 Five Points Off the Play-Offs and Mick Keeps Rolling AlongWritten by SpiritOfJohn on Tuesday, 12th Dec 2017 21:07 If Mick had gone for the win on Teesside and picked up another three points, I suspect that Marcus Evans would have been instructing his team of overworked lawyers to draw up a new contract for the incumbent manager. But McCarthy stuck to his well-trodden path and aimed to nullify the opposition, which ended in a predictable outcome, and so the elusive document remains a ghostly spectre on the horizon. There is no question that Mick has recruited well over the summer by adding Martyn Waghorn and Joe Garner to our ranks, and signing Emyr Huws and Jordan Spence on a permanent basis, but as Christmas comes around again we seem to be perennially just outside the play-offs, which is a groove we have been in so often under McCarthy. Nowadays, the extent of our ambition appears to be to squeak into sixth place on the last day of the season. If this is ‘living the dream’ for Marcus Evans, he should give Mick his new contract now and put an end to speculation. I have little doubt that we would go on in a similar vein for several years to come, just missing out most seasons and occasionally sneaking in to that coveted sixth spot. Mick has built up a team of 6/10 performers, who he can rely on to do what they are told week in week out. The fact that he considers some of them undroppable goes against the grain for many supporters, but in Mick’s defence they raised themselves up to ‘favourite’ status by their willingness to commit to the cause and carry out their manager’s instructions. These are good solid Championship players, and if you build a team around them nobody should be that surprised that we will continue to stay in the Championship for the foreseeable future. Here we are again, five points off the play-offs with Mick still rolling along. The conundrum is: should we stick with the devil we know or take a punt on a relatively unknown or unproven quantity, as that is all we would be likely to attract. Marcus Evans has had his fingers burnt before, so will he stick with a safe pair of hands or go for it? There are no prizes for guessing the likely answer. There is also a question mark over McCarthy’s own ambitions. Is just outside the top six good enough for him? For a man who is not shy of blowing his own trumpet this must be a disappointing return for the amount of time he has spent at Ipswich, even if he hasn’t had much cash to spend. This got me wondering about what Mick’s dreams for the future might look like, and as he wanted someone to ‘wax lyrical’ over his 1-0 at Derby I came up with the following to the tune of the old Abba song I Have A Dream: I have a dream Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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