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Sign More Players, Sign More Players!
Written by DurhamTownFan on Thursday, 30th Aug 2012 09:34

'Sign more players' is perhaps the most popular type of comment below any news story on this entire website. It seems that no matter that the nature of the article above, when asked for their opinion on that story, fans seem concerned more than ever to see the signing or more a better-quality players to play for Ipswich.

After a lucky win, you might get 'oh but we need a better striker', or a poor defeat and one sees 'see, I TOLD you we needed a new defender'.

It seems that an overwhelming proportion of Ipswich fans (or at least those who comment) see the arrival of new players as fundamental to Ipswich's evolution from mid-table mediocrity to promotion contenders. In this blog, I want to think about this question a little more carefully, and judge the merits of these suggestions.

Perhaps the most common comment of all is the stressed desire to sign this magical, mythical type of player call a 'young, hungry' talent. Fans look to the success of Aaron Cresswell last year, and perhaps think that such players might grow on trees.

This term is regarded by many as a catch-all solution. I for one, love to see youngsters in the team, and especially those drawn from the local area.

But players like Cresswell really are the exception. We've not yet seen anything of our latest young signing Elliott Hewitt (due to injury), but with every other team out there looking for young players, and the youngsters themselves ever-more distracted by the bright lights of footballing lifestyle and the chance to sit on Man City's youth team reserve squad bench, do we really have much hope of unearthing another talent like Cresswell?

After all, signing players is al well and good, but do they actually WANT to come to Ipswich? Recent evidence suggests not. We've lost out to Leeds and Crystal Palace in recent times to name but two clubs, and hell, even two Peterborough players rejected the chance to join our team just yesterday.

So the idea of new players is great, but we need to be realistic. and realise that some guys might not actually want to come to us. Paul Jewell has been vocal recently about the difficulties of getting hold of players, and with Financial Fair Play rules coming in, we do actually need to be careful about how much we pay these guys (remember Finidi George and Matteo Sereni? Not again, please!). Fundamentally, it does just seem like damn hard work to get new men in through the door, and especially with so many teams in our league now having a history of playing in the Premiership and a nice 20,000+ stadium like our own.

After all this, do we actually have the funds for many transfers, or even the ability to spot a bargain? Rumours that we'd pay £2 million for the Posh pair seem to suggest so, but I personally am rather concerned that Marcus Evans is holding back the purse strings until Jewell shows him that his new men are worth the investment (or that he wants to extent Jewell's contract beyond next year).

Of the guys Jewell has brought in, how many may be regarded as unqualified successes? Cresswell, yes, most certainly. But consider some other examples: Ibrahima Sonko, Jimmy Bullard, Ryan Stevenson? Too early to say on Scott Loach and Luke Chambers (although both look set OK) but even Michael Chopra is only a 'yes' if you forget his off-field troubles. So, Jewell needs to sign players? Yes, but only if he can engineer a marked improvement in the quality of new faces that he brings in (which is not al his fault necessarily, bearing in mind comments above).

My last point is one dear to my own heart, so excuse the personal tone. I'm involved with the running of the team I play for, and through this, I have learned that the easiest way to success is through continuity, patience and most of all, coaching! Bringing in new faces is all well and good, but you have to get the fundamentals of your team correct, otherwise what are these new men fitting in to?

It is impossible to say whether we have this at Ipswich, since none of us are there day in, day out. However, I wouldn't judge our team to be a million miles worse than any of the others placed between around sixth to 20th of last year's league table, which to me, suggests that we have the chance of success, even without the arrival of seven players on-loan or for £1 million each every time we lose away to Carlisle.

Comments on this blog are welcome. The point was not to argue that we don't need new players, but that we need a degree of realism in our expectations. The next time you see someone commenting 'sort is out PJ, we need a centre-back, a right-back, and a winger and two strikers plus a new ball boy', maybe you'll direct them to this blog...




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cromwellblue added 11:28 - Aug 30
The need for realism is well made.

I feel the problem with our club is less about manager, chief exec or owner more about the fan base.

The best signing we could make is a defensive coach. Our defense has been weak for many years through many players and many managers. Perhap the issue is how they are trained.

Some years ago we had Stuart Houston in the coaching team and we were solid at the back.

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ITFCOYB added 12:17 - Aug 30
Good blog and first comment.

Couldn't agree more. I love supporting Ipswich- i'm heartbroken when we lose and thrilled when we win. I don't mind people having a moan and talking tactics, but the constant posts about the end of the world when a couple of POSH players try some brinkmanship, and the constant moaning at manager, chief exec and (generous) owner about our shortcomings in the transfer market are just hot air.

Buying success at this level is almost impossible, as proven by almost every club that has tried, including us.

Building success is possible but requires far-sighted decisions and smart acquisitions. And time.

I wish people would relax a bit. Like on the pitch, we should be trying to keep it positive off the pitch- we're not the biggest club but if we stick together and stick to our principles, we'll give anyone a run for their money and maybe spring the odd surprise along the way.

COYB
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nitroblue1970 added 12:32 - Aug 30
Cromwell....isnt Russell Osman still at the club? I'm pretty sure, if asked, he would help with some defensive coaching, he was pretty good in his day!
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Nthsuffolkblue added 13:50 - Aug 30
I think the point of your blog is that there are more important factors to success than just signing the right players. Although I think we have made some progress to finding a way of playing and trying to mould the team around it, I think we are still a million miles away from the Swansea pattern where it matters little which players leave or if a manager goes because they can identify the right people to fit in with their passing, possession style and get the best out of them. Early signs are that Laudrup will continue this.
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Blue041273 added 13:56 - Aug 30
Agree wholeheartedly. The day we start understanding that money by itself will not resolve every playing problem will be the day we actually start to make progress. History shows that you cannot buy a team; you can buy a player to improve a team but there are few instances where getting in good players into a failing team has been successful. PJ, from his experience at Derby, surely knows this. While there is always room for improvement in the quality of the squad the integration of any new player should be done from a position of strength.
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jamesmostevens added 17:24 - Aug 30
'youngsters themselves ever-more distracted by the bright lights of footballing lifestyle and the chance to sit on Man City's youth team reserve squad bench' - or the veterans' reserve squad bench!
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ITFCJacob added 23:10 - Aug 30
I'm afraid I have to disagree partly with the blogger and partly with the view of what seems to be most people. I think the biggest problem is that the players are not motivated enough, for one reason or another. I don't believe Bullard, Stevenson, dare I even say Peters (plus many others), were given a good enough chance. I would much rather we made progress this season and finished say 11th and players got a chance, than us releasing/signing loads of players all the time, as this is not only frustrating for fans, but also bad in terms of business for the club
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BuckieBlue added 08:05 - Aug 31
Good blog.
I am concerned that by tonight although we may have a better squad than a week ago, with so many new faces (presumably all becoming first team regaulars) we will lack continuity. Hence we will need several, say, 10 games for them all to bed in and by then it'll be catch up time for rest of season. Our squad even up to a week ago was stronger than last season, and even last year's group put a second half of the season together which was of play off standard.
Ok if the new squad is that good we can catch up and /or if it gells quickly we'll be ok, but maybe a bit of patience would have been equally beneficial?
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Plums added 08:31 - Aug 31
Wow, some realism and considered opinion. You're spot on. These things take time, patience and coaching. It seems that we're very fortunate that our owner possesses the second quality as many of the fans clearly don't. The transfer market is rarely the solution.
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DurhamTownFan added 09:45 - Aug 31
Thanks for the positive feedback, guys. ITFCCOYB, I agree. Look at how much has been spent by clubs like Leicester, Cardiff, and the pressure on Leeds. It just goes to show that even if you make a great team, you still need luck to get promoted as one of 3 from 24 teams.

NthSuffolkblue, I also agree that we are very far from the Swansea model! But it is possible to develop a team philosophy without being Barcelona. Look at Ipswich under Burley, or maybe modern versions like Fulham, West Brom, and (dare I say it) Norwich last year.

ITFCJacob, I agree, and that was partly in my final point. When the club build for the long-term, the players can respond by working their way in and finding their place, thereby avoiding the short-termism advocated by many of our fans.

But thanks for all the good points! I hope the rest of today's news is all good and that (contrary to my blog) we might actually sing 1 or 2 decent guys-but only if they fit into a long-term vision!
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Ole_Pablo_Ole added 14:55 - Aug 31
Good article, still need more players though :P
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bigolconnor added 08:11 - Sep 1
If we have a single injury to our back 5 (goalie included) we have very poor or no cover...

...we need more players.
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