In short, we have forgotten what success looks and feels like. by homer_123 4 Mar 2020 8:15
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 6 Mar 2020 10:40]

[Post edited 6 Mar 2020 10:53]