Following Tuesday night’s dire performance and result against Wolves, I think that I speak on behalf of the majority of Ipswich fans here when I say enough is enough. Positive action is required and necessary if we are to oust Mick as manager.

We started this season with real confidence that we may be able to push on towards the Promised Land that is the Premiership. We signed some good promising young players in Grant Ward and Adam Webster, and in the first game of the season we played some really attractive football and won 4-2. Several mistakes were made by us, but there was a lot to build on. How things have changed.

We lost Daryl Murphy, our main focal point in attack who had almost single-handedly pushed us into the play-offs just over 12 months before, for £3 million to Newcastle. Several rumours flew around that we had made million-pound bids for strikers. If that is true or not we will never know, but nothing came of it. Instead, we signed Tom Lawrence and Joniesta on loan, and brought in panic-signing Leon Best to replace Murph.

Lawrence has been a truly inspirational acquisition; Williams came injured and made a couple of appearances before getting injured again. Best showed very very little enthusiasm and fortunately, will not play for us again under Mick (or let’s face it any other manager). A success rate of 33 per cent is not great.

We have been subjected to some real abject performances this season, sandwiched in between the odd promising performance where we thought 'let’s kick on', but we didn’t.

We went six games without scoring in October and we didn’t look like scoring either. I recall our match against Huddersfield where we chanted “We’ve had a shot”, that should not happen in any football match!

This is all down to Mick. He has been in the job for four years now and so cannot shirk responsibility for the fact that Tommy Smith, Luke Chambers and Luke Hyam are the only survivors from the Paul Jewell era. This is his team, plain and simple.

Bar performances, the issue of team selections often sparks mass debates on this site as well. For a long period of time, we had to cope with the dull duo of Cole Skuse and Jonathan Douglas in a 4-4-2 formation. With two defensive-minded midfielders playing week in week out, home and away, it was no wonder our goals tally is so low.

We are the fifth lowest scorers in the league and putting it in to context a bit, we have scored the same number of goals away from home this season as Newcastle have won away from home (13).

Setting a team up to get a point every game is not acceptable, especially if you are playing teams who are massively out of form and are there to be knocked out the park (Rotherham at home). Fortunately, after our QPR defeat, Mick dropped Douglas and has not featured in the league since.

He changed from a flat four to a 3-5-2 and has brought in Toumani Diagouraga and Emyr Huws who have added something to the midfield that we have missed for so long - goals! By changing formation, this has enabled players who have been played out of position for so long to go to their rightful positions. Both Chambers and Freddie Sears have looked happier and have played better, and to some extent, so have we.

However, whilst our performances have improved somewhat of (could they get any worse after Lincoln and Derby?), it is not enough for Mick to stay in his job. If it were not for the sheer brilliance of Bart and Tom Lawrence this season, we would either be in the bottom three or fighting for survival.

Mick McCarthy’s teams have always been very resolute and hard to break down, especially against the bigger teams in the division, however, when his teams have played those who are in a similar position or lower in the table than his own, the plans have failed.

When his teams have been favourites to win and have been expected to win by a distance, things have often come up short. This was somewhat apparent in 2014/15 when we finished sixth, and has become more evident during last season and especially this year. Our players look devoid of confidence going forward. I believe that this is because the attacking natures of our players have been bled dry by Mick, simple as.

Mick has stated that he will wait until the end of the season to decide if he will remain our manager or not, and fans opinions of him will play a part in his final decision.

Therefore, from my point of view, it is simple for us fans. If you are unhappy with the way this club is being managed, take positive action and vote with your feet. If only a few thousand renew their season tickets, something will click in Marcus Evans’s brain to make him think that something has to change. Only then will Mick be out of a job. If this is not the case, then League One beckons for us next season, along with crowds of 10 or 11,000 at the most. In my short lifetime (I'm 17 years old), I have never recalled us have attendances lower than 14,000i-sh.

So to sum up (and perhaps sound like a dodgy advert), are you tired of lacklustre performances, low scoring matches and footballs spending more time in the air than on the ground? Are you tired of 1970s defensive tactics and a stubborn arrogant manager?

Do you miss that feeling going to Portman Road on a Saturday afternoon looking forward to watching another team swatted to one side? Do you miss leaving Portman Road with a smile of your face? Do you miss the Ipswich Town way, the young players coming through the academy and being the poster boys? Do you miss the 'We will score more than you' mentality? Of course you do!

How can this be achieved? Simple! Be proactive and please,
Do not renew your season tickets until Mick has decided if he will leave or not!

Thank you for reading.

shakytown added 17:45 - Mar 13 Sadly the real issue is that a lot of supporters cannot see hope of improvement in the team under Muck the ignorant. If we were trying to play decent football and struggling the atmosphere would be totally different.
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BlueandTruesince82 added 15:40 - Mar 14 I'd say gar better to renew as the cash flow is VITAL to.the club and make feelings known before a d after matches
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PackwoodBlue added 10:13 - Mar 15 Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and whether you're a 17 year old fan or 70 year old fan, you still bleed blue blood. I'm not saying I agree or disagree, but have and always will make up my own mind either way. Putting aside the dire performances on the pitch this season, the main problem supporters face is that perhaps not at the start of his tenure but certainly now, and over the last year or two, the relationship between ME and MM has become one of convenience. ME has little interest in delving into his short pockets to invest heavily into the club with regards signing quality players, that will come with a big transfer fee and demand high wages. It's worked for other clubs but has also failed for other clubs. He is far too careful with his money and I assume (although I’ve never met the man to ask him) that he is not actually a fan of ITFC. I still feel ME is using the club as a tax offset in some way and has little interest in forking out £100m+ of his hard earned to truly strengthen the squad. It's his money after all, so as much as we don't like it, painfully, it's his decision. I see MM as a broken man. He knows the score completely and of course would love his team to perform better, for himself to perform better, attract the big crowds and challenge for the Premier League. But he’s lost his mojo, is struggling to work out how to improve things on the pitch and play attacking football, whilst also preserving his, ‘hard to beat’ team ethic. Sadly, this comes at the expense of actually pushing on hard, playing attractive football and throwing caution to the wind to actually win games. We are all only too aware that a number of home games have been shocking this season (and last), especially against teams that were struggling near the bottom of the league. BUT, outside of Portman Road and the ITFC fan fraternity, amongst his peers and even speaking to fans of other clubs, MM is readily praised and the club is commended for keeping faith with their manager. I’m a great believer in keeping faith with a manager when you know he and his team are trying to play attractive football and trying to win games, but not when the manager is setting the team up for draws (away from home certainly, bar a few exceptions this season) or not pushing to win games (settling/satisfied with a draw after 60+ mins at home). So, MM does display a certain amount of arrogance, because with such a limited budget and the fact Ipswich Town are quite a hard team to actually beat (thanks to some induvial player brilliance as much as anything else). He’ll know that he has to take a large part of the blame for performances, but will also firmly believe that he is not being given the tools to do the job and has a ‘sack me or back me’ attitude. He knows he and ME have a special arrangement. He is content (at the moment) to still take his wages, remain unbeaten in more games than not, and continue to receive praise from his peers and pundits on TV - if I hear the sentence, “..and he’s only spent £10,000” again, I will scream! His credibility and reputation outside of the Ipswich sanctum, remains remarkably untarnished. How long this marriage of convenience continues? Who knows. I genuinely do not think MM is enjoying his footballing life at the moment. He and ME will certainly come to some agreement in the Summer to either part ways, or carry on the status quo for the final season of his contract. As fans we will continue to endure a difficult period in the club’s history. To stay up this season is the only focus now. MM and ME may well see this as an achievement in itself, which would say it all...

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camblue added 15:02 - Mar 20 I know it will not bother Marcus Evans one iota, but he will not take the p**s out of me any longer. I will return when the Club respects the fans instead of treating them like dirt.( a supporter for 48 years ).
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