| [Blog] I’ve Seen Three Ipswich Teams in Two Matches – Will the Real One Stand Up? Written by RevAdrian on Wednesday, 4th Jan 2012 15:29 This blog is in the light of two very excellent blogs (and resulting discussions) in the past few days. The fascinating thing is that each blog, intelligent and thoughtful in its own way, tends to balance the other. The conclusion I come to after reading one is ‘PJ must stay’. After reading the other I incline towards ‘PJ must go’. Living in North Wales doesn’t allow me a fraction of the time I would like to see the Town in action (and no, I am not hoping for relegation so I can add Tranmere and Preston to my diary next season), but I managed to see Town play twice in a matter of a short space of time, first at Burnley then at Barnsley. They seemed in some ways like three separate teams. The first team played at Burnley – or rather, didn’t play. As in the miserable spell of Roy Keane, my wife and I turned up, hopeful, but not very. Our hope lasted about ten minutes, after which we sat there, relatively silent for most of the match (like the majority), whilst the team demonstrated lack of effort, organisation, skill, and tactics. My job as a vicar tends to lead me to want to be affirming of people, especially if in doubt, but at the end of the game I almost did something I have never done in over 40 years of support. As it happened loyalty overcame me and I did clap the team off. The highlight of the evening was the convenient car park at the neighbouring cricket club which enabled a quick getaway. The second version of the ITFC first team played for 45 minutes or so at Barnsley. Many of the players looked familiar, and they had the same names, but they did some stuff the other lot at Burnley didn’t do – could this be the same team? For a start they worked to close down the opposition. They ran into space. They showed some skill. None of those things seemed to be done to much effect but, hey, here was a team prepared to work. Why? What had changed? A sudden attack of pride in the name of Ipswich? A rollocking from PJ? Someone had read the TWTD Message Board? The half-time talk around the refreshment bar was illuminating. I’d sum the typical comment up as ‘it’s better than at Turf Moor but it’s not going to get us back from a two-goal deficit’. The third version of the team came out for the second half. Admittedly they looked like the same players that we had seen earlier in both games but they played differently. Scotland’s running found him space. Bowyer seemed to be going somewhere. Here was Martin, dropping a shoulder and going past his man. It all seemed like a dream but my wife assured me we scored five! For the first time in a long time we drove home feeling proud to be fans. Fortunately, I do not have the gift of prophecy in relation to football results so what was to come over Christmas and New Year remained, at that time, a potentially pleasant mystery. So who are we? What are we really like? Which team are we really? More importantly perhaps, why are we like we are? Now at the risk of offending any non-religion-friendly people, here is a bit of theology. When St Paul writes his famous first letter to the first century church in Corinth (the bit which is so often read at weddings) he adds a bit which suggests that, in relation to understanding who God is and what God is like, we only see as if we are looking at an image in a mirror – a dim (don’t forget that mirrors weren’t very bright two thousand years ago) and rather one dimensional image of the real thing. A lot has been written lately, and in those two recent blogs, about what I am going to call the soul of ITFC – the values, the history, the way of playing, the youth set-up and all that stuff. And all that gives me a problem! When we look at the first team playing – whichever version it might seem to be – are we seeing 11 players who sometimes care and work hard and sometimes do not – are we seeing a bunch of people who, each to a greater or lesser extent is just showing us what they are like as individuals - or are we, to an extent, seeing a reflection of what is really at the heart of our great club at the moment? If it is the latter then what is at that heart? Pride, organisation, passion fighting to get out amidst the turmoil of modern life in the Championship, or confusion, lack of direction, and maybe other less pleasant things? St Paul (and apologies but a bit more religion here!) had no doubt that the person of Jesus Christ represented God and is God – so look at him and you see what God is really like in every way. What of our first team? Which of the three teams of those two away games is the real representation of what our club is like at its heart today? My prayer is that it is the team of the second half at Barnsley. If instead it is the team of the first half there then my prayer is that all concerned may have faith in our future, and that we work together to build it. If, on the other hand, the real representation is the team that played at Burnley my prayer is that God may have mercy on our soul. Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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