| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer 22:19 - Aug 31 with 1956 views | ringwoodblue |
assuming Woolfie goes tomorrow. He is Mr Ipswich for me, he’s been there throughout some very difficult and some really great times and I will be really sad if he goes. A very loyal servant to the club and a good player who hasn’t really been given much of a chance by McKenna in the last few seasons so can’t blame him for wanting to leave. Even if he goes out on loan, I can’t see him see him playing for Town again unless McKenna leaves.
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| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 22:27 - Aug 31 with 1800 views | itfc_bucks |
That being said, I feel we owe these guys and if he feels it's right for him to move on, I'd gladly let him.
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the bloke, but he's went the right to call time on his spell with us and should leave a hero rather than stay and become the pantomime villain. |  | | |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 22:31 - Aug 31 with 1785 views | _clive_baker_ |
Appreciate I’m very much in the minority but I’m nonplussed on an ‘emotional’ side, more disappointed from a football side as I rate him. Given he’s about the only academy graduate we’ve had in years breaking into the senior side I would’ve thought I would be more disappointed in that aspect, but what with him making no secret of the fact he wants to leave I’m OK with it tbh. Take the money, wish him well with the rest of his career and thankful for his contribution, but we crack on. [Post edited 31 Aug 22:33]
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| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 22:33 - Aug 31 with 1751 views | davblue |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 22:27 - Aug 31 by itfc_bucks |
That being said, I feel we owe these guys and if he feels it's right for him to move on, I'd gladly let him.
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the bloke, but he's went the right to call time on his spell with us and should leave a hero rather than stay and become the pantomime villain. |
I’ll always wonder looking back at this period if we should had made so many changes to the squad over the last 15 months. Maybe evolution rather than revolution would have been a better way to go.
Let’s face it our transfer business hasn’t been particularly successful so far for what it was designed to try and do. |  | | |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 22:37 - Aug 31 with 1693 views | jasondozzell |
Really sad it's come to this.
He's a Rolls Royce of a player. Really smooth and reads the game so well.
And a Chantry boy!
The saddest thing is that he loved working with KM. They seemed to have a great relationship. I do see things from Luke's point of view. He will feel he deserves more starts.
I will never forget the interview with him after we lost 3-2 to Swindon in early 2021 under Lambert. He was virtually in tears. An ncredible journey from then to where we ended up. |  | | |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 22:38 - Aug 31 with 1680 views | pointofblue |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 22:31 - Aug 31 by _clive_baker_ |
Appreciate I’m very much in the minority but I’m nonplussed on an ‘emotional’ side, more disappointed from a football side as I rate him. Given he’s about the only academy graduate we’ve had in years breaking into the senior side I would’ve thought I would be more disappointed in that aspect, but what with him making no secret of the fact he wants to leave I’m OK with it tbh. Take the money, wish him well with the rest of his career and thankful for his contribution, but we crack on. [Post edited 31 Aug 22:33]
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I don't think it helps that, to me, O'Shea is over-rated. He was partially at fault for the first and solely at fault for yesterday's goals and I think he limits the way we play out. If Woolfenden had put in a performance like that he'd have been torn to shreds by certain posters.
From an emotional point of view, on top of him being an academy graduate, and his rollercoaster time here, he's also the last player left from the pre-Gamechanger first team squad. So it will be an end of an era if... more likely when... he goes. | |
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| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 22:44 - Aug 31 with 1611 views | jasondozzell |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 22:37 - Aug 31 by jasondozzell |
Really sad it's come to this.
He's a Rolls Royce of a player. Really smooth and reads the game so well.
And a Chantry boy!
The saddest thing is that he loved working with KM. They seemed to have a great relationship. I do see things from Luke's point of view. He will feel he deserves more starts.
I will never forget the interview with him after we lost 3-2 to Swindon in early 2021 under Lambert. He was virtually in tears. An ncredible journey from then to where we ended up. |
Town team from that Swindon game with the emotional Woolfy interview afterwards:
Ipswich: Cornell, Chambers (c), Woolfenden, McGuinness, Ward, Dozzell, Huws (Downes 46), Jackson, Judge, Dobra (Lankester 78), Drinan (Norwood 46). Unused: Holy, Nsiala, Kenlock, Siziba, Lankester.
Just over 4.5 years ago... Mad really. [Post edited 31 Aug 22:45]
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| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 22:52 - Aug 31 with 1556 views | Nutkins_Return |
For me it is sad because he's from the Town and loves the club. Naturally gives us all and added affinity.
He is a really good footballing CB as well and who doesn't like that?!
If I'm taking my town specs off though he does have some shortcomings. He is not very quick and I think his relaxed nature is a strength and a weakness. This will be unpopular but whilst he is professional he maybe lacks elite mentality/drive - he needs the odd kick I think. (Best way I could put this is imagine Woolf with Cam Humphreys work ethic!!). I actually think it will do him the world of food to get out of his comfort zone in Ipswich and wouldn't mind it being a loan out.
Ultimately as other has said I want to see happy Woolfy playing football and not on our bench. I'm sorry but as much as I'd love him to be I do think our other CBs are stronger overall. [Post edited 31 Aug 22:53]
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| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 22:57 - Aug 31 with 1521 views | jasondozzell |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 22:52 - Aug 31 by Nutkins_Return |
For me it is sad because he's from the Town and loves the club. Naturally gives us all and added affinity.
He is a really good footballing CB as well and who doesn't like that?!
If I'm taking my town specs off though he does have some shortcomings. He is not very quick and I think his relaxed nature is a strength and a weakness. This will be unpopular but whilst he is professional he maybe lacks elite mentality/drive - he needs the odd kick I think. (Best way I could put this is imagine Woolf with Cam Humphreys work ethic!!). I actually think it will do him the world of food to get out of his comfort zone in Ipswich and wouldn't mind it being a loan out.
Ultimately as other has said I want to see happy Woolfy playing football and not on our bench. I'm sorry but as much as I'd love him to be I do think our other CBs are stronger overall. [Post edited 31 Aug 22:53]
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Agree that it's the huge connection with the club that makes it so sad. Having an Ipswich lad in the team was special..
Great CB.
Not sure I agree about the lacking elite mentality. You've only got to watch that Swindon interview (I can't find it now annoyingly!) to see how much it meant to him and how desperate he was for the team to make progress.
O'Shea is a very very good defender but Woolfy has different strengths and I think he's underrated. | | | |
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| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 23:06 - Aug 31 with 1449 views | reusersfreekicks |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 22:57 - Aug 31 by jasondozzell |
Agree that it's the huge connection with the club that makes it so sad. Having an Ipswich lad in the team was special..
Great CB.
Not sure I agree about the lacking elite mentality. You've only got to watch that Swindon interview (I can't find it now annoyingly!) to see how much it meant to him and how desperate he was for the team to make progress.
O'Shea is a very very good defender but Woolfy has different strengths and I think he's underrated. |
Agree 100% |  | | |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 23:25 - Aug 31 with 1386 views | Garv |
Wolfy by Garv 30 Aug 21:26Presumably we aren't desperate for the cash, as we were planning to spend to replace him. Why don't we consider a loan? Maybe we are?
If we don't go up this year, and assuming O'Shea's stock is still high, he will have interest and LW could force his way back in again.
If we do go up, we'll be back in the PL and should be setting up with a 5 at the back at times, which LW suits very much.
Writing is on the wall I guess, I just hope haven't things haven't gone sour, as it's another sign of this summer having been quite fractious.
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| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 23:32 - Aug 31 with 1351 views | Blue_Moses |
I can't believe he's not prepared to fight for his place given out current partnership, unless he's been told otherwise. Sad times | | | |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 00:54 - Sep 1 with 1220 views | Kentish_Tractor |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 22:52 - Aug 31 by Nutkins_Return |
For me it is sad because he's from the Town and loves the club. Naturally gives us all and added affinity.
He is a really good footballing CB as well and who doesn't like that?!
If I'm taking my town specs off though he does have some shortcomings. He is not very quick and I think his relaxed nature is a strength and a weakness. This will be unpopular but whilst he is professional he maybe lacks elite mentality/drive - he needs the odd kick I think. (Best way I could put this is imagine Woolf with Cam Humphreys work ethic!!). I actually think it will do him the world of food to get out of his comfort zone in Ipswich and wouldn't mind it being a loan out.
Ultimately as other has said I want to see happy Woolfy playing football and not on our bench. I'm sorry but as much as I'd love him to be I do think our other CBs are stronger overall. [Post edited 31 Aug 22:53]
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I think the fact that he is a home-grown player and a long-serving one makes a lot of fans ignore those shortcomings you've mentioned. If he wasn't an Ipswich lad I don't think as many fans would be as sentimental.
Yes he is our best CB on the ball by far. He also has a fairly good reading of the game, positions himself quite well, and wins a fair share of standing tackles and blocks when he's next to an opposition player. I often thought he'd almost be able to do a decent job as defensive midfield. I think he fed off Hladky quite well as both of them were capable with their feet, but of course with Palmer we can't do what we used to at the back. I actually don't think he's any worse than Greaves at the moment, but that's not particularly difficult givent current form. Greaves gets that LCB starting role though because he's left-footed.
But like Greaves he is really lacking physically. He is quite slow. And for somebody who is 6' 4" is also not very dominant in the air. I don't recall him winning many headers in the opposition area in set pieces. And in our own box he is often bullied by strong CFs and loses a fair share of headers - compared to someone like Burgess who was the same height but won everything in the air. Plus I think he isn't as quick to react as say DOS - Woolfie doesn't cut out many low crosses across the box if he has to move to block it, and you don't see him throwing his body on the line like our starting CBs do.
I wish him well and of course it's sad as you always want to see home-grown players play and succeed - but I am not going to be too devastated if he does leave. I just hope he finds a good club and gets game time there as he's too good to sit on a bench. | |
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| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 03:58 - Sep 1 with 1104 views | Kieran_Knows |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 22:31 - Aug 31 by _clive_baker_ |
Appreciate I’m very much in the minority but I’m nonplussed on an ‘emotional’ side, more disappointed from a football side as I rate him. Given he’s about the only academy graduate we’ve had in years breaking into the senior side I would’ve thought I would be more disappointed in that aspect, but what with him making no secret of the fact he wants to leave I’m OK with it tbh. Take the money, wish him well with the rest of his career and thankful for his contribution, but we crack on. [Post edited 31 Aug 22:33]
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Again, I’m probably in the minority here to, but here goes … whilst I absolutely adore all those who played a part in our back to back promotions, have always the felt the 2 to ever leave that would sting for me would be Leif Davis (pound for pound, what a signing) as we would really struggle to replace him - albeit you’d hope our recruitment team would be all over it - and Sam Morsy, simply because of the way he set the standards both on and off the pitch.
The rest have all been terrific servants, and wish them well, but don’t come close to me on the Davis/Morsy leaving scale. |  |
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| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 04:31 - Sep 1 with 1065 views | IPS_wich |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 22:57 - Aug 31 by jasondozzell |
Agree that it's the huge connection with the club that makes it so sad. Having an Ipswich lad in the team was special..
Great CB.
Not sure I agree about the lacking elite mentality. You've only got to watch that Swindon interview (I can't find it now annoyingly!) to see how much it meant to him and how desperate he was for the team to make progress.
O'Shea is a very very good defender but Woolfy has different strengths and I think he's underrated. |
There's no doubt that Woolfy is the best ball playing centre half and Burgess was hugely underrated in this area as well. However, both had the weakness of being relatively slow and this is the attribute that Mckenna clearly rates more highly which is why O'Shea and Greaves are/were ahead in the pecking order.
Given Mckenna likes the pivot to go through the Number 5 I can see what a ball playing CB isn't the priority - I just wish O'Shea (especially) recognised this and reduced the number of Hollywood passes he attempts. | | | |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 07:16 - Sep 1 with 789 views | SlimTeaBoy |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 22:37 - Aug 31 by jasondozzell |
Really sad it's come to this.
He's a Rolls Royce of a player. Really smooth and reads the game so well.
And a Chantry boy!
The saddest thing is that he loved working with KM. They seemed to have a great relationship. I do see things from Luke's point of view. He will feel he deserves more starts.
I will never forget the interview with him after we lost 3-2 to Swindon in early 2021 under Lambert. He was virtually in tears. An ncredible journey from then to where we ended up. |
Which premier league team do you think this “rolls Royce” of a player will end up ? | | | |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 08:36 - Sep 1 with 561 views | Scuzzer |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 04:31 - Sep 1 by IPS_wich |
There's no doubt that Woolfy is the best ball playing centre half and Burgess was hugely underrated in this area as well. However, both had the weakness of being relatively slow and this is the attribute that Mckenna clearly rates more highly which is why O'Shea and Greaves are/were ahead in the pecking order.
Given Mckenna likes the pivot to go through the Number 5 I can see what a ball playing CB isn't the priority - I just wish O'Shea (especially) recognised this and reduced the number of Hollywood passes he attempts. |
It's amazing that we are having quicker centre backs now...yet we concede so many poor goals from the opposition scoring on the break. Wolfy and Burgess positionally were better than the two we have now. And when did you ever see Burgess ever miss a header. |  |
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| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 08:48 - Sep 1 with 483 views | DJR |
Not just of the summer but of the last five or so years. |  | | |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 09:09 - Sep 1 with 403 views | SuperKieranMcKenna |
He did a great job getting us out of this division last time round. Not entirely convinced O’Shea and Greaves are significant upgrades (certainly not on the ball). Best ball playing defender I’ve seen in my time at the club, be sad if he goes but he’s part of club history now! | | | |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 09:18 - Sep 1 with 340 views | pointofblue |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 00:54 - Sep 1 by Kentish_Tractor |
I think the fact that he is a home-grown player and a long-serving one makes a lot of fans ignore those shortcomings you've mentioned. If he wasn't an Ipswich lad I don't think as many fans would be as sentimental.
Yes he is our best CB on the ball by far. He also has a fairly good reading of the game, positions himself quite well, and wins a fair share of standing tackles and blocks when he's next to an opposition player. I often thought he'd almost be able to do a decent job as defensive midfield. I think he fed off Hladky quite well as both of them were capable with their feet, but of course with Palmer we can't do what we used to at the back. I actually don't think he's any worse than Greaves at the moment, but that's not particularly difficult givent current form. Greaves gets that LCB starting role though because he's left-footed.
But like Greaves he is really lacking physically. He is quite slow. And for somebody who is 6' 4" is also not very dominant in the air. I don't recall him winning many headers in the opposition area in set pieces. And in our own box he is often bullied by strong CFs and loses a fair share of headers - compared to someone like Burgess who was the same height but won everything in the air. Plus I think he isn't as quick to react as say DOS - Woolfie doesn't cut out many low crosses across the box if he has to move to block it, and you don't see him throwing his body on the line like our starting CBs do.
I wish him well and of course it's sad as you always want to see home-grown players play and succeed - but I am not going to be too devastated if he does leave. I just hope he finds a good club and gets game time there as he's too good to sit on a bench. |
As said, I understand it odd how Woolfenden is criticised for lack of pace and physicality where were have been continually beaten by balls over the top this season and I can surely remember O'Shea winning a header on Saturday. His positioning was also woeful, and that's another area where I think Woolfenden is better. And that's no to mention his decision making for the second goal.
We'll see how much we get for him today, if he goes. But the more I see of O'Shea the more I think it's a case of overpaying for an upgrade... again. Just maybe not to the same level as we've overpaid elsewhere. | |
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| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 09:31 - Sep 1 with 272 views | Ryorry |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 22:33 - Aug 31 by davblue |
I’ll always wonder looking back at this period if we should had made so many changes to the squad over the last 15 months. Maybe evolution rather than revolution would have been a better way to go.
Let’s face it our transfer business hasn’t been particularly successful so far for what it was designed to try and do. |
I am 100% convinced we would have done better retaining Wolfy and Burgess as regular starters instead of their very expensive replacements. Playing players because they cost more seems a strange, illogical strategy to me. |  |
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| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 09:31 - Sep 1 with 278 views | bsw72 |
When players aren’t actually on the pitch, we tend to see them in a more forgiving light. Woolfenden, for a lot of fans is exactly like that, someone who’s been here through thick and thin, and who we’ve come to see as more than just a defender. We romanticise his journey, about how he’s grown with the club, worked hard, and truly cares about Ipswich. That connection makes it hard to imagine him leaving.
Another consideration is that when players are not playing we tend to remember the strong aspects of their game, the tackles, the crucial blocks, and the times he’s stepped up when it mattered most. We forget the weaknesses and mistakes, the missed tackles, misplaced passes and the general frustrations with his limitations.
A lot of fans see Woolfenden as a kind of "Mr Ipswich" just as you referenced. Although the claim that he has not been given chances is not exactly true, he has played in over 70% of matches under McKenna, so the "not had a chance" is a little overplayed. I will always tend to trust the judgement of a manager who sees a player day in and day out over nearly 4 years. The home fan bias does mean that Woolfenden tends to get a lot more forgiveness than the players we have brought in because he has no price tag hanging over him and came through the youth sides.
If he does leave, we can all hold onto that image of him as a loyal, homegrown player who’s part of the club’s family and contributed hugely to the recent success, but I think he has probably reached his peak ability and needs to play regularly, for his own career - holding on to him for emotional reasons is selfish, and does not improve the squad . . . |  | | |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 09:33 - Sep 1 with 264 views | pointofblue |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 09:31 - Sep 1 by bsw72 |
When players aren’t actually on the pitch, we tend to see them in a more forgiving light. Woolfenden, for a lot of fans is exactly like that, someone who’s been here through thick and thin, and who we’ve come to see as more than just a defender. We romanticise his journey, about how he’s grown with the club, worked hard, and truly cares about Ipswich. That connection makes it hard to imagine him leaving.
Another consideration is that when players are not playing we tend to remember the strong aspects of their game, the tackles, the crucial blocks, and the times he’s stepped up when it mattered most. We forget the weaknesses and mistakes, the missed tackles, misplaced passes and the general frustrations with his limitations.
A lot of fans see Woolfenden as a kind of "Mr Ipswich" just as you referenced. Although the claim that he has not been given chances is not exactly true, he has played in over 70% of matches under McKenna, so the "not had a chance" is a little overplayed. I will always tend to trust the judgement of a manager who sees a player day in and day out over nearly 4 years. The home fan bias does mean that Woolfenden tends to get a lot more forgiveness than the players we have brought in because he has no price tag hanging over him and came through the youth sides.
If he does leave, we can all hold onto that image of him as a loyal, homegrown player who’s part of the club’s family and contributed hugely to the recent success, but I think he has probably reached his peak ability and needs to play regularly, for his own career - holding on to him for emotional reasons is selfish, and does not improve the squad . . . |
O'Shea really benefits then. Because his issues and failings are generally ignored even when they're on full display.
Poor Greaves must wish he'd get the same treatment. | |
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| My favourite Wolfie moment on 09:43 - Sep 1 with 219 views | Dyland |
We were playing Hull and he stole a short pass right off the oppo's feet just outside the area, broke the lines and charged forward towards half way. Ballsy play, and really skillful. Whether he is capable of playing like that consistently is a matter for debate, but that kind of thing will be my abiding memory. |  |
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| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 09:57 - Sep 1 with 168 views | tetchris |
How many PL clubs are in for this “Rolls Royce” player? How many times has LW been capped at international level for any country?
If you take sentiment out of the equation he is steady league one/championship player. Not at any point in the last few seasons has there been any hype or transfer speculation about him from any PL clubs to suggest he is anything else.
Realistically I think £2-4 million, anything above that is a bonus. | | | |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 10:00 - Sep 1 with 149 views | pointofblue |
| For me, it will be the saddest departure this summer on 09:57 - Sep 1 by tetchris |
How many PL clubs are in for this “Rolls Royce” player? How many times has LW been capped at international level for any country?
If you take sentiment out of the equation he is steady league one/championship player. Not at any point in the last few seasons has there been any hype or transfer speculation about him from any PL clubs to suggest he is anything else.
Realistically I think £2-4 million, anything above that is a bonus. |
Do you honestly think O'Shea would have international caps if he wasn't Irish?
To say Woolfenden is a League One standard player is ridiculous. | |
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