| Managing expectations 16:55 - Jun 3 with 3045 views | muccletonjoe |
This tale all starts in the summer of 2018, mick mcCarthy a manager who , let's face it , was forced to perform on a shoestring so tight it twanged, had certainly gone from hero to zero with the vast majority of supporters and finally Marcus Evans decided for better or worse , it was time for change.
Enter Paul Hurst, who came highly recommended from a play off defeat in league one with Shrewsbury. Expectations were high, despite losing our strike force before we kicked a ball. After 15 games in charge, with the club rooted in the relegation zone and rumours rife of dressing room disruption, Hurst was unceremoniously given the bullet.
Enter Paul Lambert, a manager who created quite a reputation with back to back promotions for you know who. Though he had long since parted company with Ian Culverhouse , the architect of that successful spell. He had since managed in premier league with Aston villa and Blackburn.
Despite doing nothing to change the course of a relegation season he was cheered to the rafters on our final home game in the championship and Hurst bore the brunt of the blame for said comeuppance.
Two and half years later Paul Lambert was a blue no longer , despite holding onto the majority of championship players , itfc had shown no sign of making the top 2 ala Wigan and Rotherham.
So, in March 2021 , with the club in 8th , 2 points from the play offs , Evans makes one last managerial appointment before handing over the ownership reigns and Enter Paul Cook , who far from closing the gap to the top 6 , manages to scrape into 11th , but the blame was squarely laid at Lambert's door, his team , his system etc had cost us. Which ultimately meant , with new American owners, the whole kit and caboodle was virtually ripped up and a new team was bought and borrowed from the championship and the cream of league one. Though the sharp eyed will have noted Leam Richardson did not follow his ex boss into portman road.
9 months and 44 games later , after an enormous weight of expectation to the 2021-22 season , the club found itself exploring the lower depths of league one for the first 4 months of the season and Cook paid the ultimate price of those high hopes by being replaced by Kieron Mckenna, the club sitting in 11th , 10 points from the play offs.
Despite some impressive results and displays, the final standings show itfc finishing in 11th , precisely the same as the previous season, 13 points from the play offs. This was of course blamed on Paul Cook.
....and so we now go into yet another season , installed as favourites for league one (?wtf) with another weight of expectation bearing down on our rookie manager.
Not saying the same thing will happen yet again , but you would have thought we'd have learnt how to manage expectations by now.
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| Managing expectations on 17:05 - Jun 3 with 2349 views | Marshalls_Mullet |
I don't think most ITFC fans have many expectations left. |  |
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| Managing expectations on 17:05 - Jun 3 with 2346 views | Darth_Koont |
Agree that we need to temper and manage expectations better.
Last year showed there were half-a-dozen teams that were better than us even with the poor start taken into account. Then even when McKenna made us much tougher to break down and we started collecting clean sheets, our inability to get the attack firing meant we were ultimately not going to close the gap on the play-offs.
At least now McKenna has the benefit of time with the squad and a summer to get things right. But turning us into a team that will keep up with the automatic promotion race can’t be expected. A few things still need to go the right way for that to happen.
If it was all as simple as our aims and financial backing then we’d have been in the Prem league by 2012, not almost falling out of the Championship. |  |
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| Managing expectations on 17:11 - Jun 3 with 2334 views | jayessess |
The club doesn't decide who the bookies' favourite is.
The club doesn't get to decide what the supporters' expectations are.
Expectations are part of the context that the club has to work in. If we've got people who can't work well with those expectations, they are at the wrong club. |  |
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| Managing expectations on 17:14 - Jun 3 with 2330 views | muccletonjoe |
| Managing expectations on 17:05 - Jun 3 by Marshalls_Mullet |
I don't think most ITFC fans have many expectations left. |
Unfortunately , twitter is full of supporters thinking McKenna is the best manager outside the Premier league and already talking of 'walking the league' | | | |
| Managing expectations on 17:16 - Jun 3 with 2316 views | muccletonjoe |
| Managing expectations on 17:11 - Jun 3 by jayessess |
The club doesn't decide who the bookies' favourite is.
The club doesn't get to decide what the supporters' expectations are.
Expectations are part of the context that the club has to work in. If we've got people who can't work well with those expectations, they are at the wrong club. |
True , but it creates pressure , which possibly other teams don't have. | | | |
| Managing expectations on 17:19 - Jun 3 with 2301 views | Epiphone |
My expectations haven’t changed over the last Season but my enjoyment of the football at Portman Road certainly has! |  | | |
| Managing expectations on 17:22 - Jun 3 with 2276 views | FrimleyBlue |
The expectation is that a club of our size, With our finances should be getting promoted to the championship at the bare minimum. Anything less is a continued failure. And I stick by a previous post that both KM and Ashton have 12 months to get us promoted otherwise questions of both will rightly take place between the owners and the 3 lions.
Of course this is just my opinion. But any other club and any other manager and ceo would bite their arms off for what town have.
The worry of mine is if we don't, how long will the pension pot continue to fund a league 1 side. |  |
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| Managing expectations on 17:24 - Jun 3 with 2281 views | jayessess |
| Managing expectations on 17:16 - Jun 3 by muccletonjoe |
True , but it creates pressure , which possibly other teams don't have. |
Oh no! Pressure! At a football club! | |
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| Managing expectations on 17:30 - Jun 3 with 2263 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
For a club of our stature at this level, I expect promotion. As do fans of Portsmouth, Charlton, Bolton, Barnsley, Derby, Sheffield Wednesday and Peterborough. MK Dons, Oxford, Plymouth and one or two others could easily be in the mix too. Therein is our problem. We need to be better than a lot of other clubs (as well as the likes of Cheltenham, Cambridge etc). |  |
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| Managing expectations on 17:36 - Jun 3 with 2235 views | muccletonjoe |
| Managing expectations on 17:30 - Jun 3 by Nthsuffolkblue |
For a club of our stature at this level, I expect promotion. As do fans of Portsmouth, Charlton, Bolton, Barnsley, Derby, Sheffield Wednesday and Peterborough. MK Dons, Oxford, Plymouth and one or two others could easily be in the mix too. Therein is our problem. We need to be better than a lot of other clubs (as well as the likes of Cheltenham, Cambridge etc). |
Both Cheltenham and especially Cambridge managed to knock us out of our stride by time wasting, niggly fouls, winding up players. which is something we really must learn to live with in this league. | | | |
| Managing expectations on 17:40 - Jun 3 with 2229 views | jayessess |
| Managing expectations on 17:30 - Jun 3 by Nthsuffolkblue |
For a club of our stature at this level, I expect promotion. As do fans of Portsmouth, Charlton, Bolton, Barnsley, Derby, Sheffield Wednesday and Peterborough. MK Dons, Oxford, Plymouth and one or two others could easily be in the mix too. Therein is our problem. We need to be better than a lot of other clubs (as well as the likes of Cheltenham, Cambridge etc). |
In reality, every season in League One we've had one of the top 3 or 4 budgets in the division. The expectations people have of our club are realistic. What's out of whack is the level of achievement. There's no other club with our resources that's finished mid-table in League One three years on the trot.
Frankly the club should be grateful its fanbase still has hopes and expectations. If we didn't they certainly wouldn't be looking at 16,000 season tickets sold. If we accommodated ourselves to the actual level of performance and gave up hope we'd be at 4-figure attendances by now. [Post edited 3 Jun 2022 17:40]
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| Managing expectations on 17:44 - Jun 3 with 2204 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
| Managing expectations on 17:40 - Jun 3 by jayessess |
In reality, every season in League One we've had one of the top 3 or 4 budgets in the division. The expectations people have of our club are realistic. What's out of whack is the level of achievement. There's no other club with our resources that's finished mid-table in League One three years on the trot.
Frankly the club should be grateful its fanbase still has hopes and expectations. If we didn't they certainly wouldn't be looking at 16,000 season tickets sold. If we accommodated ourselves to the actual level of performance and gave up hope we'd be at 4-figure attendances by now. [Post edited 3 Jun 2022 17:40]
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Portsmouth? Or is their budget significantly smaller? | |
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| Managing expectations on 17:50 - Jun 3 with 2187 views | jayessess |
| Managing expectations on 17:44 - Jun 3 by Nthsuffolkblue |
Portsmouth? Or is their budget significantly smaller? |
Budget significantly smaller, plus they made the play-offs in 2 of the last 4 seasons. | |
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| Managing expectations on 18:00 - Jun 3 with 2138 views | J2BLUE |
A very long post to basically say nothing is guaranteed. We know that. Plenty of cause for optimism though.
Town to win the title was the most backed bet on Oddschecker the other day which is slightly strange at this stage. |  |
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| Managing expectations on 18:08 - Jun 3 with 2111 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
| Managing expectations on 17:50 - Jun 3 by jayessess |
Budget significantly smaller, plus they made the play-offs in 2 of the last 4 seasons. |
Didn't they also get relegated to League 2 not all that long ago? It seems they have been down here a lot longer than us. I can't imagine their fans look at them as having been more successful than us. Just looked and see they spent 4 seasons in League 2 before this is now their 6th consecutive one at this level. They have spent 11 seasons below Championship level. OK they may have made the play-offs in 2 of their last 5 seasons but that seems well short of where their fans would expect. | |
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| Managing expectations on 18:10 - Jun 3 with 2103 views | J2BLUE |
| Managing expectations on 18:08 - Jun 3 by Nthsuffolkblue |
Didn't they also get relegated to League 2 not all that long ago? It seems they have been down here a lot longer than us. I can't imagine their fans look at them as having been more successful than us. Just looked and see they spent 4 seasons in League 2 before this is now their 6th consecutive one at this level. They have spent 11 seasons below Championship level. OK they may have made the play-offs in 2 of their last 5 seasons but that seems well short of where their fans would expect. |
Their stadium takes a seven figure amount to maintain each year as well.
I expect them to be better this season and challenge for sixth but doubt they will challenge the automatic places. | |
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| Managing expectations on 18:14 - Jun 3 with 2091 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
| Managing expectations on 18:10 - Jun 3 by J2BLUE |
Their stadium takes a seven figure amount to maintain each year as well.
I expect them to be better this season and challenge for sixth but doubt they will challenge the automatic places. |
Would that be how most opposition fans are likely to see us too?
I don't care too much how good any of the other sides are in this division as long as we end up being better (in terms of points as well as performances) than all of them. | |
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| Managing expectations on 18:17 - Jun 3 with 2077 views | J2BLUE |
| Managing expectations on 18:14 - Jun 3 by Nthsuffolkblue |
Would that be how most opposition fans are likely to see us too?
I don't care too much how good any of the other sides are in this division as long as we end up being better (in terms of points as well as performances) than all of them. |
I think that would be a fair assessment of us. The one big difference which might make people think we're more likely to challenge is the budget. | |
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| Managing expectations on 18:24 - Jun 3 with 2051 views | jayessess |
| Managing expectations on 18:08 - Jun 3 by Nthsuffolkblue |
Didn't they also get relegated to League 2 not all that long ago? It seems they have been down here a lot longer than us. I can't imagine their fans look at them as having been more successful than us. Just looked and see they spent 4 seasons in League 2 before this is now their 6th consecutive one at this level. They have spent 11 seasons below Championship level. OK they may have made the play-offs in 2 of their last 5 seasons but that seems well short of where their fans would expect. |
Their relegation in 2012-13 was because of they collapsed financially. For sheer on-pitch under-achievement relative to budget, I'd say we've got them beat (not least because they've finished above us on a smaller budget 3 years in a row!). | |
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| Managing expectations on 18:24 - Jun 3 with 2051 views | Illinoisblue |
| Managing expectations on 17:40 - Jun 3 by jayessess |
In reality, every season in League One we've had one of the top 3 or 4 budgets in the division. The expectations people have of our club are realistic. What's out of whack is the level of achievement. There's no other club with our resources that's finished mid-table in League One three years on the trot.
Frankly the club should be grateful its fanbase still has hopes and expectations. If we didn't they certainly wouldn't be looking at 16,000 season tickets sold. If we accommodated ourselves to the actual level of performance and gave up hope we'd be at 4-figure attendances by now. [Post edited 3 Jun 2022 17:40]
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Exactly this. We’ve been massively let down year after year. |  |
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| Managing expectations on 18:33 - Jun 3 with 2020 views | AlanG296 |
| Managing expectations on 17:30 - Jun 3 by Nthsuffolkblue |
For a club of our stature at this level, I expect promotion. As do fans of Portsmouth, Charlton, Bolton, Barnsley, Derby, Sheffield Wednesday and Peterborough. MK Dons, Oxford, Plymouth and one or two others could easily be in the mix too. Therein is our problem. We need to be better than a lot of other clubs (as well as the likes of Cheltenham, Cambridge etc). |
KM must be aspiring for us to be better than 23 other clubs. If he isn't then he isn't the manager many seem to think he is/will become. |  | | |
| Managing expectations on 18:34 - Jun 3 with 2017 views | Swansea_Blue |
| Managing expectations on 17:05 - Jun 3 by Marshalls_Mullet |
I don't think most ITFC fans have many expectations left. |
I’ve abandoned any. I’m happy now if some of the football puts a smile on my face, and we did that a few times this season. We’ll probably be up there in the mix if McK can replicate what he did last season, but that’s to some extent going to depend on the remaining transfers in and out. |  |
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| Managing expectations on 19:19 - Jun 3 with 1912 views | patrickswell |
| Managing expectations on 18:24 - Jun 3 by Illinoisblue |
Exactly this. We’ve been massively let down year after year. |
I think back to something Stuart Watson wrote before the start of last season about the need for the club to actually start living up to expectations. He reeled off some of the anticipations to anti climaxes since we were relegated from the Premier League in 2002.
2002/03 - Target 100 points/100 goals
2008/09 - Operation Premiership
2009/10 - Roy Keane’s revolution
2015/16 - Play-off pain to promotion joy
2018/19 - Paul Hurst and #ANewEra
2019/20 - A League One Tour
2021/22 - It’s a Gamechanger
All of them botched to variously damaging degrees. Feelgood factors that mostly drained away by the time the clocks went back and had us hoping for better next time once they went forward.
McKenna has at least given us tangible evidence that he knows what he’s doing and that we could finally break the uncharted territory of a top 6 finish in League One next season. Just writing that sentence shows what an indictment the lowering of standards/expectations foisted on us over the years have been. The club finally feels as though it’s getting its act together. [Post edited 3 Jun 2022 19:20]
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| Managing expectations on 19:59 - Jun 3 with 1818 views | Steve_M |
| Managing expectations on 19:19 - Jun 3 by patrickswell |
I think back to something Stuart Watson wrote before the start of last season about the need for the club to actually start living up to expectations. He reeled off some of the anticipations to anti climaxes since we were relegated from the Premier League in 2002.
2002/03 - Target 100 points/100 goals
2008/09 - Operation Premiership
2009/10 - Roy Keane’s revolution
2015/16 - Play-off pain to promotion joy
2018/19 - Paul Hurst and #ANewEra
2019/20 - A League One Tour
2021/22 - It’s a Gamechanger
All of them botched to variously damaging degrees. Feelgood factors that mostly drained away by the time the clocks went back and had us hoping for better next time once they went forward.
McKenna has at least given us tangible evidence that he knows what he’s doing and that we could finally break the uncharted territory of a top 6 finish in League One next season. Just writing that sentence shows what an indictment the lowering of standards/expectations foisted on us over the years have been. The club finally feels as though it’s getting its act together. [Post edited 3 Jun 2022 19:20]
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It’s really concerning how many Town fans seem happy with mediocrity; if Evans was still here some would be cheering us all the way to the National League it seems.
The only time we’ve achieved what we needed to at the end of a season since 2001 was staying up in 2012-13. Play-off failures and near misses (mainly 07-08) add another four seasons to that modest total. Five out of 21 seasons; it’s crap and I’m fed up of it. |  |
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| Managing expectations on 20:14 - Jun 3 with 1794 views | Mullet |
We should never have been relegated, we certainly shouldn't have clapped it either.
The pressure will and should be on McKenna and by extension Ashton etc. Every game at this level is an insult to the club frankly. Finding ourselves down here even for the "tour" was humiliating, but now, it's unacceptable.
If anything expectations haven't been high enough after the way people got so burnt by McCarthy, the hypocrisy was prominent to say the least. If there isn't a renewed expectation that promotion then that's not good enough frankly.
The difference is that Cook took over from a decent enough position and performed badly. This was excused and turned out to be utterly wrong too, it was definitely his fault we didn't go up this season. But if it happens again, it will be McKenna's.
Rather than worrying about who and when blame is apportioned we should be focusing on how we roar the team into winning positions 40+ times next season. |  |
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