Town boss Mick McCarthy believes that Premier League central defender of the future Adam Webster is just one of a good crop of young players at Portman Road. Webster, signed from Portsmouth in the summer for £700,000 plus academy product Matt Clarke, scored his first Blues goal in Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat at Birmingham.

“Adam’s going to be an exceptional player,” McCarthy said of Webster, whose performances have been one of the highlights of what's been a disappointing Town season so far.

“I look at the Premier League and some of the defending in there and think, well, if I haven’t got a Premier League centre-half in the making, then I’m a Dutchman.”

Have Town had any enquiries for him? “I get you asking me, but you know full well I wouldn’t tell you.

“He’s a good player, whatever he cost he’s a good player. I’m not touting to sell him, we’ve got a very good player.

“And a young one who is still learning. I’m not suggesting he should be going off and playing anywhere else. I think he should be the foundation of what is a pretty good squad of [young] players.

“Tommy Smith’s injured at the moment but he’s only 26, Adam’s 21. Then I think about Myles [Kenlock] and Josh [Emmanuel], who are both coming through.

“We signed Grant Ward, there’s Bish, Dozzell, who is coming through. Freddie Sears is not that old.

“I still think we’ve got a pretty good squad of young players, who are only going to get better. I think he should be the foundation of that for Ipswich.”

Having made a goalscoring debut at as a sub at Sheffield Wednesday last season and then his first start against Fulham, 17-year-old Andre Dozzell’s only appearance this term was the EFL Cup tie against Stevenage in August, although he has been on the bench on nine occasions.

McCarthy says Town’s under par form and disappointing results this season have made it harder to introduce youngsters such as Dozzell.

“If I say that other people would say, ‘Surely you could put him in and he’d change those results’.

“If I thought that was the one component missing, then surely they trust me enough to make that decision.”

He added: “It’s a lot easier if it’s going well, of course it is. We need to change that and make sure it is going well then maybe he can get his games.”

Photo: TWTD

warktheline added 09:58 - Dec 15 @ArnieM, "FFS McCarthy try something different ". May I suggest RESIGN !
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vanmunt added 10:01 - Dec 15 So Mr Magoo wouldn't play the younger players last year as we were just outside the playoffs and now he won't play the youngsters as we are in a relegation fight.... moron, i'm happily in the 82% club.
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Swn98 added 10:20 - Dec 15 Royal Ascot blue 80% of how many?
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Cloddyseedbed added 10:38 - Dec 15 After MM long term in as manager the team we have today is one assembled by him. It has been built favouring older pro's not high on skill level by high on work rate and honesty. This will only take you so far these days as fans have been commenting for years. If a young player is any good and gets played he will be sold, that is fact. Unless the mentality of the owner and manager change nothing will change on MM's favourite type of player and the owner through player sales. The supporters can see this clearly and every year despite preaching to supporters when they are trying to sell tickets pre season nothing changes, in fact it does, it gets worse. Good luck selling season tickets next season for whatever league we end up in because it takes a long while for supporters to forget and in all honesty many will not. Time for a change now as the owners role in all this is quite frankly appalling and it is not being helped by a manager who thinks supporters who are now questioning him severely are fools!! WE are living for every day as it comes with no forward planning or thoughts for the future at all...........unbelievable!

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warktheline added 11:02 - Dec 15 @swn98, I'm after an insight in relation to your perspective on the current situation at Ipswich Town FC, any chance of you answering some of the questions I've asked you? ( article Brum 2v1 Ipswich) . Kind Regards old Chap!
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TimmyH added 11:27 - Dec 15 Boring...we heard all this about a month ago anyway we can tell by your managerial style your far far from being a dutchman!!!
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martin587 added 11:31 - Dec 15 We have at least 7 good players in this squad but they are being ruined and drained of confidence by a manager who is void of any ideas as to how to play attacking football.Even if we do happen to win at Wigan it will only paper over the cracks.Time to go MM.!!
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Global_Blue added 11:56 - Dec 15 Well, MM has a point. As Alan Hansen once said, "you'll never win anything with kids"... ... oh, hang on...
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TR11BLU added 12:42 - Dec 15 McCarthy says Town's under par form and disappointing results this season have made it harder to introduce youngsters such as Dozzell. Your stubborness and refusal to replace your fellow dinosaurs in the team is the REASON for under par form and disappointing results this season - buffoon DON
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rinkydinkpanther added 12:48 - Dec 15 'McCarthy: Webster Just One of a Promising Group of Young Players' The rest of which I don't play.
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Tomairyn added 13:24 - Dec 15 Does anyone know if McCarty gets a percentage of any fee paid for a player sold for a profit that he brought into the club ?
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runaround added 13:26 - Dec 15 Give the youngsters a chance Mick, they can't do any worse than the proper blokes. They might play without fear which would be a pleasant change with the current setup being a fear of losing which is actually leading to us losing anyway!
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nysully added 13:48 - Dec 15 McCarthy logic is pretzel logic - about Dozell "It's a lot easier if it's going well, of course it is. We need to change that and make sure it is going well then maybe he can get his games" So if we are going well he would have Andre play but we all know that if anything he deems "positive" happens he announce an unchanged starting XI 48 hours before he has to. I will say this until the cows come home, he is going to shove Douglas down our throats every week to prove he is right to play him. If he was not so stubborn last year we would have made the playoffs if Bart was put back in goal after going home to bury his father but instead he persevered with Gerken who simply is not as good as Bart but Mick again had to prove his point that Gerken was his guy and if Gerken did not get hurt last year we would have been midtable rather than 7th.

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BlueSmith94 added 14:14 - Dec 15 I will give Mick some credit for this signing, Adam has been brilliant this season and rightly getting big praise from the Manager. I don't want to become a selling club, but with Mings and Creswell, we have a habit of finding players that go on to make a huge profit. He is right we have a good group of young players, just wish he would give them a chance in the 1st team. Mcdonnell looked good against derby, dozzell as well last season. Ben Morris looks promising, yet with a team that can't score we still dont give him a go. If there good enough play them. Look at Rashford last year, thrown in the deep end and now look at him. Gary Rowett for Manager!

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RoyalAscotBlue added 14:19 - Dec 15 Perhaps fergie is the exception to prove the rule? I didn't realise that fabled fa cup match was in his third year, I thought it was in his first. Did he lose the fans though, or was he still in the stages of getting them onside? I can't believe we are comparing mick with sir alex though... by any stretch of the imagination.
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Seasider added 16:24 - Dec 15 Vanmunt.You are spot on.When McCarthy was asked last season about bringing through young players from the Youth System.He said he wouldn't do this whilst there was a chance of reaching the playoffs. When this became impossible near the end of the season he did play one or two for about three games.Presumably the same will happen this year,although it looks like according to the above that he wont play them this season because of the threat of relegation,which he has now recognised. The club has recently modified its 50% by 2017,which was clearly too ambitious under any Manager.McCarthy has failed to bring through A SINGLE player,to play regularly in the first team in over 4 YEARS;so he will not attain the new target either.Another of many reasons why he should be sacked. Unfortunately we have heard from a contact in America that Marcus Evanshas lost interest in ITFC,if he had any in the first place;and doesn't attend his club for matches. Now I don't know if this is true;but this is just another question for us minority shareholders to put to his puppet Milne at the AGM on 21st.Unless of course the invisible man puts in an appearance(he could sit behind a screen,or wear a ginger wig and false moustache lol) As regards the other accusation that the only interest he has ever had in the Club is pecuniary,I think this is highly possible,as he was thinking of taking over Southampton before he bought into ITFC. If he is so disinterested,and we have not heard from him for ages lets face it;why not sell some of his holding back to the fans,thats if they would still be interested.I recall we used to have some knowledgeable people on the board,who I think were mainly bondholders. Quite why we have to have a PLC for the minority shareholding,whos only transactions are to pay the bondholders;and a separate company for the football club with Marcus as the Chairman,I do not know. Perhaps an Accountant could answer this,as it could be to do with tax?

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Carberry added 16:27 - Dec 15 WHERE'S EVANS?
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theblueginger added 16:40 - Dec 15 Problem re Doz and the other players, is if we ever go on a winning spell (good joke eh), MM will state he would never change a winning team. So they will never be playing at this rate unless they have to.
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colonel added 18:09 - Dec 15 We have a lot of good young players...... who I don't play! CO€K Go now
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rabbit added 18:46 - Dec 15 RoyAlascotBlue let me assure you that it is not so unusual for a manager to come back into the fans affection, just look at Bobby Robson he was absolutely vilified by the Ipswich fans for nearly 4 years. If it hadn't been for a strong Owner/Chairman, Mr John Cobbold, he would have gone. I am not comparing MM with any other Manager and frankly I am not against replacing him but I do believe that a lot of comments on this site often lack a certain amount of fore thought.

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armchaircritic59 added 22:46 - Dec 15 rabbit, was about to make the same statement re Sir Bobby, but you beat me to it! I'm with you with the second paragraph too, but at least it shows some fans are passionate about the club, even if nobody else is! I've said this before but managers(and owners/directors these days) are itinerant, they come they go. The true heartbeat of a football club is it's fans, treat them like mushrooms (keep them in the dark and feed them bull****) and i'm afraid you'll lose some of them too, possibly for good!

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Bert added 23:26 - Dec 15 Not content with slagging off MM, Milne etc, the less than objective posters are now having a go at TWTD itself ! That speaks volumes about the relevance, or not, of the daily posters who have denigrated this useful site to the equivalent of a pub fight. Even the appearance of a TWTD poll does nothing to quell the haters. Whilst I would welcome a change in style and management, it isn't going to come from a poll of a few hundred mainly biased people. The down markers will now prove my point.

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