Yesterday's result at the Macron against Bolton and the subsequent press conference with Mick McCarthy reminds me of the U2 song- Stuck in a Moment. Marcus Evans:

You've got to get yourself together
You've got stuck in a moment
And now you can't get out of it
Don't say that later will be better.....

Firstly I am not at all surprised by us only getting a draw at Bolton, my lack of surprise comes from five-plus years of watching my beloved Ipswich Town, managed by the no-longer-beloved Mick McCarthy.

For the first half of Mick's tenure everything went swimmingly, and most Town fans would admit that despite the scepticism of the quality of football, we were succeeding, we made progress, we were competitive in the Championship and winning more than we were losing.

The problem is the last two years or so have seen us no longer being competitive, no longer winning more than we we are losing and the fans have very much fallen out of love with going to watch Ipswich Town.

I don't think it is all Mick's fault by any stretch of the imagination, as the lack of investment in the right players at the right time has to be placed squarely at those running the club.

What is Mick's fault is the way he sets us up to play, the way he worries so much about how the other team is going to play, the way he plays players out of position, the way we struggle to win many away games and the way he continually shows contempt towards his own fans.

And this is where we are stuck in a moment, yesterday's comments from Mick clearly say to me he is off in the summer. He has been criticising fans a few times this season, yesterday collectively for an isolated comment that he thought fans would find the Gleeson signing "underwhelming".

Well, fans will always have opinions on new signings, but the manager should back himself when he signs a player and not go digging at fans based on that player having a decent 45 minutes.

The other comment about thinking we are still thinking we have Sir Bobby in charge is ridiculous. What is wrong with fans wanting us to go to Bolton to try and win the game? Aren't we supposed to be chasing the play-offs? Draws aren't enough, does he not realise it?

Sadly Mick is now playing the hard done by card, and we are facing another wasted season languishing in mid-table. Marcus is now stuck in a moment and he can't get out of it, he won't sack Mick as he knows he's doing a reasonable but unspectacular job, and Mick won't resign as he is too stubborn.

The fans can't enjoy watching their team as we are stuck in mid-table, and the players are stuck in limbo with contract negotiations as they know a new man is probably coming in the summer to rebuild the team. If Mick left now the new man would have very little time to change anything.

There is no doubting that Mick can 'do a job on a tight budget' and there is no doubting that some of his signings, be it free transfers or small fees have been terrific bits of business, but for every Martyn Waghorn there's a Frank Nouble or a Leon Best.

Marcus, you gotta stand up straight, carry your own weight because Mick is going nowhere... until the end of the season!

Roll on the summer, and I hope I hope we can say later will be better. The next managerial appointment is huge for the future of our great club. COYB.

Daleyitfc added 12:30 - Jan 21 Quite right.
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carlisleaway added 13:11 - Jan 21 How very true on all aspects, good blog
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canveyblue added 13:15 - Jan 21 Good blog.
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ChrisFelix added 13:17 - Jan 21 Very very true
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Pessimistic added 16:35 - Jan 21 I cannot fault this blog. Well said.
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liam88 added 21:22 - Jan 21 Yup
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Edmundo added 14:00 - Jan 22 I think we all agree this is a top-down issue, but ME can't sell (arguably till we go up), IM is a buffoon, and MM is exactly as you have said. I think I am not alone in thinking though that I'm quite happy to go for the "devil we don't" as soon as we get to 51 points. Can the next blog be about the huge crossroads we face this summer?
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rfretwell added 17:33 - Jan 22 Interesting that you still harp on about last season when admittedly we did lose alot more matches than usually. However this seasons results are much better and no way can anyone say we are not competitive. So lets have it right and not just trot out lazy unfactual statements to knock the management with.
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bluesman added 23:15 - Jan 22 These comments are based on the almost certainly ludicrous assumption that ‘Marcus’ wishes to invest more in our club than he currently does. What if there is no money to rebuild the team? What if, in fact, in Mr Evans’ eyes, that is exactly what Mick has been doing, at exactly the level he wants him to do it? We are hardly going to find a manager who is better at this tightfisted brand of shoestring management are we? If fortune had favoured us a little more with injuries we’d be in the top six at the moment anyway, and may yet get there. Mick McCarthy is hugely underrated by the staggeringly large number of fans who seem to inhabit a financial fantasy where our fanatical backer is being deterred from throwing huge sums of money at us by His current manager’s lack of reckless adventure.

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Stretchyboy added 12:48 - Jan 23 I'm getting a tad bored of the same old "criticisms" every week. Oh Marcus doesn't invest, oh Mick plays for draws, oh we should play the Ipswich way etcetera etcetera etcetera. Well, there is no "Ipswich way" - we played good football for about ten years! Football back in the day was different, there was less pressure to get promoted, there was millions a nd millions of pounds of an owners money riding on promotion. The team went out, played football and had fun doing so. These mega rich owners have in my opinion killed the game. They come here, chuck a hundred million or so into a club, and expect to get promoted/win the league/ win the champions league - well, only 3 clubs per season can get promoted, so some teams have got to lose out. Lets face it, we are now just a mid table championship club living on past glories. There are many other clubs in similar positions, teams that are stuck in no mans land. FFS it's been nearly 40 years since we won anything, or were even a top English club.

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BlueandTruesince82 added 22:04 - Jan 23 God how I hate U2
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hyperbrit added 17:53 - Feb 3 ...funnily enough the name of this website says it all. I told someone what TWTD meant and he laughed out loud saying you've gotta be kidding. Stuck in the past!!
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hyperbrit added 19:09 - Feb 4 ...back in the day when football was a sport not a business small towns like Ipswich had a chance but those days are gone. Even Evans is out of his league here...a bit player really!!
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wayway added 21:02 - Mar 18 Small town clubs like Leicester???
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