Great shout Mr Diddle. Cant believe the negativity on here sometimes. I was sure we were joint 6th rather than 16th?!

I take the negative style tactic chat with a pinch of salt. Surely the ambition is to get to the Prem. Does it really matter how we get there? Look at Palace. Certainly not a glamour team last year by any stretch and odds on for relegation this year but now they could well be safe. Who knows what the additional money of one extra year in the top league could for them.

Also, again the Joniesta concerns that he is the only thing making us good is unfounded n my opinion. His signing has given me great hope for next year, regardless of which league we are in. Just look at how much better we have been going forwards with him in the side. Its proof to me that with the base Mick has built we are only a few flair players short of a top team in this division. And you certainly dont have to be spend big to pick up players like that.

Either way, we have a great season and i will be chuffed either way. Still think we can sneak in there though... COYB's!!!

Great post Gazz!

No need for being negative about this season whatever happens!

respect your right to your opinion gazzmac4 but to me and some other fans the style and how we get there is important.
whats more if we play this style and dont get there we will have watched a season of outdated long ball football for no reward.
i also feel it is short term to play that way as to sustain as a decent prem club these days you really need to retain the ball well and you dont do that by pumping it forward and playing the % game

I also respect your opinion Theobald1985 but equally your own argument is flawed. Would you prefer to see the club remain in the lower reaches or worse of the Championship trying to pass the ball around and getting stuffed or could you park your principles for a season or two while the club moves up the table, competes for promotion in this league, hopefully gets promotion albeit playing a more pragmatic style, with a view to doing a Stoke? That is get there, establish yourself, get the Prem money in the coffers (making the managers job of attracting talent in a bit easier initially) and start working via the Academy on bringing a bit of flair into the team in the long run. If you recall, we were relegated from the Premier trying to pass our way around teams last time, so were Swindon and Bradford (happy to be told that's incorrect btw) as other examples. And a question: you say we will have watched a season of outdated long ball (which I disagree with anyway) football for no reward - when do you think was the last time you watched Ipswich for a full season regardless of manager in place and felt rewarded?

i think swansea are a prime example of how with ambitious progressive managment and coaching a team can massivly overachieve and make the prem and stay there playing what i regard as the right way.
the thing is with mick i dont feel his style has really worked at premier league level and i dont think he is likely to suddenly adopt a different style of play with us there so we would effectivly be using his way of playing to get there then binning him off for a more progressive coach which even though im not his biggest fan does seem a trifle unfair.
i watched stoke the year they went up and pulis had already got them promoted and stoke fans had a pulis out banner even then- west ham fans booing a victory the other day-im not saying that is correct but there is a section of all supporters at many clubs who for better or worse would like the club to play what we would say is the right way.
micks teams set up mostly to defend and nick a goal from a set piece and pump the ball into the channels.
many football fans will forgive anything other than losing but im a bit of a footie snob im afraid so i would always play passing fluid footie on the deck for better or worse.
in answer to your last question i suppose it was under burley the year we went up-too long mate COYB

i think swansea are a prime example of how with ambitious progressive managment and coaching a team can massivly overachieve and make the prem and stay there playing what i regard as the right way.
the thing is with mick i dont feel his style has really worked at premier league level and i dont think he is likely to suddenly adopt a different style of play with us there so we would effectivly be using his way of playing to get there then binning him off for a more progressive coach which even though im not his biggest fan does seem a trifle unfair.
i watched stoke the year they went up and pulis had already got them promoted and stoke fans had a pulis out banner even then- west ham fans booing a victory the other day-im not saying that is correct but there is a section of all supporters at many clubs who for better or worse would like the club to play what we would say is the right way.
micks teams set up mostly to defend and nick a goal from a set piece and pump the ball into the channels.
many football fans will forgive anything other than losing but im a bit of a footie snob im afraid so i would always play passing fluid footie on the deck for better or worse.
in answer to your last question i suppose it was under burley the year we went up-too long mate COYB

I can't argue with anything there. All of your points are reasonable. But I think MM has an unfair and unwarranted reputation. Certainly when he came to us he set about fixing the leaks in our defence. Up to that point we seemed to concede soon after every opposition kick out. So yes, I agree we've sacrificed a certain amount of individual swagger to become a tighter, harder to beat unit on the pitch. For me as an ex-keeper, I perhaps place more emphasis on the art of defending than most other fans, but it's not by accident that we are much tougher to beat these days. Tommy, Christophe and Chambo in particular have benefited from MM's influence and guidance. Cresswell (while he hasn't had the headlines as much this season) was never shackled by MM, he is this season's top assists player in the league - therefore allowed to bomb forward at will. We have one of the most effective old-skool No.9 centre forwards around in Daryl Murphy. Tactically it seems to me to make sense now that Didsy is injured to be a little more direct to utilise Murph's strengths. Without funds, our squad is thin, so we don't have better (proven) flair options to bring in. I think his handling of Taylor was correct. For all of his undoubted talent Tayls was supposed to get goals but without them the gaffer probably decided that his other distractions were not worth bearing for the team's sake. With the Ireland team when MM was in charge he handled Keane in a similar way - as a result Ireland almost beat Spain on penalties to progress to the quarter finals. Believe it or not he had Ireland playing some lovely football at the time, but he had the benefit of players like Robbie Keane and Damian Duff in their prime.
And then the unfortunate admission that you haven't been able to really enjoy Ipswich since the last time we went up is almost heartbreaking. Those lean years in between threw some fantastic individual moments at us not least the fact that in our first year up we did the treble! Manager of the Year, Groundskeeper of the Year and I think it was something like pitch of the year (??). But staying up last year despite being bottom and hopeless when MM took over, that was an incredible turn around and worth savouring surely? I live in Dublin, so I'm not a season ticket holder (only got to 3 home games this season - Brighton, Huddersfield and Birmingham) so I don't have any right to question a S.T. holders opinion on the value for money they get going to every game. But I do strongly believe that fans have a role to play (just like in recent games where our incredible supporters drove the team on in difficult games) in supporting the manager and the players even in difficult times- take Man Utd for example.
We all want to see Ipswich Town up there with the best of them, wearing the jersey with pride, taking big scalps and putting in entertaining performances. I think we will actually get back to that at some point. But we have quite a bit of distance to go yet even though we are on the right road.

dont get me wrong there are many moments i have enjoyed but i think over a full season that was the one i enjoyed most but certainly there were some great moments under joe royal
joe had no money but played attacking footie and tried to outscore teams and we had shefi and darren bent and always looked like scoring.
i disagree on taylor though and i feel the same applies to JET.
if we were playing a more fluid 4231 the creative role behind the central striker would be ideal for those players but i think mick is to old fashioned in that respect. i always support the team at portman road regardless but i really crave something a bit more expansive.
im actually a defender myself but have always regarded forwards as the most important players as im basically there to stop them playing although i did enjoy watching people like maldini who had it down to a fine art.
good to hear we have an irish fanbase anyway-enjoy the rest of the season COYB