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Jewell Empathises With Fans' Frustrations
Jewell Empathises With Fans' Frustrations
Wednesday, 11th Jan 2012 08:40

Town boss Paul Jewell says he empathises with the frustration and anger amongst fans but has vowed to keep going while he still has belief in himself and the backing of owner Marcus Evans. The Blues manager dismissed suggestions that the club is in crisis but conceded that his side are in a relegation fight.

Asked if he had a message to fans unhappy at the lack of progress his year in charge — he took over as Town boss a year ago this Friday — Jewell said: “I understand the frustration and the anger. I don’t want to be giving out messages, all I want to do is do my best to try to turn things around to make them like me, and more importantly enjoy coming to watch Ipswich because it hasn’t been fun watching us. I understand that.

“I don’t think I’d ever run away from a question or a problem. We need to win matches, we need to stop conceding goals and I take the blame because I’m the manager.”

He says he has no plans to quit: “I’ll soldier on as long as Marcus believes in me and I believe in myself. It’s a tough time, but at the end of the day we’re all human beings and we all have feelings and all have pride and pride is hurt at the moment.

“The owner has been so supportive of me that I couldn’t even think about walking out. I’m sure most of the Ipswich fans at the moment are thinking ‘Let’s have a change’ and I’ve got to take that on my shoulders.

“It’s not a pleasant place to be, walking around the town. But the owner, who employs me, has got faith in me, I’ve got faith in myself, which is important, and over a period of time, after a couple of transfer windows, I’m sure we’ll be brighter.

“We’ve got other targets in the transfer window. We’ve got targets for next year and beyond as well. We need a couple of short-term loans with a view to longer [signings]. We’re trying to get the balance right, it’s a tough juggling act at the moment.”

Jewell says that although the 20th-placed Blues are in a battle at the wrong end of the table, the problems at Town have been overstated by the press: “It’s a club in a relegation fight. I think when you’re on about crises I think that means when you can’t pay the bills and maybe are looking at administration. Certainly from a financial point of view the club isn’t in crisis.

“Crisis is a word that you journalists like to use. It’s a tough, tough time for us at the moment. There are a few teams that think they should be near the top of the division that aren’t and we’re one of them.

“We’ve got to fight our way through, we’ve got to get our hands dirty. There are a lot of tough times ahead but without tough times ahead, I don’t think you can prove you’re a side.”

Although the tabloids are already linking sacked QPR boss Neil Warnock with the Blues, owner Marcus Evans continues to give Jewell his backing — the Liverpudlian says Evans sanctioned a permanent move for Sean St Ledger although the deal agreed with Leicester is a loan with a view to a permanent switch in the summer — with his eyes on a more successful future: “He’s never really reassured me about my future. Everyone else seems to be talking about it. Marcus has just said it’s a long-term plan, just think beyond the troubled time at the moment.

“We’ve got to get through a lot of hard work, a lot of tough times but over a period of time, he’s got confidence that we will do it right.”

He says the situation is more similar to his time at Wigan, where Dave Whelan gave him similar backing, than his spells at Sheffield Wednesday — where he had only eight months in charge - and Derby: “At Derby I knew the board had lost faith with me and they were only keeping me there because they couldn’t afford to sack me. Certainly it wouldn’t cost Marcus a lot of money to get rid of me now, so it’s not a financial thing.

“I think he’s seen what I want to do for the future and he likes it. I know it’s bloody tough times at the minute and I’m not going to pull the wool over anybody’s eyes. It’s tough for us all but nothing comes easily.”

“I think you can make decisions with the confidence that the owner is going to give you a fair chance.

“I’m not stupid, I know how football works and how life works and people can change their minds, but at the moment Marcus has given me the green light to go ahead and do what I think is right. Given a little bit of luck and time, I’m hoping I can get people to buy into what I’m trying to do.”

Ultimately Jewell hopes he can bring the type of success to Town that he enjoyed with two of his previous sides: “It’s a great club with a great history and tradition, but that’s the team that’s been in the Championship the second longest.

“I’ve come here and played against teams from Ipswich with Wigan and Bradford and we’ve got promoted and Ipswich have stayed in this division.

“I’ve taken teams up, I’ve taken teams up at the expense of Ipswich, it would be nice to take Ipswich up at the expense of someone else.”


Photo: Action Images



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newboy added 10:22 - Jan 11
Time to go before no one turns up at PR to watch . You are clueless its your team your players and it will be your fault we are relegated. I hate to say it but I agree with the Warnock shouts Jewell you dont deserve to manage again you have lost the fans there are stories leeaking now you have lost the players and trying to do your own P.R stunt saying people will only play for you is pathetic GET OUT!!
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WarkyWonderLand added 10:23 - Jan 11
Stavangerblue, I think you will find jewell has already destroyed us and I would say go and look at Mr warnocks managerial career.

Stay behind jewell and we will be in div 1.

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Legend added 10:33 - Jan 11
Coventry are the longest serving club in this division.
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beerhelps added 10:36 - Jan 11
Legend-

Love the irony of you comments next to a pic of Bobby and Mr John, there's a Chairman who knew how to back a manager!
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Hally543 added 10:44 - Jan 11
Can't see us getting anything from our next 4 games; Birmingham, Blackpool, Leeds and West Ham aren't teams our current squad on current form is gonna beat lol, don't get me wrong I will be at both the home games out of them 4, but can't see us getting any points, I hope I'm proved wrong
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Legend added 10:46 - Jan 11
Beerhelps.

Exactly. And 'mr John' was not afraid to show his face.
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Cheshire_Blue added 11:02 - Jan 11
Presumably the "Jewell out" brigade are the same knowledgable football brains who insisted on signing up Jimmy Bullard as the answer to our woes !!!
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WarkyWonderLand added 11:10 - Jan 11
More talk of loan signings, I thought he said last week he had learnt his lesson.

Sounds like he is trying to convince himself that he can still do the job. Actions are louder than words and there is no evidence on the pitch of any improvement. He has taken us so far backwards in 12 months its un true.

Defeat tonight Mr Evans and surely you will be closer to that "tipping point". If not on saturday you will hear peoples real feelings.
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Rydeabluehorse added 11:11 - Jan 11
I've always preferred to keep PJ but feel he has to make a difference with his transfer activity this month. If he doesn't fix the defence, we could go down and he should go.
Having said that, if the alternative is Warnock, JEWELL IN
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Cheshire_Blue added 11:15 - Jan 11
The mistakes were made a long time ago. It is always easier to avoid reegation than it is to win promotion. We have no divine right to be a force in the Championship and we are never going to be able to compete financially with the big boys. Warnock would have us in League 2 within 2 years if he lasted that long.It was not Warnock that got QPR promoted, it was the financial muscle supporting him.Did Kenny Dalgleish win the Premier title for Blackburn all those years ago or was it Jack Walker's millions supporting him? What sort of manager would Sir Alex Ferguson be at Rochdale or Accrington Stanley ?
Wise up and get behind PJ.Where would we be now if ME hadn't come along ?
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WarkyWonderLand added 11:30 - Jan 11
Cheshire blue, think you should first about how much Warnock spent to get them promoted, not a lot as fernandes wasn't there then.

The football under jewell is worse than John Duncan and as for the so called captain.

If people really think jewell can do it you are deluded cos in 12 months he has taken us backwards.

Having seen itfc since 1980 this is the worst it has been.

Would like to know how people think jewell and his pals can turn it round and on what evidence.

It's worrying when season ticket holders for over 20 years say they are not going to renew.
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Guthrum added 11:56 - Jan 11
WarkyWonderLand

No, QPR had Mittal, Ecclestone and Briatore instead. Very wealthy individuals, I think you'll agree. How much did they spend on Taarabt from Spurs?
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WarkyWonderLand added 12:07 - Jan 11
Signed for an undisclosed fee.
Jet over 1m
Chopra 1m
Wages for bullard must be over 1m a year and also bullard.

Difference is qpr got promoted and we have gone backwards.
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higgistockwell added 12:15 - Jan 11
cheshire blue,all this me is our saviour bla bla bla doesnt cut it with me,no one knows where we would be without him but i do know where we are now(in a bloody mess)while he is manager i will support pj,but if im honest i dont think he is up to the job,which brings me back to evans, again i will be honest him being the invisible man is something i have never been comfortable with and he is the one i have the biggest problem with and would like him replaced and he can take his puppet (clegg) with him,both of them know nothing about running a football club and for me are not in it for the right reasons,we should take aleaf out of the germans book as far as club ownership is concerned ,the club should be owned by the fans,ultimitly we are the only ones who really care,i really worry for the future of football untill that happens and right now i am really worried about our football club.
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MathieandMarshall added 12:36 - Jan 11
I am losing patience now hearing about the "long term plan" The issue i have is that there is no sign of this "plan" taking shape. If we had a team full of young players and were losing every week we could at least justify it with the fact that we are building for the future. At the moment i cannot see what PJ's "plan" is and he never seems to share those details. Anyone else have a clue whats going on??
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blockb_steward added 12:48 - Jan 11
I think PJ has two games - I don't mind losing the odd game but where's the fight and passion gone? Where's the pride and passion gone when the players put on that blue jersey?

I sat in the North Stand a few years ago and watched Town all but relegate a poor Narwich side...now they are again in the ascendancy and we appear to be where they were. How quickly things turn around...




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Surco72 added 12:55 - Jan 11
Warkywonderland ...Warnock spent £12million plus on players and wages last season on Taarbat,Mackie,Smith,Kenny,Hill,Orr,Hulse,Clark ,Derry plus loans and were by far the biggest spenders in the league last season as were Newcastle the season before and West Ham and Leicester have this season . Jewell has spent nowhere near the amounts these clubs have spent but is expected to be top of the league .
The issue is Keane did spend a lot of money on players fees and wages a number of which we are still stuck with and need to offload to rebuild Leadbitter,Martin, Delaney,Priskin,Edwards,Scotland,Fulop,Murphy,Hourainne ,OConnor,Kennedy,Healy,Brown
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JohnyJohnson added 13:08 - Jan 11
Warnock IN!
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Garv added 13:24 - Jan 11
Bizarre that people suggest Jewell is wrong for this club but in the same post demand Warnock is brought in!
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Lightningboy added 13:24 - Jan 11
Wish people would stop going on about Warnock..a year or so back when he was getting mentioned,nobody wanted him anywhere near our club..plus QPR are the club in the prem to have used the most players this season - can you imagine the utter mess here if Warnock comes in and wants another dozen new signings!

We need to scrape through this disaster of a season (on top of the last 2),then make a managerial appointment which will be for the good of this club over not just the next 2 or 3 years but fo the next 10+..the prem isn't the be all and end all - our club needs to rediscover it's true values!
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Warkys_Tash added 13:49 - Jan 11
I am not so sure Warnock would destroy our club as Stavanger suggested - not quite sure how you come to that conclusion? he has a good managerial record and his teams are always competive, even if you take into a/c QPR's last 8 games - they were all close results and no thrashings in there & played against Norwich with 10 men for two for them!

As for Billy Davies, it was just a thought. I bet Forest wish they still had him, proves what a good job he did there with even more limited resources than we have here. Don'teven bother mentioning Derby - he got them promoted but then the board was in a mess..

Lighting Boy, you 2nd half of you rpost was a fair point..maybe that is the way to go.

Surco 72 - Jim, Keane & now Jewell have collectively spent more than that. Warnock was clever is recognising the right players he needed to get promoted, aka P.Kenny, Derry, Taarbat & Jamie Mackie..and more importantly they played for him.
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Surco72 added 14:15 - Jan 11
Warkys tash ...that is the whole problem summed up we have had 3 managers spending the money and each time there is a change the new manager comes in and gets rid of the old managers players .And also you are comparing our spending of over 4 seasons to what QPR and other clubs spent in one year big difference .
Keane only needed minor tweaking to Magics side but started a fresh and Jewell was left with rubbish and 3 of his better core players leaving with little he could do about it Mac,Norris and Wickham
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jas0999 added 14:48 - Jan 11
Jewell is extremely lucky to still be in charge. He tolds a truely terrible record and has managed to alienate even more fans. We are worse off under him! Win, lose or draw tonight - I really hope ME has a plan up his sleeve - because PJ and his band of possible new loanees is NOT the way forward. PJ OUT
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WarkyWonderLand added 15:07 - Jan 11
Not too sure we are expecting to be top of the league but we should have enough about us to at least compete.

Jewell is going around in circles with contradiction after contradiction. He has had more resource than 95% in this division with the fees he has spent and wages.

If we had a clear plan with promising youngsters I could buy in that but we haven't. And his treatment of certain players has been shocking.

As fans we all want one thing and that is to win games. Over the next 4 games where will that come with the current managment and tactical nouse.
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itfchorry added 15:09 - Jan 11
On the train to Birmingham to back our Boys

Another defeat and calling for heads starting
With Clegg's

Clegg Out Clegg Out
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