John Scales has told TWTD that he will definitely be leaving Town at the end of the season. Scales joined on a free from Tottenham at the beginning of the season but has had a bad time of it with injuries.
Writing in his latest TWTD column Scales says: "My contract is up at the end of the season and I do see myself leaving Ipswich. I’m not sure yet whether I will find another club or not and, obviously, I haven’t spoken to any as yet. I think I will be doing my coaching badge at some stage so I will see if I enjoy that part of the game. I will be doing some bits and pieces in the media and my business is doing well."
Scales has several business interests including a new venture entitled Giraffe which has signed a deal to run Juventus' worldwide licensing and mechandising. He has also run sports shops and a sports management business. Although he wants to concentrate on his businesses he still has an eye on getting coaching badge done soon: "I’ll be speaking to the PFA as they help people to do the courses. There is a fast-track for players to get their badges and they run at one of the FA centres. I want to do that sooner rather than later, but it depends when the courses are run."
However the ex-Liverpool man has enjoyed his time at Portman Road and is very complimentary of the way the club has been run during his short, and frustrating, stay: "I have enjoyed my time at Ipswich. But I have become more and more disillusioned as it’s been so frustrating and not worked out how I wanted it to be. I was desperate after my frustration at Spurs to come to Ipswich and play in the Premiership and enjoy my football, but I haven’t. From that point of view it’s been a disaster. I also wanted to prove the manager and David Sheepshanks right as they took a gamble with me. I’m really disappointed for them that it hasn’t worked out better as they showed a tremendous amount of faith in me and I haven’t been able to repay that faith in any way."
It is clear that his injury problems have got him very down at times: "Over the fast few years, not playing matches, I feel as though I’ve wasted time and I hate wasting time. I feel as though I’ve wasted time by not being fit, but I’ve wanted to give myself a chance with the injuries as I wanted to get back playing. I’ve spent so much time out and I’ve spent so much time trying to get fit. To finish this season having played only a handful of games has been a real frustration for me."
But despite this there have been elements he has enjoyed at Portman Road: "On the positive side, I have enjoyed it immensely. I've trained a lot with the lads and have been involved with the squads, travelling, seeing the team play and the manager work. I've seen his coaching and his ideas on the training ground and how the players respond to him. They are a great bunch of lads and I've made some good friends, so I’ve enjoyed all that. I’ll have some fond memories of Ipswich, although I haven’t really had much of a chance to strike up a relationship with the fans as I've not played that many games."
He has further praise for the people at the top too: "I realise from experiences at other clubs that Town has a good set-up. Now I’ve seen how the club is run it’s not a surprise that they have done well. They do everything so well and it’s good for me to see that. I was disillusioned at Spurs and the way that things were done there. The politics and the crap that goes on at a football club just makes it very hard for the players to play. The excuses that are made, the egos that are around and all the interference disrupts the focus of the football club. That’s why it has been refreshing to be at Ipswich. I'm interested in all aspects of football, how it’s run and what goes on. It's been surprising how much success Ipswich have had, but they’ve certainly laid the foundations over the last five years to give us the platform to be successful. It’s showing its dividends now with the youth policy, with the players coming through, with the choice of players in the transfer market, with the coaching, with the structure of the club. The whole thing is very impressive."
Read more from John later today when the rest of his column will be available.