Another mediocre season is over, but for most Town fans the post-mortem began long ago. This season has seen more of the same; some terrible results and poor runs of form interspersed with some reasons to be cheerful and a glimmer of optimism. Another glass half-full season, take from it what you will.

The chatrooms are now full of fans giving their reviews of the season and offering up advice as to who Paul Jewell needs to sign. Solly's blog gives a good description of the highs and lows of the last five years, he points out that over that period of time Town have signed some 67 players, which is quite incredible.

The more optimistic fans point to Town’s 2012 performances and suggest that they are perhaps only four or five players away from having a side that can really push for promotion.

The general consensus seems to be that Town are short of a keeper, a centre-back, a right-back, a decent king-pin midfielder and a striker. However, given Town’s recent record at making successful and effective signings, we might have to sign 10 or more new players before we get the four or five players we really need and that is surely unacceptable.

Town are one of a number of Championship sides with Premiership aspirations that have underperformed and this season and this has dealt a dose of realism to Paul Jewell who recently echoed the point I’ve been making for the last couple of seasons when he said: “We’re all in the same boat and everyone is probably trying to chase the same players.

"Now that we’ve had a full season at it, I’m not going to make any false promises, all the promises I’ll make are that I want to get to the Premier League and I feel that Ipswich is a club which can get there. When we’re going to get there is a moot point.”

Town’s poor record in the transfer market, however, is not a case of failing to identify the right players. Over the past few seasons Town have chased after the likes of Billy Sharp, Shaun Derry, Sean St Ledger and a whole host of other decent players, however the competition from other clubs has proven too hot to handle, whether in terms of prospects, wages, location or ‘personal terms’.

Nobody wants to be held to ransom over a player but surely Town must have learnt by now that it is far better to pay over the top for a player that they actually want/need rather than pay for a couple of transfer market left-overs that play for a season, don’t perform and then get ditched.

A case in point was the signing of David Norris by Jim Magilton for £2 million, at the time the signing was seen as expensive and highly questionable, however, Norris went on to be a decent midfielder for Town with a good goalscoring record, something he continued at Portsmouth. Town should have fought harder to keep him.

Another area where transfer risk can be reduced is in the development of home grown talent and supporters have been disappointed by the lack of youngsters that have broken through the ranks.

Once renowned for our youth policy, we’ve seen very few promising teenagers actually make it to become established first-teamers over the last few seasons. Once again, this season the likes of Josh Carson and Luke Hyam have struggled to become first choices whilst Jack Ainsley and Ronan Murray have also failed to make their mark. It is particularly frustrating for Town fans when they see the likes of Town discards Liam Trotter and Jordan Rhodes doing so well.

So, where to now? Not that Murphy was the answer to our prayers, but it is worrying to read that financially he is out of our league.

I fear that the pattern of mediocrity established over the last few years won't be broken any time soon.

JustSpivvyChops added 10:40 - May 4 The bottom line, is that we are undergoing another round of wholesale changes, as we are still sorting out the mess that Keane left, coupled with the fact, that the majority of targets that Jewell identified, were not signed and we ended up with 2nd, 3rd and 4th choice, with inevitable consequences. ME and SC's perception of "market value" is hilariously distant from reality and neither should ever be allowed to control the ITFC negotiations with agents/players. They have zero knowledge of football matters and have attained zero credibility from their performance to date. Until this club is again controlled by "football people", instead of accountant's, we will struggle to make progress. The "fans" constantly call for a change of manger, because they haven't got a clue about football and the workings of a football club. Jewell basically has his hands tied and if I were him, it wouldn't be a case of "I wonder how long i'll keep my job", it would be "why the hell am I staying here, under these conditions?". How can any new manager be expected to deliver, when the club fails to secure the vast majority of his targets, even those that are well within financial reach?

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JimmyJazz added 12:58 - May 4 Jewell basically has his hands tied and if I were him, it wouldn't be a case of "I wonder how long i'll keep my job", it would be "why the hell am I staying here, under these conditions?". Maybe it's because no other club is knocking on his door attempting to sign him up as their manager. His reputation took a massive hit while he was Derby manager and I doubt it's improved much over the past 18 months. Staying with us he still has an opportunity to rise from the ashes so to speak.

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Surco72 added 13:33 - May 4 Surely the general consensus isnt that we need a right back as Edwards won player pf the year ? But i agree we definately need a right back I also dont think we require another striker unless we have injuries ,we scored as many goals as the champions . We have only two places up front and have Chopra ,Martin first option with Scotland,Jet,Stevenson,Murray,Drury and Bullard as back up ? The transfer musts are a commanding keeper ,right back and a right sided centre back and we are not far away from a decent championship side

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Blue041273 added 14:55 - May 5 Ever since ME came in with his millions the various managers have tried to buy players deemed to be 'the finished article'. Of late, under PJ, we have tried to pursue the same policy even though the targets were free transfers. For a club like ours the only transfer policy which makes sense is to buy cheaply and make them better players through good management and coaching. This is the 'Ipswich way'. We need to get back to basics and build on our strengths. RK never understood the fundamentals of the management skillset required in a club like Ipswich and I don't see (with the exception of Cresswell) that there is too much evidence that the playing staff have developed considerably under PJ's tutelage. I find it difficult to be openly critical of either RK or PJ as both men merely manage in accordance with their inherent knowledge and experience. All I can say is that this is not enough; we need a manager who can identify talent, nurture it, and develop potential in players to maximum effect. This is becoming a rare art in the modern game but ME needs to look at the current management models lower down the leagues rather than the historical ones in which he has put his faith so far.

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DurhamTownFan added 22:28 - May 5 I agree with the sentiments of the blog. I think it has become clear in the last six months or so that ME is not prepared to pump his cash into the transfer market. I think this is partly because he is 50-50 over PJ's future (with a contract expring next year), and partly because he has realised that he cannot make any money out of Ipswich, or perhaps even can't even see himself breaking even. Football is no longer about making money, unless you're playing top-half Premier League football every year (and even then, most lavish-spending owners face huge losses). Our transfer policy should reflect the dearth of money in Championship football, and like many I believe in attempting to emulate past successes: bring on the academy players, and search for some lower-league potential. Even if players like Richard Naylor, Dean Bowditch and Matt Richards never actually made it into our starting 11 for the long haul, they were still allowed to do a job and play in some important games, albeit with varying levels of success. Apart from occasionally playing Luke Hyam, PJ appears very nervous to give our younger guys any game time (i.e., Carson, Lee-Barrett), perhaps mindful of the criticism that his teams are placed under when the results don't go. We cannot afford to ignore our academy graduates. They give our club its identity, and they save us cricial transfer money in testing times. Even cheaper players no longer see Ipswich as the prospect that we might have been five years ago. Right now we are a mid-table Championship side, and cannot hope to attract many of the hottest young players in league football. I really think that apart from signing a few middling journeymen, the only real hope of Ipswich getting hold of some stellar talent is in bringing on the youth!

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tractored added 15:49 - May 9 "ME and SC's perception of "market value" is hilariously distant from reality and neither should ever be allowed to control the ITFC negotiations with agents/players. They have zero knowledge of football matters and have attained zero credibility from their performance to date. Until this club is again controlled by "football people", instead of accountant's, we will struggle to make progress. " Ha Ha These moronic posts crack me up. I am sure you are right, the people paying the bills should have no say at all. Ho Ho

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