Former Blues star Kieron Dyer has urged dissenting fans to forget their protests and get behind Town’s confidence-hit players as they go into “the toughest run ever” with relegation to the third tier of English football for the first time in 60 years, he believes, a very real possibility.

Ipswich-born Dyer, pictured above appearing on a recent Life's a Pitch, says he was listening to BBC Radio Suffolk on Saturday evening following the 2-0 defeat at Huddersfield - which saw the 14th-placed Blues drop to within nine points of the bottom three - and was concerned by some of the calls.

“I was driving home and I was listened to the Radio Suffolk phone-in and I didn’t realise it had got that bad,” he told TWTD.

“Basically the majority of the callers were talking about boycotting games and protesting because they’re fed up, saying this is their club and the manager and owner are ruining their club.

“I’m an Ipswich fan and everyone’s entitled to their opinion and I don’t pay money to go to games, while they pay their hard-earned money, so if that’s how they feel, then that’s how they feel.

“But I’ve just seen the run of games we’ve got in February and we have got the toughest run ever, and I would just say to the fans that the worst thing that can happen to our football club is us getting relegated.

“I look at our form and the lack of confidence from our players, because that’s what it is, the players have got absolutely no confidence, they all look shot.

“And if there are going to start to be protests and people boycotting the games, then it’s just going to make it even worse because it’s a toxic atmosphere as it is.

“It’s just going to make it even more unbearable for the players, they won’t get any more confidence and we could end up getting relegated.

“All I would say to the fans is, you’re all Ipswich fans, you want the best for your club, if you’re not happy with the owner and manager, I understand that, but let’s support the team and get us mathematically safe.

“And once we’re mathematically safe, protest or whatever you feel has to be done to be heard, then I totally agree, but I don’t think it’s the time with the way the team’s playing, where we are in the league and with the run we have to abandon the club and the players because everyone needs to stick together. Otherwise it’s going to be a really dire situation.

“We need everyone to get together - even some sections of the local media that sometimes seem to antagonise the fans and want the doom and gloom - get us safe and then do what you want. Let’s just get us safe first. This club cannot be in League One.”

Dyer, 38, says he knows what it’s like to be booed by your own fans from his time at Newcastle United and says it can have a huge impact on a player.

“I’ve been booed by 50,000 people and I was a confident player on the pitch,” he added. “But when I was being booed it affected me so badly some games, it was like I’ve never kicked a ball before, it was like I couldn’t even lace my boots up.

“Why Bobby Robson was so good was because he made everyone play feel a million dollars and they went on the pitch and played to the best of their ability.

“Our players at the moment are just fragile. Terry Butcher came out after the game against Lincoln and said they were a disgrace. I think that’s a harsh word because I think the term disgrace should only be levelled at a player who doesn’t want to play for the club, someone who doesn’t try when they’re on the pitch.

“Our players are trying 100 per cent. I go up to the training ground and I look at the stats. The running stats are through the roof.

“Everyone’s trying to put his shift in, it’s just that they’re so fragile. They’re so lacking in confidence.

“The fans pay good money so when they go to a football match if they want to have a moan, I get that, but our club has never booed players really. I’ve never really come across that.

“I know Scowy had a little bit from the boo boys when I was here, but nothing too brutal.

“But, for example, Jonathan Douglas, he’s getting sarcastically cheered off when he comes off and booed. How is that going to help him? He tries his nuts off every time he’s on the pitch.

“I get that fans might not think he’s good enough but the guy is putting a shift in. Don’t boo the players, that’s all I urge. Everyone stick together.

“There’s no better feeling than playing in a great atmosphere and the fans are on your side, it gives you more confidence than anything. I’ve been there, I’m speaking personally.”

He added: “Freddie Sears, I’ve worked with Freddie at West Ham, I see someone so low on confidence. Yes, he’ll still run, he’ll still put a shift in.

“Look at Christophe Berra in the last few weeks. It was only last season or 18 months ago that people were saying he was one of the best centre-halves in the league. Now he’s struggling. It’s not through a lack of trying, just a lack of confidence.

“It seems to me the players don’t want to play at home because there’s often that negative atmosphere.”

Former England international Dyer, who having retired in 2013 watches most games from the East of England Co-op Stand, says supporters stuck by their team in the last Portman Road fixture, the 3-2 victory over Blackburn, and he hopes the same will be the case when seventh-placed Derby visit next Tuesday.

“At the last game I went to the fans were brilliant, especially when it went to one-all. The fans could easily have switched but they stayed with the team and that was one of our better performances.

“But, as I say, the fans are entitled to their opinions, they spend good money, I don’t spend money to watch Ipswich, so they’re in a very different situation to me, but just stick with the team and give as much support, get us safe. The worst thing for this club at the moment would be if we went down.”

Dyer, who is currently an academy sponsor and previously coached at Playford Road, disagrees with some supporters’ perceptions of manager Mick McCarthy, who he believes has been a victim of his own comparative success in his earlier seasons.

“The grumble I hear from fans about Mick is the way he comes across in post-match interviews and they’re calling him arrogant,” he said.

“Mick is not arrogant, but he is very blunt and he feels that he doesn’t have to answer for things and that’s the just the way he is, and that riles the fans.

“The football’s not been great for a while, I totally get that. But Mick has overachieved, he has had no money to spend and he has found gems.

“He’s found Daryl Murphy for peanuts, he found Didz for peanuts, he found Tyrone Mings, he found the two loans, Jonny Williams the first time, Ryan Fraser.

“But you can’t keep producing free transfers and players for 50 grand that are going to get us to play great football to win the league.

“He’s overachieved, now the reality is that it’s hard to compete in this league with free transfers and cheap signings.

“And that’s where the owner [Marcus Evans] has to take responsibility, I feel. But again, and I’m not sticking up for the owner, but you’ve got an owner who has given all this money to Roy Keane and Paul Jewell and we were in the relegation places.

“He’s then employed a manager who he’s given no money to and we’ve got into the play-offs one year, nearly in the play-offs another and we’ve always been in the top half of the league.

“He thinks this is the way forward now. Because Mick has done well with no money the owner thinks that’s the norm now.

“But it’s not the norm. You can’t get success on free transfers and cheap signings. It’s crazy.

“I was peed off with the owner because I thought we should have got Cat One for the academy, gone all out for Cat One.

“Then again - like with the Mick situation where he’s thinking he doesn’t have to spend money because we’re doing really well - I’m saying we should go for Cat One and was fed up we didn’t get to Cat One.

“But then you think of it from the owner’s point of view and we’re Cat Two and are producing Andre Dozzell, we’ve produced Teddy Bishop, we’ve got Ben Knight coming through, we’ve got Tristan Nydam coming through, we’ve just sold Charlie Brown for £750,000 to Chelsea.

“He must be thinking ‘Why do we need to go to Cat One?’. But if we want to have the best academy, in my opinion we have to be in Cat One.”

He added: “I feel sorry for everyone, I feel sorry for the fans, I feel sorry for Mick and I feel sorry for the owner because he’s not a football man, he hasn’t got a background in football.

“He’s seeing the academy producing players, he’s seeing Mick getting great results with no money, so he thinks it’s the norm.

“Mick’s overachieved, now the reality is that he’s struggling like hell because he hasn’t been given the funds or the quality of the players and that has a knock-on effect on to the fans.”

Photo: TWTD

woohoo added 20:03 - Jan 23 The manager can be blamed for getting the tactics wrong and not getting his game plan through to the players - as appears to be the case with MM - or just getting it plain wrong (again) - as also appears to be the case. The players do have to take responsibility for getting their basics wrong - after all they are well-paid professionals. Currently they look like they lack confidence and are ripe for being pushed over by any opposition. Time to step up lads. If we see that at PR, we will be right behind you.

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blues1 added 20:09 - Jan 23 People heep going on about Evans not being a football person. Can anyone tell me how many owners of football clubs in this country actually are? Very few, if any. They are all businessmen. Kd states that the players are all giving their all trying to win games. I'm guessing wasn't at Lincoln last Tuesday then? Total nacknof commitment or passion from any of them. He also says the club should Have gone all out for cat 1. They did and missed out by a ridiculous fraction of a point.(about .25 from what I remember). The way our Evans to get the fans back behind the team fully is simple. Sack McCarthy.

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PhilTWTD added 20:10 - Jan 23 Made one error, hadn't realised Kieron is no longer coaching at the academy, although he is still involved as a sponsor. Article amended.
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Lightningboy added 20:15 - Jan 23 Sorry but everyone's entitled to their own opinion...I'm more with what Terry Butcher said last week than with what Kieran Dyer's saying today...if that was them trying their all last week against Lincoln then God help us. There is a reason why the likes of Sears,Berra,Chambers etc etc are playing with zero confidence and that comes from the manager/coaching staff. I watched the story of our 1999/2000 promotion season earlier today on youtube - I wish someone would sit the entire bloody lot of them (owner included) down in front of that to see what this club was once and should be all about.

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Pilgrimblue added 20:18 - Jan 23 As always Surco you've hit the nail. It is good to hear KD views and that he's been at PR to witness the current state of affairs. The fans are long suffering and have shown their passion for their Club. I don't agree that the Fans aren't getting behind the team; the support against Blackburn was great. However they aren't behind MM/ME and if that has an impact on the players well so be it but it's not intended. MM has brought it on himself eg players in wrong positions, too defensive tactics, dropping players for his favourites, bad attitude towards fans et al As for ME, he's failed to invest when team was begging for strengthening at January 2015 & 2016. His chickens have now come home to roost and as always it's the fans who feeling the pain. He sets out a 5 point plan but there's no evidence of it being implemented or that he has grasped the situation. He doesn't seem to care and stands in the background. While I appreciate KD's comments, most other clubs in our position would have sacked their manager by now and given new guy time to turn it around eg Holloway Lambert Bruce could all have been our targets.

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rugbytomc added 20:20 - Jan 23 Good interview. There was also a good article on the Grren'un regarding Mick's PR. I agree with what Dyer has to say. I don't think Mick does himself any favours though which in turn doesn't do the team any favours. If he could just try and appease the fans a bit whether he thinks he should have to or not then he could get to the end of the season and show the chairman that this squad isn't big enough or good enough to get promoted and he now needs some justified investment based on Dyers points. We did play well against Bristol and Blackburn and they were both at home. mick needs to find a way to get more performances like that out of the team and he needs to decide on a style of play for the players to adapt to and become comfortable with and we need a chambo fist pump!

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DurhamTownFan added 20:38 - Jan 23 I'm sorry Kieron, but how is a protest against the owner going to damage the players? They've got to be aware enough to realise that we've got no other choice. the power is ALL in the hands of one man, who clearly doesn't give one about the views of the fans right now. The only way to show our feelings is to protest. Sitting right and getting behind the club the way it is being run right now does NO good at all. It'll just confirm that ME can get away with whatever he wants. I can't believe so many people on here are so blind to what is happening, and sucking up every positive story that comes out of the mouth of a club employee

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Taricco_Fan added 20:42 - Jan 23 That's all well and good, Mr Dyer, but I cannot afford to shell out £30+ a time to watch a dull, negative, tactically inept game of football at Portman Road. It's no fun any more. As much as I want to support the players, the relationship between club and fans is a two-way street.
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Spanishblueblood added 20:48 - Jan 23 Can't wait for the protests to start! We need Mick out, under his leadership we are only headed in one direction and it aint up! Sorry KD but its gone to far and for the sake of ITFC, we need this dinosaur out of our club, before irreversible damage is done and we lose more fans forever!
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DurhamTownFan added 20:55 - Jan 23 Are we really supposed to just sit there and say 'oh yeah, I love my club right now'..? The only things that make me proud to be an Ipswich fan these days are in the past. Owner, manager, tactics, playing style, current line-up: it's all garbage. Love Bart and I love some of the kids, but everything else is garbage. So why should I suck it up and get behind my team? No, I prefer to complain so that the ones in power might realise what an awful job they're doing.

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TimmyH added 20:56 - Jan 23 Keiron says 'I didn't realise things had got that bad' regarding the fans being upset, well this makes me think he hasn't being following the club that closely - I should think every man and his dog whose associated with ITFC knows that there has been discord of late between a fair amount of supporters (certainly after last week) and the board. Maybe it is the time we have to get behind the players but ONLY if MM stops playing a few familiar faces who don't deserve to be starting and stops making strange tactical errors when we're behind. I can get behind the lads but not McCarthy. Anyway Dyer a great product of our youth policy (something McCarthy wants to learn about) - great footballer but not so sure what lies between his ears though.

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bbg added 20:57 - Jan 23 Frustration is understandable but every action has a consequence, so a little thought is required before actions are taken. A new manager comes in now, he will have no opportunity to bring in players, not even loans. He will need time to assess players, get injured players back, have a good look at the youth players. The consequence at this stage of the season, of protesting against our own team/manager/owner is we are encouraging and supporting the opposition, they will be delighted and our team will shrink further. Maybe both Dyer and Butcher were right, it was embarrassing to lose to a non league team (who played very physical & direct football by the way), but I would rather be a laughing stock mid-table in the championship (as we were then) than a laughing stock at the bottom of League 1 or 2, where some clubs have ended up. Supporters can have a big influence as regards which direction we go, so choose your actions carefully and the timing of them. I agree with Dyer, support the team until the end of the season or at least until we are safe.

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Bubsy added 20:58 - Jan 23 Well said Kieron, you have impressed me. IMO lets get behind the boys, they will be aware of the current mood and this effects them already. Boycotts and the like will compound this further and performances will fall through the floor . Lets try something radical, get behind the boys and the coach then take stock at the end of the season.
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Spanishblueblood added 21:02 - Jan 23 Bubsy Where have you been? Performances HAVE ALREADY fallen through the floor, thats the reason for protests
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Help added 21:07 - Jan 23 Kieron. As I am sure you watched the live game and maybe like most town fans I know actually wished for Lincoln to score, because a. They looked more likely, b. Itfc did not and c.no one wanted to sit through another 30 mins of that performance. Yes it is toxic but that is not the fans fault nor the media. That performance is what fans have watched all season.
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ipswichben added 21:09 - Jan 23 Kieron is spot on here. I blame ME far more than MM. We had a very hard working sum of all parts team when reaching the play offs. Now we have half of that team which I believe try 100% but cannot play the type of football fans want to see and the other half of the team try their best but get let down by the others. We need money and new signings to overhaul the team and we don't have it or ME won't give it to MM. Finally someone has made a point about teams like Fulham, Brighton, Reading, Birmingham, Huddersfield spending not much money and doing better than us. Those teams have all spent far more than us. Yes they have sold more valuable players but look at the profit and loss below to emphasise my point. Please check facts. Season 2016/17 Ipswich transfers profit/loss: +£1.56million Brighton transfers profit/loss: -£4.46million Reading transfers profit/loss: -£2.07million Fulham transfers profit/loss: -£2.00million Birmingham transfers profit/loss: -£7.78million Huddersfield transfers profit/loss: -£2.55million

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howdonblue added 21:19 - Jan 23 Some really valid points from kd. Evans is clearly not a football man . But he is supposed to be a buisiness man . And WOW The way he is running our club it's amazing he is worth a The millions he is? He surely does not run his other businesses like he is this one ! Absolute joke ! But one point dyer made saying Mick is not arrogant! Well Kieron if your a legend or not "THE MAN IS AS ARROGANT AS THEY COME "

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MickCuresInsomnia added 21:24 - Jan 23 TALKING ABOUT THE FANS KIERON IS MERELY TALKING ABOUT THE SYMPTOM........THE PROBLEM LAYS AT THE DOOR OF AN OUT OF TOUCH AND COASTING MANAGER AND AN OWNER WHO DOESN'T UNDERSTAND FOOTBALL 👎
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DeanoBlue added 21:32 - Jan 23 Totally agree McCarthy has done great job with no money and Evans shoul cough up like he did with magilton, Keane and jewel as quality costs money, but would that mean MM would stop playing so defensively??? I'm not so sure and it's his tactics that's undone his good work in his 1st 2 seasons, no plan B or C
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blackcat added 21:46 - Jan 23 I think fans have already voted with their feet, the stadium is half empty on a good day,it's only going to get worse and you cannot blame anyone for staying away when to go means losing what could be a days pay or more for some, to watch utter rubbish. As for the players I was applauding the Blackburn result long after the whistle had blown yet only our great goalkeeper Bilakowski returned the favour to the fans.. The others sloped off oblivious to the fans..

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frantblue added 22:09 - Jan 23 Mr dyer has hit the nail on the head for me. We need to support our boys and start singing as a group d as a club support become that 12 the man the players desperately need to go on Mr Evans needs to undo the purse strings and build now for august or we will be league one next year
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legoman added 22:09 - Jan 23 Even Donald makes the odd error Phil, no worries :)
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Westy added 22:31 - Jan 23 As an Ipswich fan of 45 years I have not felt the need to protest before. If there are protests at matches it must be done in such a way that the players know the fans are behind them.
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MicksZzzTactics added 23:12 - Jan 23 Hmmm just go to show that the beloved Mr. Dyer is yet ANOTHER example of someone who was a much much better football player than he is an ehmm "political-correct" activist of sorts!!! :-) lol Full respect for him speaking up though about the current tragic-comical situation here .... just undeniably a tad bit disappointed personally that Kieron doesn't seem to grasp at all! that the vast majority of those 'proper blokes' wearing the once proud and revered 'Shirt' these days --- not to speak of the beyond arrogant & turned utterly clueless and inept Dino!!! --- imho neither are fundamentally deserving of our fans just basic respect nor of us backing them up, especially on both accounts more or less = COMPLETELY UNCONDITIONALLY!!!

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rickoshay2 added 23:27 - Jan 23 He hasn't a clue, he doesn't have to pay to watch that rubbish week in week out, He used to be at the training ground most days, so has probably got his tounge firmly up McCarthy and Conner's backside.He stated that Terry Butchers comments were over the top after the Lincoln game,,Terry was telling the truth and its about time the ITFC elite got their head from their @rse and acknowledge our once great club has a shed load of problems, starting with the owner and manager. We as fans have been more than patient ,even scum fans would have been protesting loudly by now.

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