My heart is breaking at what is happening at ITFC, we now sit bottom of the Championship, the club in a complete state of disarray.

It is obvious that Paul Jewell must take the brunt of the blame, although he inherited a real mess from Roy Keane the club is now in a far worse state than when he arrived.

A good manager needs to have certain abilities to succeed, let us start with just four:

1. An eye for a good player, with a view to improving his footballing skills with good coaching

2. Motivational skills, the players need motivation and should go onto the pitch pumped up ready to give their all for the team and the manager

3. Organisational skills, his team should be well organised and players should know their roles and the roles of others within the team

4. A sound knowledge of tactics is essential, although this may only be a small percentage, but it is often these small percentages that win games, cups and championships.

I think to a certain extent Paul Jewell has a eye for a good player, he has picked up a couple of pretty decent players in JET and Aaron Cresswell, but whether he, or the ITFC coaching staff have been able to improve them as players is doubtful. It is my opinion that neither has improved since they arrived at Portman Road

It is clear to anyone who has attended Portman Road recently that Jewell’s motivational skills are very much lacking, the players appear very much half-hearted and none are willing to put themselves on the line for the club or manager

Jewell’s organisational skills are woeful, our team lacks any kind of leader, players run around like headless chickens at times and our defending has got steadily worse during his tenure.

For a team to concede 31 crosses against Hull (that is one every three minutes) is shocking. But not only has Jewell not been able to organise his players on the pitch I think the organisation of his backroom staff leaves much to be desired, for our players to make elementary mistakes week after week is clearly down to the coaching.

It is evident to most supporters that Jewell is no tactical genius, his substitutions are often baffling and rarely improve things on the pitch, his insistence of only playing one up front at home plainly does not work and is far from entertaining

There are other mistakes that I think that have contributed to the sorry state that currently befalls our once proud club. The biggest of these is the short-termism of have all the loan players and players on short contracts.

What benefit did the club actually get from having Lee Bowyer last year, sure he filled a gap, but that could quite easily been done by other players already at the club and they in turn would have gained valuable playing time and experience.

We now have the situation of eight loan players at the club that cannot be good for club morale and what kind of signal does it send out to young players like Jack Ainsley, Joe Whight, Luke Hyam and Josh Carson? Personally I hate the loan system and the way we are currently abusing it, frankly we are getting what we deserve.

Last season Jewell stumbled upon the Hyam/Drury partnership, although this was more by luck than any stroke of genius on his part as it was largely brought upon by suspensions and injury. For several games that partnership worked, sure it was not perfect and both players made mistakes but I’m sure most supporters would much prefer to see those two players than the endless possession of loanees and short-term signings, Luongo/N'Daw/Wellens/Reo-Coker etc.

While it is easy to point the finger of blame at Paul Jewell it must be said that those above have also contributed to the sorry mess we now find ourselves in. We hear that Jewell presented a list of players he wanted to sign in the close season, this was his 'A' list, apparently none of those players arrived at Portman Road.

It is also chief executive Simon Clegg’s responsibility to secure the assents of ITFC, yet we have seen three of our best players leave the club when their contracts run down, for one that to happen once is poor management for it to happen three time is deplorable.

It should also be remembered that the duo of Marcus Evans and Clegg have already sacked two managers and chosen two replacements each one failing dismally to improve the standing of the club, and in fact both have made things a damn sight worse.

Which then brings about the questions, where/who do we turn to next? and are those two really qualified to find and appoint Paul Jewell's successor, whenever that time comes?

daniel9624 added 11:12 - Oct 24 Sort of agree, the endless short-term ideas is frustrating, but on the face of it PJ has done everything we wanted him to. He brought in a goalkeeper, a centre-back, and a young right back. Its clear he tried to sign most of the short-term players we have now in the summer, but it seems now that these are available he felt he had to sign them all! Honestly don't see what Wellens gives us, Luagno, i assume he signed due to failing to get Wellens or Reo-Coker earlier. Higginbottom he should have got earlier and the same DJ Campbell. It would seem to me that now he has so many options he can't work out what to do with it. Guarantee the one of the first things a new manager will do is send some of the loans back, just to cut down those options, and concentrate the minds of those left. Luogno, Wellens, Henderson, we don't need any of them, and N'Daw would probably be on his way too. Campbell I'd keep if for no other reason than goals win games, and Higginbottom is a must, but someone needs to trust trusting our players, Loach, Chambers, Hyam, are all more than capable, but need to be instilled with the confidence of "your my guy, there is no one else i want in my team".

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DurhamTownFan added 11:26 - Oct 24 The only reason PJ has picked up good players is because of how many he's signed. If you throw enough, some sticks, right? For every Cresswell and Chambers, there's six playters out of form, on the bench, or totally ignored by the guy who brought them in...
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greenkingtone added 12:36 - Oct 24 Its very difficult handling a squad of perhaps 25 young overpaid athletes who think their excreta doesn't stink, especially with some briefing against the manager. I just don't know where we go from here.
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greenkingtone added 12:36 - Oct 24 Its very difficult handling a squad of perhaps 25 young overpaid athletes who think their excreta doesn't stink, especially with some briefing against the manager. I just don't know where we go from here.
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Lightningboy added 16:21 - Oct 24 Totall agree with the above. It was all very well Jewell having an "A" list of players last summer but was he being realistic in his targets? In the 22 months he's been here he's still playing Carlos Edwards at RB...that just about sums his tactical awareness up i'm afraid.
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