Not quite sure why people are gutted we didn't sign. Could turn out to be a good player but a way off for me but best of luck to the boy.

rfretwell and skip73 - There's little point in playing ifs and buts, what happened happened and Mick is in the past now. Sure, the two managers after him were far worse but I'm hopeful Cook will turn things around.

I guess time will tell who is right but If Mick is still managing Cardiff and gets them promoted next season I will be the first to admit I was wrong - unlike some people on here.

d77sgw - your comment ‘ Sure the football was cr@p, and we were clearly going nowhere' says it all really.

I supported Mick right up until a few games before he left but it became increasingly apparent that his position was untenable and that he had to go more for his own sake than anything else.

I agree with you on that ringwood. I just guess, in retrospect, 'nowhere' was better than 'plummet like a stone'. Like you I think it was apparent that he had to go at the time, and to be honest I was happy to see him go - but it was the lack of support from the club hirearchy that let it get to that stage. He was playing cr@p football because it was the only way to grind out results with the limited resources at his disposal. And it became painfully apparent very soon after how effective he had been. I was wrong, sacking him wasnt the solution.

As for those wondering why we're talking about this, its pretty bloody obvious:
1) Its in the context of him just signing one of 'our' players, so has direct relevance right now
2) The recent Alan Lee interviews have revived interest in the issue and
3) Events since his departure have cast a long shadow. Losing him was a pivotal moment in our club's recent history.

Of course, we need to move forward, and get behind Paul Cook and the new executive team. I've no doubt that the current malaise owes much to Marcus Evans' lack of leadership, and can only hope with a more professional set up we can once more get Portman Rd rocking. NOTHING would make me happier.

Mick will get a team full of hard physical no nonsense players at Cardiff...but as we all know not pretty to watch but might get the job done.

Got to laugh at the posts saying what a good job MM did. After 5 years he took us to our worst position in 50 years. How on earth is that good?

Well for a start that's just rubbish. In his final season he took us to 12th (above Norwich). In 2011-12, the last season before MM joined we finished 15th. We then finished 14th following season, MM having joined when we were rock bottom. He also had comparably less resources in terms of squad cost (wages -18th in the division in his final season) than probably any Ipswich manager (in relative terms) of the last 50 years. To blame him for any underperformance is laughable.

D77sgw. I believe in 16/17 we finished 16th? Any thoughts?

Another strange one this - the lad has tremendous potential, and would have improved on last season, therefore I would have thought a definite to be signed by us on a permanent full contract for this season.
Unless things change and the incoming door opens real soon now, we are going to be short of quality in some seriously key positions come August .... !!!
Things can change rapidly, but once July is here, it may well become squeaky bum time at this rate.
Let's just hope the New Regime know what they are doing behind the scenes ... !!!
Time will reveal, as always.

Sure, braveblue, thoughts are in the final two sentences. If you really want to talk about league finishing places, we finished 15th three times 2006-2012, so its not as if finishing 16th was an outlandish new low. From 2009 until McCarthy was appointed in 2013 we finished 15th, 13th,15th and 14th. In his first three full seasons we then finished 9th, 6th and 7th - before one season of reverting to type - and then finishing 12th, the season he was sacked. To suggest he was 'responsible' for us hitting some kind of 'worst position' just ignores the facts - finishing positions on average significantly improved during his tenure. And that was despite the chronic lack of investment in the squad - which was one of the cheapest in the whole division. By all means slag off the football - which was sh1te - but its inarguable fact that he got results, and his success has become only more painfully apparent in the three seasons since he left.

Not likely to ever be good enough to play in the Prem due to his lack of ball-playing technical skill, but I'm sure Mick will do a good job in turning him into a solid Championship CB.