| Mixed feelings about the new training ground 19:34 - Oct 8 with 2084 views | jasondozzell |
Woah. Woah. Woah. I know. I know. You're incredulous and probably pissed off. How could anyone could question what is undoubtedly a world class facility, one that is going to play a huge role in the future of the club and allow us to push on to cement our place in the Premier League, and then see Town back in Europe and competing for silverware?! And you're right. Remember the Evans years of crumbling infrastructure? Dyer having to lend the club medical equipment which we didn't have in order to try and in order to try and keep Didzy (Mick's one player with creativity quota) fit? Tree growing out of Churchman's roof? And so on and on and on...Dai Cornell dangling a shirt outside a shabby looking Dome it isn't.
It's exciting. The club is transformed. It's mad to think what has happened under Gamechanger and it is brilliant to see us moving back to where we belong - the top table of British and European football. The ambition we craved for nearly twenty years has returned.
So why the slight unease alongside the excitement?
I dunno. Maybe because the club's promotion of it happened to coincide with the City story which is the story of present day football in this country. The common denominator? Money, its power and its increasing insistence on itself as the real game, the real spectacle - not the actual football played on the ('world class, stitched, elite') pitches.
First transfers, now real estate, have become part of the entertainment complex for fans, a 'loadsa money' type braggadocio encouraged by those at the top who see how it sells. Spreadsheet versus spreadsheet.
Even the decor was somehow a bit depressing. A sort of corporate version of luxury. Kitchen islands eat your heart out...At what point did all this stuff become venerated above all else?
Digital screens of the players. Nice touch. Although sorry Cedric, you know you're gonna be deleted pretty soon with the way things are going. No hard feelings eh? I suddenly found myself longing for the long corridor at Portman road with the framed newspaper clippings and team photos before Ashton had them tidied away. Hopefully for the museum (family ticket just £45!) but...
I'll put aside my own personal grievance with Ashton. Undoubtedly a canny operator, but an ego on legs and a true convert to the Linkedin corporate bullshit that masquerades as values and philosophy these days. A man continually giddy with what he's got who at the moment is the zeitgeist. The Farage stuff no accident really. A petit bourgeois take over. It's an Ashton world now.
It's of course utterly perverse of me to sound any doubts after literally decades of desperately hoping for something, anything to happen. Praying that each false dawn was actually the beginning of a new era. Surely we're going to be unstoppable now we've got over the hill versions of David Healy/Duke Ellington/Nigel Reo-Coker in the door... Surely?! A quiet day at Portman Road on deadline day but next season, next season...
But the other news this week, of KM's first interview post departure, was somehow more meaningful than the training ground reveal. The detail that he was still living in the town, his affection for the area, the special double promotion team... It's ironic to invoke his name of course as he helped to design this spaceship and would have approved of the sports science wonderland. But KM has something else alongside the cutting edge modern approach - a soul. And that was arguably more important than anything else in his success with us.
His point that the training ground and the spend this summer meant that the club was moving on to another era rang true. This is a different ITFC now to the one KM found and restored. And it's going to be exciting. Town are firmly back in the big time.
Maybe we have to learn to live with this dual feeling of excitement and unease. Maybe it's just me. Who knows where we're headed.
But in the year 2065, when they knock down the training ground ('piss analysis?! How backward!') to make way for the next imagined future, it'll be KM and his ilk that are remembered and not the bricks. |  | | |  |
| On a slightly different note on 21:30 - Oct 8 with 357 views | Basuco |
| On a slightly different note on 21:29 - Oct 8 by jasondozzell |
I'm going there for a beer pre game if that helps 😅😅😎 |
That's good enough for me, hopefully we will get there this time. Cheers. |  | | |
| Mixed feelings about the new training ground on 21:33 - Oct 8 with 354 views | jasondozzell |
| Mixed feelings about the new training ground on 21:14 - Oct 8 by SitfcB |
Take comfort in the fact that KM had a hand in designing and planning it all out.
It’s a shame he’s not here to enjoy it but there we are. |
You're right.
KM 's legacy is everywhere you look in the club. | | | |
| On a slightly different note on 21:34 - Oct 8 with 353 views | Dubtractor |
| On a slightly different note on 21:29 - Oct 8 by jasondozzell |
I'm going there for a beer pre game if that helps 😅😅😎 |
Come and introduce yourself Dozzers.
I'm the one with a big beard and shaved head (sometimes have a trucker hat on though). |  |
| |
| Mixed feelings about the new training ground on 21:35 - Oct 8 with 353 views | Guthrum |
| Mixed feelings about the new training ground on 21:08 - Oct 8 by jasondozzell |
Very reaoned response. And a fair one.
You're right. Times have changed.
I don't doubt Ashton's passion. I'm sure there's a good bloke in there. But I think he comes first more than people might realise. And he answers to the Americans. Not too you or me.
I always thought the dynamic where he wanted players and KM was telling him no was a bit revealing. |
I prefer it that way round to the Manager asking for players and the Chief Exec saying no. |  |
| |
| On a slightly different note on 21:50 - Oct 8 with 311 views | jasondozzell |
| On a slightly different note on 21:34 - Oct 8 by Dubtractor |
Come and introduce yourself Dozzers.
I'm the one with a big beard and shaved head (sometimes have a trucker hat on though). |
I will do!
Cheers Dub 💙 | | | |
| Mixed feelings about the new training ground on 22:10 - Oct 8 with 288 views | LuciBlue |
I'll put aside* my own personal grievance with Ashton. Undoubtedly a canny operator, but an ego on legs and a true convert to the Linkedin corporate bullshit that masquerades as values and philosophy these days. A man continually giddy with what he's got who at the moment is the zeitgeist. The Farage stuff no accident really. A petit bourgeois take over. It's an Ashton world now.
*Not putting it very far to the side. |  |
| |
| Mixed feelings about the new training ground on 22:12 - Oct 8 with 282 views | jasondozzell |
| Mixed feelings about the new training ground on 22:10 - Oct 8 by LuciBlue |
I'll put aside* my own personal grievance with Ashton. Undoubtedly a canny operator, but an ego on legs and a true convert to the Linkedin corporate bullshit that masquerades as values and philosophy these days. A man continually giddy with what he's got who at the moment is the zeitgeist. The Farage stuff no accident really. A petit bourgeois take over. It's an Ashton world now.
*Not putting it very far to the side. |
As much as I can...😅 | | | |
| Mixed feelings about the new training ground on 22:21 - Oct 8 with 256 views | Smoresy |
| Mixed feelings about the new training ground on 20:36 - Oct 8 by jasondozzell |
Fair points. And god knows we've needed the investment and infrastructure.
Dunno why I felt strange about it. I suppose it's just club changing again. I kinda liked the KM Ipswich. We had money but it was also just still just itfc. And there was a kind of magic.
It's still itfc. Just got to get used to this new iteration.
Let's beat Fulham and tell everyone we're staying in the league first. |
This training ground is far more true to KM's Ipswich vision than the tired one he made do with though. Likely the facility was tweaked and honed to his exacting standards, appreciating the highly ambitious, professional and meticulous man that he was from the outset here. Imo this is very much the culmination or fulfilment of the change KM brought to ITFC, in lockstep with Ashton and Gamechanger, rather than a building which heralds the departure from the KM era. |  | | |
Login to get fewer ads
| Mixed feelings about the new training ground on 22:40 - Oct 8 with 238 views | brazil1982 |
It does take the focus away from Portman Road and the amount of time players spend there now. |  | | |
| Mixed feelings about the new training ground on 22:49 - Oct 8 with 223 views | have_a_word_with_him |
"I'll put aside my own personal grievance with Ashton", but then go on to criticise Ashton. Moral high ground is a bit lumpy for some.
Talk about dampening spirits when we've just been given some insight into the superb new training facilities which we didn't even dream about a few years ago.
What exactly is your vision of success for ITFC, living in the real world if possible? |  | | |
| Mixed feelings about the new training ground on 23:52 - Oct 8 with 171 views | jasondozzell |
| Mixed feelings about the new training ground on 22:21 - Oct 8 by Smoresy |
This training ground is far more true to KM's Ipswich vision than the tired one he made do with though. Likely the facility was tweaked and honed to his exacting standards, appreciating the highly ambitious, professional and meticulous man that he was from the outset here. Imo this is very much the culmination or fulfilment of the change KM brought to ITFC, in lockstep with Ashton and Gamechanger, rather than a building which heralds the departure from the KM era. |
Of course and it's his recommendations which have shaped it.
It's a fair point to make. You can definitely see it that way too.
I just don't know if we'll have a manager with the oversight that KM had ever again though. I feel like we are in a new era now. | | | |
| Mixed feelings about the new training ground on 00:52 - Oct 9 with 123 views | armchaircritic59 |
I should just chill out, what will be will be. Having been a fan since 1963, I can tell you that much! Nothing lasts for ever, G O'N won't, Gamechanger won't, the current players won't. I'll wager the training facility will be there long after all those have gone, and me! |  | | |
| Mixed feelings about the new training ground on 00:53 - Oct 9 with 123 views | Joey_Joe_Joe_Junior |
I’m really not sure whether to advise Colchester United or therapy. |  |
| |
| Mixed feelings about the new training ground on 01:30 - Oct 9 with 101 views | Joey_Joe_Joe_Junior |
| Mixed feelings about the new training ground on 20:36 - Oct 8 by jasondozzell |
Fair points. And god knows we've needed the investment and infrastructure.
Dunno why I felt strange about it. I suppose it's just club changing again. I kinda liked the KM Ipswich. We had money but it was also just still just itfc. And there was a kind of magic.
It's still itfc. Just got to get used to this new iteration.
Let's beat Fulham and tell everyone we're staying in the league first. |
I can’t decide if you’re on a wind up or not after reading this thread! What in god names are you going on about! Lol
Firstly Kieran McKenna is GAME CHANGER. I’m not sure why you are romanticizing over him like it was the Burley era before the big bucks came in. How many league 1 clubs were spending 1.5M on a left back in 2022?
McKenna would not have been here without the new owners in the first place and McKenna was paid top 6 money to stay after promotion. The training ground that you’re so uneasy about is part of his vision.
When you say let’s of beat Fulham first and then worry about this stuff, well obviously not. You do the projects off the pitch to help you become successful and try and keep pace with the success on it!
Do you think we would have played the swashbuckling promotion football in the Champ in 23/24 if we hadn’t sorted the pitch after L1 promotion? Do you think we could keep attracting the caliber of player to Suffolk without the vision of that facility coming to life.
Also the NFL model you’re so scared of, you should like, it’s about as close to sports socialism as you can get. At least get some basic knowledge on stuff if you’re going to use it as an argument.
How on earth did you watch that video and write that essay and feel so uneasy? We are the envy of many unestablished clubs outside the top 6 opening that.
There is a small, slightly strange element in our fanbase I see, that sometimes seem almost uncomfortable about the idea of being successful and striving to keep growing. Even more bizarre after two decades doing of boredom and at times apathy. [Post edited 9 Oct 1:33]
| |
| |
| Mixed feelings about the new training ground on 01:57 - Oct 9 with 90 views | IPS_wich |
So to sum up, you want us to be playing in the top echelon of the biggest league, in the world's most popular sport - but you're pining for the days when it was much simpler and our club felt like it was just part of our sleepy little community.
Sadly - that world disappeared around the mid-2000s and we can't have our cake and eat it.
Recent estimates place the direct revenue generation of the Premier League at around 7 Billion a year, with an estimated 1.9 Billion people around the world watching at least one Premier League game every weekend. To put that into context that's the equivalent of about 33,000 Portman Roads.
The Championship raises about 900 Million a year in revenue and has about 13 Million global viewers every weekend.
It's like moving house from Woodbridge to Knightsbridge without any intermediate step to get used to City life - and we can either sink or swim. | | | |
| Mixed feelings about the new training ground on 03:11 - Oct 9 with 60 views | Westcountryblue |
That's an absolutely mad take on things i'm afraid.
The 'Ashton' bashing is quite honestly baffling. We've gone from having an ownership team that trotted out the apologetic 'little old Ipswich' narrative, to a forward thinking CEO that has transformed us on and off the field and played a big part in securing the additional share capital required to finance this growth.
I honestly think it's quite embarrassing that some fans mistake pride and ambition (that is richly deserved in my opinion) for ego. The entire team, including the owners, Ashton, coaching staff and players (past and present) deserve a huge amount of praise. Our club was an absolute shambles just 5 years ago.
The training ground is a reflection of the incredible effort put in to turn this club around and recalibrate the pathetic little old Ipswich mantra / mindset that saw us overly nostalgic of past glories. [Post edited 9 Oct 3:13]
| | | |
| Mixed feelings about the new training ground on 05:15 - Oct 9 with 19 views | Benters |
What a load of claptrap! |  |
| |
| Mixed feelings about the new training ground on 05:19 - Oct 9 with 18 views | Benters |
| Mixed feelings about the new training ground on 21:04 - Oct 8 by jasondozzell |
Ashton out. |
Ashton In! | |
| |
| |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
