League 1 - Charlton Athletic vs Ipswich Town Preview & Matchday Thread

[Blue Wilf]

Very sad to see. Who would want to come and play in front of that sort of so called 'fan'? I always find that away games closer to home seem to attract that sort of person - which we could do without as they are rarely (if ever) there on the long trips. Even through the late 70's and 80's when fan behaviour was at its worst, I never experienced that sort of vitriol. I think that any new players/manager and those who are part of this current squad must be questioning why they ever came and whether it is worth staying. I have to say i am quite depressed by it. Sign of the times in society too I guess - the world is not a happy place...

[JohnnyB]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... s-men.html

The video's are quite distressing really.

Honestly, I think that’s disgusting. Abusing Toto who, while he might not be the most skilful player, always gives his heart and soul to the cause. The players did the right thing to come and applaud their endlessly patient fans - it must have taken some bravery to do so but it was so much better to do so than sulking off to the dressing room.

I know I’m not there. I’m 7000 miles away. But I’ve always been proud to follow Ipswich. A decent club who treat managers, players and fans with respect. We’re not Leeds, or Cardiff or Milwall. We’re better than that.

[Blue Wilf]

The other thing that is troubling me is Morsy. He is clearly a good player at this level but seems to get easily agitated and then does silly things. Rather than being a calming influence on the team. He has also said some silly things in my view in interviews and he just does not seem to be the vocal, front of stage, leader that I hoped he would be. I hope it changes but he has not been the Captain I hoped for so far...

[Blue Wilf]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... s-men.html

The video's are quite distressing really.

Honestly, I think that’s disgusting. Abusing Toto who, while he might not be the most skilful player, always gives his heart and soul to the cause. The players did the right thing to come and applaud their endlessly patient fans - it must have taken some bravery to do so but it was so much better to do so than sulking off to the dressing room.

I know I’m not there. I’m 7000 miles away. But I’ve always been proud to follow Ipswich. A decent club who treat managers, players and fans with respect. We’re not Leeds, or Cardiff or Milwall. We’re better than that.

So true, Jonny - I too felt like I was watching one of those videos of Leeds or Millwall that we have all criticised and pointed fingers at on this forum. We are not Leeds or Millwall, but from watching that, it is hard to distinguish it from those scenes we have seen from them...

[Bluemike]

Wilf, I don't know about you but doing the away games with Town is an eye opener, I have said several times in the past that we have a nasty element in our fanbase, thankfully not huge but enough to cause trouble, I've seen it at several grounds like when they attacked Knudsen at Lincoln, we aren't the lovely little innocent club some would suggest.

As to your point about who would want to come here is very relevant cus that is not good what happened last night irrespective of the p*ss poor fare on the pitch.

You also must have read my mind because I was thinking about Morsy last night and I have been a tad underwhelmed as well, it can't be coincidence.

[rossi]

Well last night showed me what a terrible state of affairs the club is in at the mo.

The players just didnt look interested, never first to the ball and constant backward and sideways passing.

I have to question some of the players PC brought in to the club - it's all very well replacing a crap squad, but not with more crap.

Edmundson for me was by far our worst player last night - he looks really uncomfortable on the ball and his first thought is always to get rid of it as soon as possible even if that means playing a colleague into trouble. In so many ways he reminds me of Berra.
Morsey, for me, just has not fulfilled what PC said he would bring us.
Evans and Fraser are just plain useless.
Bonne looks totally disinterested, but this is probably down to pure frustration at getting such poor service.

As somebody else said, Charlton last night played 3-1-4-2 - I don't care what anybody says, 4-2-3-1 is not conducive to attacking football and whoever gets the managers job needs to employ 2 up front

[Bluemike]

Couldn't agree more about the formation, for us at least it just doesn't work, sticking out like a sore thumb. I also agree about Evans & Fraser, just wtf do those Two useless goons offer ? They are both hopeless and have been for weeks.

There is no doubt Morsy is quality but we are not seeing it in his performances or his captaincy atm, been disappointing.

Despite all our well publicised issues we still went 4-2-3-1, and we still had players out of position , while McGreal was never gonna rip up trees he learnt nothing and changed nothing which was disappointing.

I am actually starting to think Ash is right regarding Warnock for the rest of the season, while I really don't want an interim manager we need his vast experience to get us moving again, not to mention some decent signings in January, only someone like him can dig us out of this shambolic mess Cook has left us with.

[JamessB]

Reading McGreals comments after the game doesn't exactly fill you with confidence that things are going to improve any time soon, "It's about character now. You've got to stand up tall, get your chest out and go again, You've just got to take it on the chin and move on. Let's see what they've got come Saturday."

How long do we have to keep hearing this tripe. it's the same old nonsense after every game, what we really need is a formation that works for this squad of players so that we have players playing with confidence and in their correct positions and that's down to the manager to sort out. As already mentioned last night was a free hit for McGreal and seemed the ideal opportunity to try something a little different but what did we do? Same formation, players out of position and the usual awful performance.

Warnock is probably one of the few managers available that has the stature and experience to sort this mess out

[rossi]

Couldn't agree more about the formation, for us at least it just doesn't work, sticking out like a sore thumb. I also agree about Evans & Fraser, just wtf do those Two useless goons offer ? They are both hopeless and have been for weeks.

There is no doubt Morsy is quality but we are not seeing it in his performances or his captaincy atm, been disappointing.

Despite all our well publicised issues we still went 4-2-3-1, and we still had players out of position , while McGreal was never gonna rip up trees he learnt nothing and changed nothing which was disappointing.

I am actually starting to think Ash is right regarding Warnock for the rest of the season, while I really don't want an interim manager we need his vast experience to get us moving again, not to mention some decent signings in January, only someone like him can dig us out of this shambolic mess Cook has left us with.

Agree, and FWIW I think we should appoint Warnock as soon as possible on an interim basis until we can get somebody like Daniel Farke in.
Oh, and I left Edwards out of my player assessment - another totally useless acquisition

[Charnwood]

The only positive from last night is that Charlton were in the same position as us 6 weeks ago, managerless and at an all time low in the clubs history. There is always hope and as a long term admirer of Warnock I would definitely be happy for him to arrive tomorrow. We’d certainly see an improvement on Saturday.

[Bluemike]

The only positive from last night is that Charlton were in the same position as us 6 weeks ago, managerless and at an all time low in the clubs history. There is always hope and as a long term admirer of Warnock I would definitely be happy for him to arrive tomorrow. We’d certainly see an improvement on Saturday.

This is true and as daft as this is gonna sound I firmly believe that player for player our squad is much better than Charltons.

[hallamblue]

We seem to say that every week though and to date it’s rarely been substantiated on the pitch.

We have a good squad, but poor team.

[Charnwood]

We seem to say that every week though and to date it’s rarely been substantiated on the pitch.

We have a good squad, but poor team.

That’s about right Liz.

[ashfordblue]

The only assessment from the Charlton match I can see is hopefully John McGreal has seen those that are trying (Only Walton at the moment) and swap the fullbacks over KVY at LB and Donacien at RB, that should work better, stick Burgess in at CB, Celina, Morsy, Burns, El Mizouni, midfield, forwards Pigott, Chaplin, Jackson.

Sam Morsey floating just in front of the back 3 Leaving Celina down the left El Mizouni centre and Burns down the right

Bonne benched as he's off the boil, Edmundson, Hladsy, Clements, Nsiala, Coulson.

John will have to trial and error with players to find that more settled hard-working blend

[AzzurroMark]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... s-men.html

The video's are quite distressing really.

That is quite frankly awful! Surely (where's Marko when you need him! ) that moron who pushed Walton will never be allowed to blight an ITFC game ever again! How very embarrassing and saddening!

[number 9]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... s-men.html

The video's are quite distressing really.

That is quite frankly awful! Surely (where's Marko when you need him! ) that moron who pushed Walton will never be allowed to blight an ITFC game ever again! How very embarrassing and saddening!

https://the72.co.uk/257290/frustrations ... rontation/

[Bluemike]

Quite why Toto has had to come out and apologise is beyond me, he's a very humble and decent human being so for him to riled up like that would not be without good reason, I bet the powers that be told him to say what he said in the apology

[hallamblue]

I bet it was those same arse holes who attacked McCarthy at Brentford. They should be identified and banned/ for life !

[Charnwood]

Quite why Toto has had to come out and apologise is beyond me, he's a very humble and decent human being so for him to riled up like that would not be without good reason, I bet the powers that be told him to say what he said in the apology

As I’ve said elsewhere that statement was made by Towns PR Team under his name, I doubt very much those were his words.

[Blue Wilf]

Yes, I agree Mike - Toto has been instructed to make his 'apology' when he had no reason to do so. Just makes me feel that the underlying feeling amongst the players and staff cannot possibly be one of togetherness towards to cause - something that Ashton said he asked of each of our new signings. Just what has gone wrong in a few weeks and what a rollercoaster we are on (not a very stable one either!). I felt upbeat in the summer, deflated the first few games, bullish for automatic after Pompey, deflated again just days later, elated at Wycombe, depressed after Rotherham and since then it has been downhill. Now its just a feeling of what on earth is happening and constant uncertainty, along with a feeling of deja vu (like the MM toxicity and when the players and fans were at loggerheads. I long for the Joe Royle days at the moment - let alone the Sir Bobby days! I always said that since the great days of the 70/80's, challenging at the top of the Championship was my favourite time but we feel soooooo far off that right now. I just hope we can start a steady improvement and get back to being a solid team that is respected and can challenge at the top...

[Charnwood]

The problem with some of our fans behaviour Tuesday night is that players won’t want to turn out for us. I’m sure I’ve told this story before, but I always remember one of my former senior golf partners in Leicestershire who used to play for City chatting to me about the negative impact fans can have on players performance. He said when a team is struggling and the fans turn on the team or individuals it gets to a stage when players simply don’t want to be picked especially for hone games. He said the Phsio’s room gets filled with players feigning injury simply trying to avoid being picked, whereas the opposite applies and players hide small injuries to avoid being dropped when the team is playing well and the fans are supportive. He said fans can kill a teams confidence and players start hiding on the pitch not looking for the ball for fear of making a mistake or not shooting but passing for fear of missing a goal. There’s more to this story but I think you’ll already have the jist of it.
For sometime now I’ve thought our fans have contributed to the downfall of our football club, the longer this goes on the more I’ll be convinced of it. Some of our fans are a disgrace.

[Bluemike]

Charny !!!! Thank you !!! You are definitely correct, I too have repeatedly said our fans have been a factor in our demise, we are indeed a disgrace, clearly its only a section but even so.

I will never and have never booed or abused a Town manager or team, yes we all vent off on forums etc, myself very much included but right up to Cook's very last game I applauded him on to the pitch and sung and cheered during the game, sadly there are a hell of a lot of us who can't say the same.

[Charnwood]

I’m actually struggling to feel any real association with our football club at the moment, it just doesn’t feel like ITFC anymore. Does anyone else feel this way, it just feels very strange.

How was your Thanksgiving in the US, Charny? Mine was superb…I got to spend it with both my daughters for the first time in years. While my employment situation is still in dire straits, I can still hold on to those memories. Just like being an ITFC fan, I’ll never relinquish that hope.

Thanksgiving was fabulous No9, my first time with family since Thanksgiving 2019. Unfortunately I only got to see one of my two daughters and family as my youngest moved from Manhattan to Los Angeles earlier this year. I was lucky to be able to watch two Town games whilst I was there and it brought back some memories for my daughter too, her last live Town game was 21 years ago when we went to the Play Off final v Barnsley at Wembley. Now looking forward to my next visit to the US which will be to Los Angeles for a month from mid April to mid May next year to meet my 14 month old grandson for the first time. I’m sure my som in law will have access to League One footie in LA as he’s a massive Charlton fan, thinking of which I owe him a crate of beer after that shambles of a night on Tuesday. Sorry to hear about your employment status 9, that’s never nice to hear, where in the States are you and what industry are you in ?... the problem in the States to me seems that the rich are mega rich and the poor are shockingly poor, but I guess that’s the same the world over. Just hope your situation improves mate. I’m guessing you were following Town as an American Serviceman or are you a British expat living in the US ?

[number 9]

I’m actually struggling to feel any real association with our football club at the moment, it just doesn’t feel like ITFC anymore. Does anyone else feel this way, it just feels very strange.

How was your Thanksgiving in the US, Charny? Mine was superb…I got to spend it with both my daughters for the first time in years. While my employment situation is still in dire straits, I can still hold on to those memories. Just like being an ITFC fan, I’ll never relinquish that hope.

Thanksgiving was fabulous No9, my first time with family since Thanksgiving 2019. Unfortunately I only got to see one of my two daughters and family as my youngest moved from Manhattan to Los Angeles earlier this year. I was lucky to be able to watch two Town games whilst I was there and it brought back some memories for my daughter too, her last live Town game was 21 years ago when we went to the Play Off final v Barnsley at Wembley. Now looking forward to my next visit to the US which will be to Los Angeles for a month from mid April to mid May next year to meet my 14 month old grandson for the first time. I’m sure my som in law will have access to League One footie in LA as he’s a massive Charlton fan, thinking of which I owe him a crate of beer after that shambles of a night on Tuesday. Sorry to hear about your employment status 9, that’s never nice to hear, where in the States are you and what industry are you in ?... the problem in the States to me seems that the rich are mega rich and the poor are shockingly poor, but I guess that’s the same the world over. Just hope your situation improves mate. I’m guessing you were following Town as an American Serviceman or are you a British expat living in the US ?

That’s great to hear! I know it can be difficult to visit family when you live over 5000 miles away. My mum’s from Woodbridge and we were raised in the area. I have dual citizenship, but I’ve spent the last 40 years living in the US. I’ve been an Ipswich fan pretty much my whole life although I favoured Liverpool when I was a little boy. Thanks for your comments on my employment situation. I got laid off in 2020 due to Covid cuts after more than 30 years in a specific profession, and changing careers has been a lot tougher than I envisioned. Anyway, I won’t bore everyone with my personal details. I was just making the point that being an Ipswich fan is as important as family are for me. I hope we’ll become successful again during my lifetime, but I realize that’s a big ask. Have fun in LA mate!

[AzzurroMark]

Charny !!!! Thank you !!! You are definitely correct, I too have repeatedly said our fans have been a factor in our demise, we are indeed a disgrace, clearly its only a section but even so.

I will never and have never booed or abused a Town manager or team, yes we all vent off on forums etc, myself very much included but right up to Cook's very last game I applauded him on to the pitch and sung and cheered during the game, sadly there are a hell of a lot of us who can't say the same.

Totally agree with this and Charny's previous post. Like Mike, i have never booed a Town team or manager from the stands as i realise how much of a negative emotion it is. I always say "if you don't like what you see, keep your money in your pocket and don't go"! In truth, heavily diminishing attendances make more of a statement, than creating a negative or a toxic atmosphere. Not only does the latter get to the players, but i as a fan (and probably a great many more) will stay away if the atmosphere is overly aggressive against the team!