| Managing expectations 16:55 - Jun 3 with 3043 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 22:17 - Jun 3 with 627 views | BlueForYou |
Just play way more positively, & get a couple of forwards in who can actually score goals on a regular basis. Then worry about other stuff. |  | | |
| Managing expectations on 23:26 - Jun 3 with 588 views | Marshalls_Mullet |
| Managing expectations on 17:14 - Jun 3 by muccletonjoe |
Unfortunately , twitter is full of supporters thinking McKenna is the best manager outside the Premier league and already talking of 'walking the league' |
More fool you for reading Twitter. |  |
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| Managing expectations on 23:39 - Jun 3 with 577 views | BigCommon |
Most seasons, our post January form last season would have made greater inroads on top 6.... You could see the wind in our sails, gradually diminishing, as those teams above us, just kept on winning. Wycombe and Sunderland gave us hope, with their blips.. But, in the end it needed insane points totals, to feature in top 6.... Had we been able to just continually nibble away at the deficit, perhaps , that momentum, and believe gained, would have kept that wind in our sails?.. I think, if we'd known 80 plus points would be required, most of us would have given up a bit earlier.. Anyway, it's gone now. KM had a good crack at it, with tools inherited. Some good tools, some that were fixed and sharpened, and some not right for the job... I'm confident, that most, if not all of our shortcomings will be identified and addressed, by a bright and intelligent manager.. He'll have more confidence with all the right tools.. At times, his post match pressers, last season, illustrated a frustration, of knowing what was needed, but not having the chance to make those changes before the seasons end... Far too much to do in a short January window. ...... I was taught, to never have expectations in life... Expectations lead to disappointments....Work hard and achieve, but never expect..
One thing I'm full of , is belief, going into next season.. I believe we can have a right good, realistic, go at promotion. Instead of , some previous season's, wishful thinking. Our manager is not a one trick pony. With the right tools, he'll manage games properly, I'm quite sure of it..
Huge, buzzing crowds at Portman Road. Wes Burns terrorising defenses. Morsy grunting the team forwards, that glare in his eye.. Walton, Woolfy and co, solid at the back.. There will be heroes out there. Some familiar, some new, as Burns was last season...
I'm genuinely excited for the coming season... My only request is that, those who pull on the shirt leave everything on the pitch... And please, please, please, can we win three or more games on the bounce next season? |  | | |
| Managing expectations on 23:42 - Jun 3 with 577 views | Garv |
Be interested to know if you kept a straight face when suggesting we went down with a majority of Championship players. |  |
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| Managing expectations on 00:01 - Jun 4 with 557 views | ParisBlue |
| Managing expectations on 20:14 - Jun 3 by 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. |
Yes. Top 2 is my expectation. Time to "walk the walk", no excuses his time. |  |
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| Managing expectations on 06:34 - Jun 4 with 527 views | muccletonjoe |
| Managing expectations on 23:26 - Jun 3 by Marshalls_Mullet |
More fool you for reading Twitter. |
That's very true 👠| | | |
| Managing expectations on 06:42 - Jun 4 with 525 views | muccletonjoe |
| Managing expectations on 23:42 - Jun 3 by Garv |
Be interested to know if you kept a straight face when suggesting we went down with a majority of Championship players. |
Well, Chambers, Skuse , Judge, Jackson, Dozzell , Downes etc were players we HAD in the championship , even if they were not that class. | | | |
| Managing expectations on 10:06 - Jun 4 with 489 views | ArnieM |
Sorry I think the tai me for “ managing “ OUR expectations has long since past. The very reasonable expectation is that this Club gets promoted this coming season. End of. The players , manager, club and Ashton HAVE to deliver. The time for 5am and platitudes is long gone ……… |  |
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| Managing expectations on 21:47 - Jun 4 with 414 views | Garv |
| Managing expectations on 06:42 - Jun 4 by muccletonjoe |
Well, Chambers, Skuse , Judge, Jackson, Dozzell , Downes etc were players we HAD in the championship , even if they were not that class. |
The way I saw our squad was;
Players on the way down - Skuse, Chambers, Sears, Judge
Young players yet to genuinely prove themselves or just not good enough - Downes, Dozzell, Kenlock
League One quality players - Edwards, Jackson, Nsiala, Donacien, Nolan
Promising but injury prone and/or lightweight - Bishop, Lankester
I was excited about the squad going into L1 but in hindsight... | |
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