Blimey, if somebody offered us £1M to take McCarthy I'd drive him there myself! (Plus he'd be great to talk to in the car). I'm not saying I want him out, as for me he's not exactly doing a terrible job or anything anywhere near worthy of being sacked, however with his dour and predictable tactics it's plain to see he's not the man to take us up. Not sure who would actually pay £1M for him though. I interpret this as a statement from Marcus Evans that he's happy with Mick and being mid table, or he'd have set it lower. Fair enough I guess.

Assuming it's true of course. After all it's just tabloids.

What's Lewis Price doing on Mick's head? I thought he left years ago...

(Pointless comment, but then so was the tabloid report.)

Maybe the price of 1M is what ITFC will pay some one to get rid of McCarthy

Sounds like tabloid nonsense.

Let's not lose sight of the fact that McCarthy took over a shambles of loan players doomed to relegation, and has got us into the TOP HALF without spending money on transfer fees. When was the last time we were in the top half? Yes, the football could be more attractive but for that we need better quality players, and that costs money we do not have. We have scored 24 goals in 16 games, conceding 22, and again when was the last time we were scoring more than we were letting in? I am very happy with the job McCarthy is doing.

Also, just worth comparing the starting line ups from yesterday and a year ago:

2012
Henderson (loan), Orr (loan), Smith, Higginbotham (loan), Cresswell, Edwards, N'Daw (loan), Reo-Coker, Martin, Chopra, Campbell (loan).

2013
Gerken, Chambers, Berra, Smith, Mings, Anderson, Skuse, Tunnicliffe (loan), Tabb, Murphy, McGoldrick.

Look at how reliant we were on loan players, and look at the age of the players then compared with now.

Of our last 4 managers I would say one (Jim Magilton) wasn't ready and the other three just weren't Ipswich Towns type of manager, including Mick of course. Some clubs are synonymous with a certain type of football and in my 50 years watching Town and up to 2003 it was always trying to play attractive attacking football. West Ham are the same and they also have a square peg in a round hole at the moment.

Mick did the job he was paid to do, to keep us up, can he take us forward.......I don't personally think so, can we still play attractive attacking football AND win? I think with the right man or woman at the helm we can, but I honestly can't see any club paying 1 Million quid for someone who has quite honestly had his day in the sunshine. I therefore question Marcus Evans motives, but then I always have!!!

Well said Mark. I feel that we need to put the last few seasons into perspective. We are not a bad side anymore. We're not going to set the world alight but we are not going to be a struggling side this year. In MM we must trust.

Last season he had to save us from the drop. Which he did.

This season must be about consolidation without spending silly money.

Then ask yourselves how many years it took Sir Alf to get us out of the old Second Division.

@Mark - see what you mean and yes he did take over a lot of loan players but some of them which obviously PJ got in didn't do a bad job i.e. Henderson, Orr, N'Daw, Campbell so not sure you can use that as an excuse and bar a few of those names going (from 2012) were near the starting 11 that started a springboard up the table. Looking at the 2013 team yes a more settled team, just 1 loan but a starting 11 on paper other than McGoldrick which looks pretty non descript cretaively and which has 'gone backwards' from most of the previous season and as kentish_tractor remarked a manager whom tactically is hardly busting a gut to get us out of this mid-table mediocrity.
The question you have to ask is how comes MM got us getting more points quickly with all these loanee's and a new team to him and then approx 9/10 months later 'with his team' from the summer signings etc. he's doing worse?

To me it is absolutely incredible that some are not in favour of the manager we have. You would now be watching Division One football had he not arrived or more likely not turning up at all. MM is the best we could have got at the time and you need to be very careful what you wish for if you want him out. We are not being beaten heavily this season and we are scoring goals. This is a building exercise and with time and a bit of cash and some shrewd business we can get better. In the grand scheme of things Mick has transformed the whole Club not just the first team but from top to bottom but it seems some just do not see this. Unfortunately our fans are living on past glories and expect instant success but this just will not happen.

ERM Timmy.. How can we be doing worse then this time last season when we are currently 12th with a positive GD as opposed to being Rock Bottom with -18 GD when Mick took over? Just curious to know how this can be doing worse!

I completely agree with StowTractorBoy thank god that there are still some supporters who can see the bigger picture!

Completely agree with Algarvefan , I firmly belive mm has a lot to thank jewell for

I disagree with you Algarve by stating that Magilton wasn't ready. Look at when we finished when he was in charge. Mick has done a fantastic job and this season was always about consolidation but I too have to question whether he is capable of taking us to the next level without Marcus Evans' cheque book.

Last time we had DJ Campbell, now we have Frank Nouble... Laughable

I question whether any manager can take us to the next level short term without spending any money on transfer fees. We haven't been in the Premier League for 11 years and our stadium stands half empty some games. It is very, very difficult and we have to get real about that.

I am pleased we have a manager who can attact good free transfer signings, plus we are investing in a Grade 1 academy which hopefully will produce results over time, so there is hope for the future but we must be patient.

This is obviously the pro-Mick article (or people reading it) as it seems many on here are giving anybody who slightly doubts Mick's capability gets a minus vote.
@JWM - If you read my post I didn't say we are worse off than last season I said 'gone backwards' from most of the previous season and from about November (Micks reign) on wards this is true, compare last seasons last 16 games with this seasons first 16 - you do the math. Worse than Dec/jan period at the beginning of the year? yes - look at the results we were getting which largely continued through to April.
Not calling for MM to go that would be ridiculous but so far pretty unappealing stuff both in terms of performances in general and points gained since the season started.

This article is simply: There isn't an empty managerial position we can currently link MM to so let's make something else up instead.

Personally i'd be quite happy if we hover within 6 points or so of the play-offs until Jan. Then in Jan lets get some cash out and some quality in for a push.

Utterly ridiculous that so many armchair managers have given Mick just 4 months of his first full season before deciding he's "not the man to take us up". You all need to remember that he's only been here 1 calendar year and has only had 1 transfer window with no money to spend.

We are 3-4 players away from being as good as anything in this league. We need a CM, two wide players and a striker. Hunt could very well be the answer to one of those problems and Taylor another. We are very close to being a top 6 side, Mick just needs time to improve the midfield. At least give him the January window before you write him off.

I think the telling point for the club will be the January transfer window.
MM must realise that we are arguably two or three better players away from being able to seriously challenge the likes of QPR and Leicester and hopefully Mr Evans realises that too.
Mick has now had a chance to see what he has built over the past few months. It is now very much his team not an inherited one.
Without mentioning names I am sure he will have been disappointed by some but possibly pleasantly surprised by others.
The bottom line though is that we are not good enough to move up from mid table with what we have.
If the owner is happy with that then fine but I as a season ticket holder whilst being pleased with how the ship has been steadied am equally not happy with our very negative approach to home matches. The lack of match changing players must be addressed.
The January window will give both MM and Mr Evans to set their stall out and after that we shall have a true idea of whether or not the club has any ambition left.
Just my four penneth for what it may be worth .

Mick has yet to convince me that he is not a dinosaur similar to Neil Warnock and big Sam Allardice who have all been in the game a long while.
He basically did a very good job in keeping us up using in the main players he had inherited.
As Timmy H rightly points out we have done worse compared with performances last season after MM's first month or two in charge.
Can anybody really justify saying that Paul Anderson and Jay Tabb are better than Martin or JET;or that Frank Nouble is better at present than Jason Scotland or Chopra?We dont know about Woody or Veseli as he hasn't played them.
However must look to the future with players like Mings Hewitt Marriott Mc Goldrick,Taylor ,Hunt,Skuse Berra Chambers and Smith;we have some very useful players.What worries me is that the present Ipswich team set up is so predictable for opposing managers,and when they make changes as Steve Mc Claren did at Derby and Leicester Saturday Mick is slow to react instead of being pro active.
I think a bit more support from the owner in January might help the situation as we look a mid table side at the moment.

Algarvefan, do you not think that MM wants to play positive, attacking football? I believe at Wolves he had a few players called Ebanks-Blake, Jarvis and Kightly who liked to attack sometimes. Every fan wants to see that brand of football but Mick took over a poor team, slowly built by Magilton, Keane and Jewell, that was doomed to relegation. Mick had to start by stopping Ipswich conceding too many goals, which, when compared to Jewell, he's done well so far. I'm not sure there are too many managers that can take a team from relegation certainty to top of the league in one or two transfer windows with what seems to be a tiny budget. While Ipswich are by no way a top team in this division I don't think we're a million miles away from challenging a bit further up the league. Hopefully a couple of new additions in January will help. Also, while the motives of our elusive chairman are an unknown, I think every fan should thank him for keeping the club in existence. One more thing, I'm so bored of hearing this rubbish about Ipswich being synonymous with playing "a certain brand of football". I want to see Ipswich winning and being successful, and perhaps if we made Ipswich a nasty team with some steel that others dreaded to play at we might pick up a few more points, not one which has lost 17 points this season from winning positions.

when r u lot gonna wake up we are not going up this season or anytime soon we are not good enough to make top six so snap out of it micks doing a better job than predecessors.

agree Algarve ive supported them 40 years were a long way off at the moment. a money making machine for evans on the interest from the debt that's all ode for a proper owner