only 1 experienced defender, a midfield without any creativity and a hat full of mis-firing strikers. I have never felt so negative about a start to a season than this. "There's a circus in the town......."
how can anybody say our midfield dont create chances we had more shots on goal than any other team ok forwards are miss fired but our midfield created the chances for them to miss fire.

Keano needs to get back on the blower to Sunderland. Surely there must be another CB out in the cold up there.

Good Luck Bruce , but am not in the least sorry to see you go. Your style of football will be hand in glove suitability at Sheffield Utd and your rash challanges & bull in a china shop approach will not be missed !

Keane you're a joke. I'm not even going to explain how stupid this is because you should all see it!

surely he is worth more than that

Halford would be a great signing, though he is ex-Sunderland so people would moan.

The lad did a reasonable job when asked, but to move onwards we need better. Good luck to him wherever he goes, he is an honest player in an age of conmen.

Chopra move back on please come on Evans and clegg sort it out

If accurate then decent business for all concerned. Time to move on. If only some of the other players could give the same level of effort consistently. My lasting memory of him will be home to Derby with Bruce & Bywater offering each other 'out'. Classic.

Can't believe I'm reading all this, he was made captain by Keane, had a never say die attitude and only lost his place when he got injured against Newcastle.

You lot are so fickle it's unreal. Personally I am struggling to see what he has done so wrong, agreed he is not the standard of player we would wish for but let's get real, he's the type of player we have to settle for these days.

The current plight of Ipswich Town is a real worry for me, not the sale of Alex Bruce but the fact that we keep getting rid of seasoned Championship players and not replacing them. If he's good enough for Sheff Utd he's definately good enough for us, just look at the league tables for the last few seasons. Our defence has 1 maybe 2 Championship defenders, we need 5 or 6. Lots of pressure on the likes of Smith, O'Conner & Peters to be solid (and fit!) week in week out don't you think?

I appreciate he has to move some players on and he is in the last year of his contract but the lack of activity in the transfer markte is a worry.

they must be mad!

Keano has the right idea, we should use our youngsters more. Why keep deadwood, dont get me wrong I like Bruce and his attitude but be realistic he isn't a very good championship defender so why should we pay through the nose for someone who wont get a game. Youngsters would be on a fraction of what he earns and they would be more consistant. We got 200k to put towards the Chopra fund so I personally dont see a problem. Win Win Win

COYB

Hopefully this is the start of the exodus as we have plenty more that are not good enough and surplus.
All the best Brucey.

is Bruce the last one from the crossbar challenge ?, (he was the only one to hit it)

Come on guys, just remember when Mick McNeil retired leaving us with only Billy Baxter as an experienced CB. Then came Derek Jefferson who became very effective, especially when he had some experience under his belt. Blood the young 'uns, it just needs one of the three to raise his game and then when Delaney is fit again we'll be stronger than ever.

Well, surely Keene is worth another 3 months now, fair play. You can't chuck him in the bin because of Town's disastrous showing last year. Or even because money is not limitless, can you? At least he is attracting the confidence of other players. Look, just because they are only Sunderland, Irish juveniles, doesn't mean that he can't manage Grown-Ups, does it?
Let's get behind him and his subtle Robsonesque tactical ability, encouraging the Muhrens back to Portman Road. Encourage him to take on an inspiring N°2 to take over in January.
I mean. Give him a chance. Fair's fair.

Sheffield United have, far beyond any other team over the past 40 years, been our greatest rivals. There has never been an easy match against them.
I respect their choice.

If we do have to get another CB in, please please make it someone with a bit of pace. We seem to be full of slow lumbering players - admittedly they are good at dealing with the typical hoofball you get in the Championship, but any teams with pacey strikers must be licking their lips.
And I do include the Macauley Delaney pairing in there - good up to a point but not good enough to deal with the next level.

He's had his chance to show just a bit of promise last year and has failed I'm afraid, some people need to wake up, or go to specsavers!

Let us hope this is true and more of the 8 listed follow Bruce because we badly need new additions and it seems the only way we can get them is by offloading as many as possible from these 8

Good luck Alex....a wholehearted player but just didn't quite seem to have enough to be a top class defender. Even though that leaves us lite at centrehalf, I dont think Keane will buy a replacement, possibly just a loanee until Delaney returns and possible not until last day of window to give Smith first 3 or 4 matches.
Thats 1 of the 8 gone, will be interesting now to see how many more need to be off the wagebill before we buy?
Then we may know soon now whether Chopra will come or whether the deal is dead, I think the next few weeks could be interesting

Good Luck Bruce!
Top Player And Always But In The Effort, Couldn't Of Asked For Anything Else!
Good Luck!

Let's hope the deal goes through, and let's really hope that the team can be strengthened with the funds freed!

I like bringing youngsters into the team, absolutely, but playing O'Connor (20), Smith (20) and Peters (23 and inexperienced at full back) all at once is a big gamble. If it doesn't pay off, we'll be looking at a relegation scrap.

mark i think we're looking at a relegation scrap anyway

Wow thats the spirit, the last two posts are full of optomism! I honestly think we will improve on last season. Get behind the lads, expectations were too high last season but I reckon we will end up in the top ten and with a younger team that bodes very well for the future.

Keep the faith
COYB