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Am in the 'he's probably done the best he could in the monkey cage, given the standard of chimps available'. Poses the question, how much better might he have done if Chief Chimp had given him more bananas to buy better chimps? But, from listening to the deputy chief chimp over the weekend, that's not gonna happen any time soon. Too much monkey business going on, with lots of internal in-fighting methinks.

That ^^^ post reminds me. I have chocolate, banana flavoured sweets in the glove compartment in the van, given to me by a very nice Polish customer last week. I shall seek those out for 10:30am coffee time. Which begs the question...... Why am I on the TB site at 9:20am......., because I'm a lazy, slacking, bstd.

In fighting, Herforder? Has there been? Not read anything about this.

Get back to work, you idle monkey!

From listening carefully to Ian Milne's recent radio and TV interviews, and having watched both his body language and listened to the conviction with which he spoke, I got the clear message that there had been a fundamental difference of opinion between him and ME on the wisdom of increasing ST prices. As Milne said, it was ME - as the owner - who made the decisions regarding ST policy - the implication being, although not specifically stated, that it was not necessarily what was being recommended, given the risks involved. There was a large element of 'don't shoot the messenger' coming out of Milne's gob!

It's 10:45am. Just ate 8 choc/banana sweets, and I feel sick. Felt a bit sick after 5 of them but couldn't stop.

Thanks for that insight, Herforder. Think quite a few people, instead of throwing derogatory names towards Milne, will probably be wondering what else can he do? He really is essentially just a spokesman.

herforder wrote:Get back to work, you idle monkey!

From listening carefully to Ian Milne's recent radio and TV interviews, and having watched both his body language and listened to the conviction with which he spoke, I got the clear message that there had been a fundamental difference of opinion between him and ME on the wisdom of increasing ST prices. As Milne said, it was ME - as the owner - who made the decisions regarding ST policy - the implication being, although not specifically stated, that it was not necessarily what was being recommended, given the risks involved. There was a large element of 'don't shoot the messenger' coming out of Milne's gob!

From what I have been told from a reliable source (not HP I would add) this was very much the case, but those who gave their opinions on the ST policy were totally ignored.

Whilst I can understand all the good reasons why ME would want to increase ST prices in doing so at a time when the standard of football and entertainment is dire all he will do is trigger a continuous downward spiral.

Less income - even less investment- poorer football - worse entertainment - poorer results - higher prices - Less Income - even less investment etc etc etc....

and so the spiral continues...

As I've said over and over again in this scenario there is no point changing the manager, all that does is stalls the inevitable and eventual relegation.

I don't know the numbers but we must be one of the lowest funded teams in the Championship and I guess any with less funding are probably lower than us in the table and closer to relegation.

I've never been a great fan of Mick McCarthy but I do think he's done wonders to keep us where we are with the limited funds made available to him. For those of you who want him out under our current ownership, be careful what you wish for.

Evans needs to go before McCarthy.

Spot on Charny.

I think Town fans have only in the last few months really cottoned onto the fact that Evans is the major root of the problems at PR.Whilst he remains the owner and unwilling to finance the Club to any meaningful level no 9ne else can do anything .


#EVANSOUT

My concern stems from a scenario whereby ME, for purely business reasons, concludes that he can't continue to fund ITFC to the tune of £6-8M per season - potentially increasing if ST sales fall significantly. Should that happen - and we don't know anything like enough about how he generates cash to cover our running costs, what the real tax situation is and how much of his reported wealth is 'paper' money - and a future investor doesn't materialise, then there must exist the nightmare scenario of administration or, worse, liquidation. High stakes, making MM's situation nothing more than a little local difficulty in comparison.

Town would be wound up I believe, if Evans put us into Administration. As FA ? rules don't permit a club going into administration twice.

And then Liz I suspect M E would have a set of cross hairs laser aimed between his eyes

Also if we did get wound up, we could approach IBC to rent the ground and start up as Ipswich Town 2017, and also as you get wound up your debt goes with the winding up order, you don't want administrators taking over trying to cover the debt as it would take too long, better to be like Pompey fans buy out and start again in the league 2 or the National league, as we have enough quality youngsters to form a good quality None league team, and the if there was an investor who wanted to buy the club, the fans could vet them first to make sure it was genuine and fully backed set of accounts to prove its worth, and honesty, and made to sign an agreement affidavit that no debt would ever incur on the club and ownership would go back to the fans

Fresh start v continued stagnation/relegation under ME and co. Interesting, controversial, but not beyond the realms of possibility.

Gives ME something of a dilemma. Firstly, as a 'big beast' in the business world, with some sort of reputation to safeguard, he would not want to be forever known as the owner who fatally ploughed ITFC into the brown stuff. However, if only able or prepared to continue funding at existing levels, then he will surely be inflicting death by a thousand cuts, with a final demise equally inevitable. Over to you Marcus!

This is all getting totally ridiculous if you ask me.

bluemike wrote:This is all getting totally ridiculous if you ask me.

Spoil sport

Can't see ME leaving anytime soon.

MM seems to have a "Get Out of Jail Free' card by some through ME not giving him money and working wonders on the budget. I think Mick is more than happy to keep on working on a budget as it deflects from his other management requirements.

Best scenario for me is to offload MM in the summer and get a new manager in. All MM should focus on is winning a couple of key games and we should be safe.

The new manager should be given the target of maintaining Championship status AND building for the future (less reliance on 30 something regulars and loanees). I don't think that's an impossible target.

It needs freshening up and we can channel all our venom towards ME, but I can't see him going anywhere. ME + MM next season = same old, same old ... with more chance of relegation and smaller crowds.

For me, MM can stay for the rest of the season - bring in his old guard, do whatever, preach to us how good he is ... just stay in the Championship and then leave!
Not bothered about "be careful what you wish for" - I'm more worried about the known, rather than the unknown.

tangfastic wrote:Can't see ME leaving anytime soon.

MM seems to have a "Get Out of Jail Free' card by some through ME not giving him money and working wonders on the budget. I think Mick is more than happy to keep on working on a budget as it deflects from his other management requirements.

Best scenario for me is to offload MM in the summer and get a new manager in. All MM should focus on is winning a couple of key games and we should be safe.

The new manager should be given the target of maintaining Championship status AND building for the future (less reliance on 30 something regulars and loanees). I don't think that's an impossible target.

It needs freshening up and we can channel all our venom towards ME, but I can't see him going anywhere. ME + MM next season = same old, same old ... with more chance of relegation and smaller crowds.

For me, MM can stay for the rest of the season - bring in his old guard, do whatever, preach to us how good he is ... just stay in the Championship and then leave!
Not bothered about "be careful what you wish for" - I'm more worried about the known, rather than the unknown.

Nowhere in your post do you mention financial backing. Are you therefore suggesting that a new manager be appointed and be expected to achieve the targets you list with same amount of p*ss poor backing that MM has been given in the last couple of seasons.

Don't get me wrong, I am not an MM fan, but I cannot see a decent manager coming to ITFC let alone achieving anything, without receiving considerably more financial resources than has been afforded MM.

Any manager on the same level of backing will be fooked and as that goes we already have the best man available for the job given the situation. It is the p*ss poor football at times that works against Mick and his do not lose mentality, but I suppose this is what you get with the type of player we can afford but he has gone too cautious at times.

I don't think it matters who the manager is anymore. We had our chance in 2014, and ME didn't finance strengthening the squad. MM seemed okay with that, at least in public. Fast forward to 2017; it's now obvious we've regressed. The Championship is now a different monster, and by all accounts (as many of us predicted) we are doomed.

barmy billy wrote:

tangfastic wrote:Can't see ME leaving anytime soon.

MM seems to have a "Get Out of Jail Free' card by some through ME not giving him money and working wonders on the budget. I think Mick is more than happy to keep on working on a budget as it deflects from his other management requirements.

Best scenario for me is to offload MM in the summer and get a new manager in. All MM should focus on is winning a couple of key games and we should be safe.

The new manager should be given the target of maintaining Championship status AND building for the future (less reliance on 30 something regulars and loanees). I don't think that's an impossible target.

It needs freshening up and we can channel all our venom towards ME, but I can't see him going anywhere. ME + MM next season = same old, same old ... with more chance of relegation and smaller crowds.

For me, MM can stay for the rest of the season - bring in his old guard, do whatever, preach to us how good he is ... just stay in the Championship and then leave!
Not bothered about "be careful what you wish for" - I'm more worried about the known, rather than the unknown.

Nowhere in your post do you mention financial backing. Are you therefore suggesting that a new manager be appointed and be expected to achieve the targets you list with same amount of p*ss poor backing that MM has been given in the last couple of seasons.

Don't get me wrong, I am not an MM fan, but I cannot see a decent manager coming to ITFC let alone achieving anything, without receiving considerably more financial resources than has been afforded MM.

The thing is .... we are never going to get financial backing from ME like some of the big spenders. So we might as well accept it. There seems to be this feeling that our league position, style of play is completely related to the budget. Of course it has a massive factor - but big spenders will under-achieve and some small-spenders will over-achieve.

I get the feeling from some that if we offload MM, we are doomed. This man is the only person who can work on this budget.

It might well be true - but there could well be managers out there who see the ITFC job as a 'step up' or their big break in football management and are willing to work on a tight budget with a bit more dynamism and initiative.

On MM's CV - the ITFC job comes well down the list and he seems a little too comfortable 'working wonders on a shoestring budget' , even though that mostly has nothing to do with this team selections and style of play. With money - he would want to play like that anyway.

Would we be 'doomed' if we got another new manager for next season? Not necessarily, and that's down to ME making good decisions (he must have made some to become a billionaire and I think he made a good one with MM at the time). No way would we look for top six - but staying up and trying to improve style of play and integrate youngsters would be a reasonable target. If MM stays for another season, he would only be seeing out his contract next year and trying to safeguard his reputation, rather than try to build a team for the future.

Pragmatism says - ME will stay and won't lavish millions on us - so we'd better accept it. If MM is the only one in football who can work on that budget, then we'd better look to extend his contract then.

tangfastic wrote:
The thing is .... we are never going to get financial backing from ME like some of the big spenders. So we might as well accept it. There seems to be this feeling that our league position, style of play is completely related to the budget. Of course it has a massive factor - but big spenders will under-achieve and some small-spenders will over-achieve.

I get the feeling from some that if we offload MM, we are doomed. This man is the only person who can work on this budget.

It might well be true - but there could well be managers out there who see the ITFC job as a 'step up' or their big break in football management and are willing to work on a tight budget with a bit more dynamism and initiative.

On MM's CV - the ITFC job comes well down the list and he seems a little too comfortable 'working wonders on a shoestring budget' , even though that mostly has nothing to do with this team selections and style of play. With money - he would want to play like that anyway.

Would we be 'doomed' if we got another new manager for next season? Not necessarily, and that's down to ME making good decisions (he must have made some to become a billionaire and I think he made a good one with MM at the time). No way would we look for top six - but staying up and trying to improve style of play and integrate youngsters would be a reasonable target. If MM stays for another season, he would only be seeing out his contract next year and trying to safeguard his reputation, rather than try to build a team for the future.

Pragmatism says - ME will stay and won't lavish millions on us - so we'd better accept it. If MM is the only one in football who can work on that budget, then we'd better look to extend his contract then.

I agree with this completely. We can at least am to be midtable and entertaining without breaking the bank. Others do it.

That is a very good, thought provoking post, Tang.

There probably are other managers who could work with this budget, but it really can't be overlooked that it's close to a League Two budget in the Championship.

For me, I'm totally stuck on ITFC's position. Just can't work out the February form at all. Was it down to Mick? Was it the players overruling the orange tictacs and doing it their own way? Which would be proving they have the ability to perform at the same level as the promotion chasers. Only a fly on the wall (and the players) have the answers as to the question of Micks pre match instructions.

Pre match:
"Great Feb, lads, I'll give you all the credit for that....., but today it's Caaaaaaadiff, do it maaaa way ok. Nine at the back."

Post match, interview:
"No one can explain it really. We set out how we always set out but......., on the day...... bla bla."

(^^^, that's what my fly told me. Can be a wee flying Lyin bstd at times.)

MM is on record as saying - and I believe him - that he is not content with mid-table mediocrity, and to face another season 'fighting fires'. He remains ambitious. Whilst Ian Milne has said that, with the good standard of players we already have, there's no need for ME to invest big on new, better, ones.

And that conflict of views will be central to any future discussion ME has with MM; and to whether an amicable decision is reached that will see MM leaving in the summer, if assurances he will be seeking are not met. Yes, he's said in the past, that he understood the gig when accepting the job, but the grinding and dispiriting nature of this season's overall performances, have clearly taken their toll. Added to which is the recent EADT poll showing that, although most recognised ME's failure to support him financially, most nevertheless felt it was time for MM to move on. In the final analysis it comes down to the owner's ambition and willingness to invest (not recklessly) to achieve them. Marking time, or stagnation, won't be acceptable to MM, the players or the supporters. Whilst it's true that investing in any team's squad doesn't guarantee success, without doing so reduces significantly any chance that it might; and in an uncompromising league, where success or failure is often down to fine margins, over-achieving teams will inevitably be found out.

As for ME's position and true motives in owning the Club - the fact is we don't honestly know. Equally, as an astute businessman, if an opportunity arose to dispose of the club to his advantage, then I doubt if he wouldn't at least consider it.

With ST packs now hitting doormats, all of this gives much food for thought.

marko69 wrote:For me, I'm totally stuck on ITFC's position. Just can't work out the February form at all. Was it down to Mick? Was it the players overruling the orange tictacs and doing it their own way? Which would be proving they have the ability to perform at the same level as the promotion chasers. Only a fly on the wall (and the players) have the answers as to the question of Micks pre match instructions.

I still think the answer is the midfield combination.

February's midfield worked well. Against Reading after 20 minutes our midfield was Diagouraga, Huws and Ward. The same 3 played against Villa and Brighton. For the Leeds and Norwich games, Skuse came in for Diagouraga and all still looked good. Essentially one defensive midfielder and 2 more attacking. And mostly without Skuse.

But in March, The Skuse -Ward- Huws combination started against Brentford but lasted less than an hour. Diagouraga came on for Ward after 57 minutes and we are back to 2 defensive midfielders again. MM stuck with this, playing both Skuse and Diagouraga against Wolves, and Barnsley. All this despite Ward & Huws looking like an effective partnership.

The Skuse – Diagouraga partnership is similar to the Skuse - Douglas pairing. It just doesn't work. Too defensive. Too slow. Too lacking in creativity.

I believe the key to the next 2 games is the midfield. Does MM play Ward and Huws. and go for the win, or play Skuse and Diagouraga and play not to lose? That decision might not only affect our survival but also season ticket sales and Mick's own personal survival. I'd definitely go for the Ward-Huws option. Out of the other 2, Skuse is possibly more solid defensively but Diagouraga poses more of a threat on the ball as he can make a telling pass. Against struggling teams I'd be tempted to start Diagouraga and tak the game to the opposition from the start. But w all know that Skuse is Mr. Undroppable.

For me it is 100% certain that Skuse will start, I don't think it is even debatable where MM is concerned, I also think he will definitely bring Huws back in and so he should, in the short time he has been here he has proved to be a important cog in the wheel. Ward or Diagouraga that is the question ???

Whether MM goes for a 3 or 4 at the back, or one of two defensive midfielders, if the players put in the sort of poor defensive performances as in the second half against Cardiff, and in too many other matches throught the season, then the screw turns that much tighter. In the position we're in, a minimum of 4 points from the next two home matches is essential. But the team, as a whole, need to give more.

bluemike wrote:For me it is 100% certain that Skuse will start, I don't think it is even debatable where MM is concerned, I also think he will definitely bring Huws back in and so he should, in the short time he has been here he has proved to be a important cog in the wheel. Ward or Diagouraga that is the question ???

We all know he will play Skuse. He always does. But Skuse and Discouraga just doesn't work. Skuse plays further forward but isn't good enough in that role. If he plays both of them then relegation looms. It's that simple.