Former Town centre-half Russell Osman believes the Blues’ football under Mick McCarthy is “out of kilter” with the style fans at Portman Road have grown up with.
Osman, 58, says Town have overachieved in previous seasons given the funds made available to manager McCarthy - the wage bill of £16.5 million during the 2016/17 campaign was around the 18th highest in the Championship and has risen by around a million this season - and that the quality of football is less of an issue when a team is challenging at the right end of the table.
"Look at the size of their budget and compare that to everybody in the league,” Osman told FootballWhispers.com at their FW:2 event at stadium:mk last week.
"You’d say that if a club has a bottom-six budget, that is where they are going to finish in the league.
"In recent years Ipswich have probably punched above their weight under Mick McCarthy. They finished higher up the table than they should have done.
"If you manage to finish a lot higher — we’re talking top six or the play-offs — and the football isn’t great then that’s fine. But this season the football has come home to roost a little bit and they’ve finished 16th.
"The supporters will say Ipswich don’t play very attractive football and that is what has annoyed them.”
Fans made their frustrations with McCarthy’s style of football clear throughout the season with many citing a lack of entertainment as the main reason they’re not renewing their season ticket for 2017/18.
As TWTD revealed at the end of last month, season ticket sales have fallen below 10,000, which equates to a drop in revenue of around £1 million. Speaking on Life’s a Pitch, MD Ian Milne accepted that "the entertaining football issue” was to blame.
Former Town U18s coach Osman says the style of football drilled into young players at Playford Road is a world away from that employed by the senior side.
"When you look at the academy and the kind of football the players are taught to play, it bears no resemblance to anything the first team do,” he added.
"Even before the Bobby Robson era, George Burley’s era, and even Jim Magilton’s era, Ipswich Town was renowned for being a footballing team. They kept the ball on the floor as much as possible, they were good passers and played good football.
"We’d play off the front players at the right time, hit long passes as well as short passes, but Mick McCarthy’s style of football is out of kilter with what a lot of the fans have grown up with.”