Blog written by tractorboykent
Published: 1st February 2017 12:31
I have supported Ipswich Town for over 40 years. I’ve never lived locally and so have never had a round trip of less than 160 miles. Even home games therefore haven’t been exactly an obvious or easy choice. For some seasons (including when living in Brighton) I’ve been a season ticket holder but throughout I’ve been a pretty regular supporter home and away.
A few years ago I wrote a book about Sir Bobby’s reign at Town â€" it seemed a natural and fitting subject for a club so proud and a supporter proud to be part of it.
Living some distance away, I also occasionally started going to see my local club, Tonbridge Angels, in the Ryman League. Ironically this is the very same club where I saw my first ever game as a small kid â€" the same club that my Dad and family supported when he was young.
In the past I might have baulked at the idea of a ‘second club’ affiliation but, like a lot of supporters at non-league games, it became natural. It was somewhere to go if I couldn’t get to Portman Road. Then over time things changed â€" if I could get to either there started to be a decision to make. Today there very rarely is one â€" it’s Angels first.
At Tonbridge, they play with attacking overlapping backs, a biting and creative midfield and fast, tricky wingers. Their style can vary though if the game demands it; they are pragmatic and intelligent. At Town of course it’s one dimensional hoofball without any inventiveness or flexibility. The desperation and panic of wellying the ball into Row Z at every opportunity was shown to the whole country in the Lincoln replay â€" neutral friends expressed exasperation at just how bad we were (‘they cannot be professional footballers.’) Town fans of course were not surprised.
Tonbridge manager Steve McKimm is articulate, passionate and always open. He joined the club after its relegation and the departure of pretty much every player and management staff member from the previous regime; he literally started again.
His player choices in terms of acquisitions and selections show a real ambition and plan. I pretty much always learn something from his post-match interviews â€" his knowledge of the game comes shining through as it does when listening to him coach from the sidelines (something that you can hear at non-league games quite clearly).
He’s not distant from the fans. The club runs forums at which he will speak to any supporter but actually we can talk to him or email him direct at pretty much any time. When things don’t go well he will respond to personal criticism of him or the players â€" he does it with respect but will also robustly defend himself and the players where justified; the fans appreciate that and listen.
It’s so very different at Portman Road these days. For most of us, Mick McCarthy just projects arrogance. His selections and tactics are, as we all know, predictable and inflexible (no Plan B let alone C); at times he seems to coach any creativity and dynamism out of players. It’s very hard to believe him when he says that he respects the fans' opinions â€" not least because it’s often followed by a snipe.
Most interviews are actually monologues seeking to justify the mess that we’re in with a defence of his 900-game career, the restrictions of a meagre budget or the quality of the opposition. Worst of all he seems literally incapable of change â€" the same players and system leading to the same inevitable outcome.
Tonbridge Angels’ ambition for this year is the play-offs. At this point they’re there or thereabouts. I don’t know whether or they’ll make it but I do know that the fans and the team/management are all on the same wavelength. If they don’t then I doubt that there will be recriminations â€" it’s obvious that everyone is giving it their all on the pitch.
At Town the ambition can now only be to survive and hope for a clearout in the summer. I don’t take either for granted; if anyone seriously thinks we couldn’t go down then I’d suggest that they’ve not been watching. The wide division between manager and fans hasn’t helped; it’s no coincidence that the worst performances and results have come at home.
Importantly, as a community-owned club, I know very well the value of my tenner at the turnstiles to the Angels. It matters. The chairman tells us and shows us why. The £30 I spend with Town (part of nearer £100 overall cost of a match) often seems to be taken entirely for granted; it’s as if the supporters will keep on blindly coughing up and accepting whatever. It may at last be dawning on the club that plummeting crowd figures suggest otherwise.
I’m writing this after Town collapsed to a 0-3 capitulation at home to Derby. The comments on TWTD suggest it was the normal shambles. I was at the Angels where, after being 1-3 down at half time, Tonbridge came back to lead 4-3 and finally draw 4-4. It was a cracker.
Games like that don’t happen at Town â€" which is not so say that they don’t happen in the Championship, this is not just about level. The Forest game at home better exemplified the difference â€" 0-1 down after 17 seconds and I, like everyone else I’d guess, was certain that it was game over and that we’d huff and puff for 89 minutes and get nowhere. So it turned out.
In the last week there have been a couple of things that have made me think long and hard about the plight of Town. First was the Swiss Ramble's forensic take on the financial situation of the club compared to the rest of the Championship which put into context the environment that we’re in.
On the one hand it could be seen as vindicating Marcus Evan and Mick McCarthy's view of the uneven playing field on which we are competing but on the other it does not in any way justify the way we are going about it (unambitious, dull, one-dimensional style that largely ignores the talent that we have at youth level which is playing the game in an entirely different way).
Second was Kieron Dyer’s comments about the need for supporters to stand behind the club at least until safety is ‘achieved.’ Like all of us I’m sure, I will ALWAYS listen to and respect what Kieron has to say but, although I’d never boo a player or the team, his plea to keep going to games flies in the face of the wide feeling that boycotting games seems the only real way that supporters can make themselves heard. More to the point, the price of loyalty is high when money’s tight and what supporters are getting in return is so lame.
Town supporters’ disenchantment is not about lack of success. We have had none for 15 years so this is hardly new. It’s about HOW the current malaise has come about and how we’re addressing it. If we had a young, hungry squad doing its best to play football there’d be a whole lot more understanding â€" just like there is at Tonbridge.
In the end I guess the response of each supporter is their own choice. For me I really hope that, together, we the fans and the club can sort things at Town. Come Saturday afternoon or Tuesday night, I‘d like there to be a choice to be made again.