| In short, we have forgotten what success looks and feels like. 08:15 - Mar 4 with 717 views | homer_123 |
Every single fiber of the Club feels jaded, tired and bereft of energy.
We no longer have a winning mentality. Of the players we have at the Club who, truly, has tasted and knows what success is like? You could argue Norwood from last season but he joined a Club that feels so stuck on a downward spiral that we suck the life out of players.
I don't believe it is the weight of expectation that players are struggling to handle at all - as I think we, the fans, have also lost belief that we can be successful.
Failure to gain promotion this season would merely further ingrain and possibly finalise what we've become, a shadow and husk of a once great little club. A club that produced good players and played football the right way.
On reflection I do not believe for one minute that Evans, Lambert, the players or anyone at the Club or us fans want us to fail - the lads don't go on the pitch with the intention of making mistakes or playing poorly but we have such a malaise at the club, such a downtrodden feel that permeates through every single aspect from the dire match day experience (food and drink) through to what we see on the pitch, that it drags people down.
I utterly understand the, sometimes, incandescent rage and frustration that people feel. Although even that appears to be ebbing away with more fans merely resigned to the fact that this is now Ipswich Town FC. For many fans and potential fans, this is all they have ever known.
Treading water was something we did under Mick, we are now doggy paddling our way to a slow watery grave.
What to do? Evans isn't going anywhere, who might buy us anyway? Lambert has a contract and we cannot afford wholesale changes on the personnel front. So, what CAN we change, what is within our remit as a club and as fans to actually drive some positive change.
Clarity - simple, clear clarity. What is the Club going to achieve, what is that timescale and broadly, how are we going to do that?
For all the talk of a 5 year plan - it wasn't clear, it wasn't something people truly got behind and it was never, ever clear how it was to be implemented.
Evans needs to set an extremely clear, unfettered, uncluttered aim for the Club. Detail down the 'what' we are to achieve. Lambert then needs to clarify the 'how' - as best he can with the resources Evans makes available (which, to be fair, has been decent this season). We then need to properly stick to it. No if's - no but's.
If the aim is promotion to the Championship within 3 seasons, with Evans bankrolling the Club and ensuring we have a top 6 budget, then Lambert (and we) are clear what's what. Lambert then needs to detail internally and externally how's he's going to achieve that - it maybe he feels that a balance of youth and experience is the best approach - it maybe he decides he needs to recruit more senior players to do it or he may decide he needs to use the loan system - but whatever it is - he needs to be clear and then stick to it.
At the moment, we are directionless and rudderless. We are a Club in freefall and without a simple, clear objective that the Club can get behind and believe in - we won't go forward.
Good leaders and good managers have a clarity of purpose and the belief and conviction to deliver. They communicate clearly what they are trying to achieve, they make it easy to understand for each team member to understand their role and how they contribute to the whole to deliver what is needed, they nurture grow and performance manage.
Clarity and purpose Town, clarity and purpose.
Evans is going nowhere and Lambert is unlikely to - so for us to move forward, they have to define what this Club is going to look like in the next 18 to 36 months and they need the conviction and backbone to deliver it. Recruit against that - ensure everyone is bought in and believe. [Post edited 4 Mar 2020 9:07]
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| In short, we have forgotten what success looks like and feel like. on 09:08 - Mar 4 with 632 views | Steve_M |
Yes, I was going to write something later on today on a similar theme. Despite a few shouts and boos the atmosphere last night was mainly one of resignation. There is a sense that this is just where we are now, the Premier League - a realistic target only five years ago - now as far away as the Champions League for all the likelihood of us getting close to it. Establishing ourselves as a mid-table Championship club again seems a realistic target for the next five years but by no means a certainty.
That said, I think that was the case - albeit at a higher level - when Jewell was going through the motions in 2012. The right manager, a successful end to that season and the club turned around and improved year-on-year so it can change for the better quickly too.
My view at the stat of the season was that failing to go up first time would see us spend several years in the division. I'm not quite so certain of that now, partly because a proper structure and way of playing - with some good players - is effective in this division but if Lambert has failed to implement that after this long then it's a bit late for him to do so now.
He might still be here at the start of the season but I think now that the prospect of a big fall in season ticket sales and the likelihood of fan anger turning on Evans will see Lambert go soon. |  |
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| In short, we have forgotten what success looks and feels like. on 09:09 - Mar 4 with 620 views | Herbivore |
It's not going to happen. What you're asking is beyond both Evans and Lambert. Neither have any goodwill in the bank at this point either and I can see attendances going off a cliff if Lambert is still here for next season. |  |
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| In short, we have forgotten what success looks and feels like. on 09:28 - Mar 4 with 589 views | homer_123 |
| In short, we have forgotten what success looks and feels like. on 09:09 - Mar 4 by Herbivore |
It's not going to happen. What you're asking is beyond both Evans and Lambert. Neither have any goodwill in the bank at this point either and I can see attendances going off a cliff if Lambert is still here for next season. |
Well, then we continue down the road we are on. | |
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| In short, we have forgotten what success looks like and feel like. on 09:31 - Mar 4 with 580 views | homer_123 |
| In short, we have forgotten what success looks like and feel like. on 09:08 - Mar 4 by Steve_M |
Yes, I was going to write something later on today on a similar theme. Despite a few shouts and boos the atmosphere last night was mainly one of resignation. There is a sense that this is just where we are now, the Premier League - a realistic target only five years ago - now as far away as the Champions League for all the likelihood of us getting close to it. Establishing ourselves as a mid-table Championship club again seems a realistic target for the next five years but by no means a certainty.
That said, I think that was the case - albeit at a higher level - when Jewell was going through the motions in 2012. The right manager, a successful end to that season and the club turned around and improved year-on-year so it can change for the better quickly too.
My view at the stat of the season was that failing to go up first time would see us spend several years in the division. I'm not quite so certain of that now, partly because a proper structure and way of playing - with some good players - is effective in this division but if Lambert has failed to implement that after this long then it's a bit late for him to do so now.
He might still be here at the start of the season but I think now that the prospect of a big fall in season ticket sales and the likelihood of fan anger turning on Evans will see Lambert go soon. |
The direction and feeling of the club can, of course, be changed.
I think your third paragraph is correct in that with a modicum of clarity, structure and a defined approach of playing - this should have the desired effect.
I also agree that it could well be too late for Lambert. However, there appears to be no signs that anything will change in respect of the owner or manager, for now anyway. | |
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