipswich go up automatically and Southampton/West Brom beat Leicester in the play-offs. |
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Reply | A few threads today have had me thinking
at 08:55 14 Mar 2024
This.
Charlton have had four owners in the last 8 years - all of them abject and none of them with Evans' cash reserves. Even if crowds had dropped down to 11/12k each week like Charlton have this season then we would still have been drawing in much more revenue than most of League 1.
I think some responses are over dramatic. I think the chances us of ever getting out of League 1 with Evans in charge would have been tiny - but it would have taken something cataclysmic for us to drop in to League 2 - and Evans' last few years, whilst abject, were not at that level. He may have lost interest but he wasn't about to let his investment crumble to nothing. As bad a decision as it was - a 5 year contract for the type of money an internationally experienced ex-Premier league manager would have commanded shows he was still had the intent to invest. |
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Reply | Help please - how can I watch today's game in Australia?
at 10:30 9 Mar 2024
The non-VPN option in Australia is Bein Sports. You might be able to sign up to a free trial - but then it’s $16 a month (about £9).
Hope you’re enjoying Perth - it’s cooled down to 27/28c from over 40c a couple of weeks ago. |
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Thread | Further parallels with last season
at 04:39 7 Mar 2024
Given the striking similarities with last season (form slump in January, four losses at end of Feb, more than two teams on track for around 100 points)...
...what are the chances that Norwich (A), Coventry (A) and Hull (A) end up mirroring our performances and results of Derby (A), Peterborough (A) and Barnsley (A) last year?
Games where everyone (including our fans) predict they could end our non-losing streak but in the end they are the cherry on the cake of our triumphant promotion. |
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Reply | Brenner
at 22:24 6 Mar 2024
Clearly not a Town fan, just listen to how excited he gets when Bristol score compared to his flat delivery when we score. 🙄 |
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Reply | This is a beautiful feeling.
at 23:24 5 Mar 2024
100% with you on this.
Moved down under 10 years ago, but had long before that stopped being interested in football - other than Town. Fell out of love with the Premier League in the late 2000s, never watched the Champions League and even England started to bore me.
By 2019/2020 I was still watching Town games whenever I could, but it felt like a duty rather than something I really looked forward to. The chances of me getting up at 3:30am to watch a midweek game against Bristol City would have been next to zero.
Fast forward to today and I’m bouncing around my living room at 5am like a child the night before Christmas.
No matter how this season finishes, my love has been renewed. I bl00dy love this football club. |
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Reply | So just to confirm other teams think we are
at 09:08 5 Mar 2024
Yup - the Sunderland forum on the day we beat them to the Kieffer Moore loan was full of their fans saying we were breaching FFP and if we don't go up this year we are financially f***ed. Only a couple of their fans pointed out we were 16th in the league in terms of wage bill - but don't let that get in the way of a good narrative.
Oh - and to add one more from the weekend - Josh Smith is clearly on our payroll and has reffed us six times for no losses. |
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