Hurry Up Harry

ITFC 1-2 Charlton September 22nd 2012 

Is this the end for ITFC and Paul Jewell? 

Following yet another home defeat (this one was the worst Town performance that I have seen this season) In his post match interview on Radio Suffolk he came across like a man carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, saying that he wouldn't walk away from the job but sounding like he wanted somebody to thank him for his services!

The dreaded vote of confidence

Storm clouds gather above Portman Road

Going into the game he was forced into changes, with Michael Chopra and Paul Taylor both out injured in came JET and Jason Scotland, Andy Drury replaced Guirane N’Daw and new loan signing Danny Higginbottom was named on the bench. It was a similar story to Wednesday night, goalless at the break then Ipswich making it far to easy for their visitors to score. 

Charlton were 2-0 up within seven minutes of the restart, skipper Johnnie Jackson and then former loanee and alleged Jewell target Ricardo Fuller scoring the goals leaving the home side a mountain to climb in the process. Scotland did provide a ray of light pulling one back, all be it with a big deflection but that was it really. Things got so desperate for Jewell that he brought on Higginbottom in the dying minutes and played him up front!

Per match I read on twitter (not one of PJ's favourite things) that three major bookmakers have stopped taking bets on Harry Rednapp becoming Town's next manager, time will tell if theres any truth in it. He will want a decent sized war chest if he does come that's for sure. I like Paul Jewell, I don't think that he has always had the full backing of the powers that be in his transfer dealings, having been left red faced on more than one occasion but if he is as deflated as he sounded yesterday then perhaps a change is needed in order to kick start our season.
To quote my mother "we'll see"

Just to put all of the above into context, yesterday the Town fans sang Kiwomya, My Lord in tribute of their former favourite frontman who tragically lost his six year old son during the week, the team also wore black arm bands in his honour.

The playlist

Hurry Up Harry by Sham 69 - If there's going to be a change let's do it quickly

I'm Not Down

ITFC 0-2 Wolves September 19th 2012

Football under floodlights

I've come to the conclusion that I must be wearing "rose tinted glasses" whenever I watch Ipswich play. I didn't understand the doom and gloom around Portman Road on Wednesday night, we don't seem able to put our chances away at the moment and it is costing us dearly. The negativity has started up again since the league table came out showing us one from the bottom following Saturdays defeat at Boro. 

 

"Come on lads, let's not lose again"

Night games usually generate a bit of noise but there was a distinct lack of atmosphere amongst the small crowd of 16,540. Town looked a bit wobbly in the opening minutes but grew into the game and in the second half they were the team on top creating loads of chances but it all went tits up when Tommy Smith bizarrely turned Bakary Sako's free kick into his own net midway through the half. Wolves added a second goal with a long range shot from substitute Tongo Doumbia which completed a depressing night for the home fans. There were chants of "Jewell out" and the team were booed off at the final whistle.

Not pretty reading

Things didn't improve on the drive home, the "moan in" was particularly negative with callers baying for Jewell's head and questioning the passion and effort of the team etc, etc.

Max and I had our own debate at home over a cup of tea and digestive biscuits, my conclusion was that I can't put up with another shit season at Portman Road and it's not just what happens on the pitch but in the ground, it's meant to be fun!! 

Playlist

I’m Not Down by The Clash - I could have chosen Heaven (Evans) Knows I’m Miserable Now by The Smiths or Miss You Nights (Chances not taken) by Cliff Richard but they are not songs I wanna be hearing.

Starman

Middlesborough 2-0 ITFC September 15th 2012

After 101 days of work, rest and play in America the "Evening Stars" top pundit returned to Kesgrave in time for the 280 mile trek to Teeside. Max had barely been back in the country two hours before he was tweeting "my mate" Dave Gooderham to be the "Star Fan." 

Sharon had volunteered us to help the RNIB runners at The Great North Run so imagine my delight when the fixtures were released and Middlesborough away was scheduled for the previous day.

We left Ipswich at 7.30am and had a clear run up north arriving four hours later. First on the agenda was a visit to the unique looking Tees Transporter Bridge which carries cars and passengers across the river in a gondola. It was featured in a series of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet where Oz and the boys dismantle it and sell it to an Indian tribe in Arizona.

The Transporter Bridge

A ride in the Gondola - not quite Venice

The Riverside

The Riverside Stadium is another one of those modern bowl shaped stadiums, opened in 1995 it has a capacity of 34,988. It was sparsely populated on Saturday with just under 15,000 fans in attendance and in truth I wasn't that surprised by the lack of atmosphere generated by the home fans, every time I watch a Boro game on TV it comes across as dead.

Town gave a debut Guirane N’Daw and although he looked a bit rusty at the start of the game he looks like he may well prove to be a decent signing. Ipswich were edging things in the first half until they gifted Boro a chance to score which they took with a good finish from Luke Williams following a sloppy pass from Andy Drury in midfield.

N'Daw ready for his debut

Not many fans inside

For the first fifteen minutes after the break the home side had their best spell of the match and looked likely to extend their lead but credit to Town they got themselves back in the match and looked very capable of snatching a draw. Deep into stoppage time Ipswich had a free kick on the edge of the Boro box, with everybody pushed up for it except for Scott Loach. The Boro keeper Jason Steele collected Carlos Edward's floated effort and quickly released debutant Mustapha Carayolhe who was able to run with the ball unchallenged before neatly finishing past Loach, putting the result beyond doubt.

I was amazed to learn that Ipswich are now 23rd in the table!

Last throw of the dice 

For a while in the first half of the game both sets of supporters sang "Justice for the 96" in support of the families of the 96 Liverpool fans who died at Hillsborough on Apri 15th 1989. It has taken them 23 years to get the truth told of what really happened on that awful day. It is both a disgrace and shameful that the police and politicians tried to cover up the errors made that day and then go on to blame the supporters of being responsible for their own deaths. 

I can remember that day very clearly, we were buying a bike seat for our then eighteen month year old son Sam. We heard on the car radio that there were crowd problems at the F.A. Cup semi-final at Hillsborough, when we got home we then watched in shock those horrific events unfold live on TV.

Perhaps the saddest factor from that era are the cages that were erected at football grounds to keep rival thugs apart and off the pitches, I can remember being at matches where rival fans spent an entire game taunting, spitting and throwing sharpened coins, darts etc at each other. By 1989 football hooliganism was on the wain and it was slowly becoming safer to attend matches for true football fans.

Is it possible that without those cages at the Hillsborough disaster may have been avoided? There was a similar incident in the 1957 semi-final between Man Utd v Birmingham at Hillsborough with overcrowding in the centre pen except that there were non fences and supporters were directed to the outer pens and even to other areas of the ground thus avoiding a crush.

The most frustrating thing I remember from that day is seeing all of those fans squashed up against the fence unable to move, without it they could have been evacuated onto the pitch. We should also remember that without the hooligans there would have been no need for fencing and cages. Those "fans" responsible for the erection of fencing at football grounds should also feel shame for what happened that day. That said nothing can excuse the lack of planning, crowd control, leadership and the subsequent cover up which went all the way to the top, possibly even the then Prime minister Margeret Thatcher. I really admire the fight of the families to get their justice, I watched those events happen that day and to my own shame have since wondered if there was any truth in the other version of events, I'm glad that the truth is now coming out. 
Playlist

Starman by David Bowie - Max the fan

Cocaine In My Brain

ITFC 2-2 Huddersfield September 1st 2012

They say that a week is along time in politics, well that saying could easily describe what has happened to Ipswich in the last seven days. Last Friday we signed midfielder Guirane N’Daw from St Etienne on loan for the season, too late for the alarming 6-0 reverse at Blackpool. The team stayed up north and regrouped for the midweek "Capital One" cup game at League One side Carlisle three days later only to throw away a one nil lead away in the 90th minute and then go on to lose the tie in extra time. All of my early season belief was wiped away and a feeling of déjà vu returned!

On Wednesday after agreeing a fee with Peterborough we had Paul Taylor and George Byod down at Portman Road for a look round and medical only to learn later they had both turned the move down. 

The next day we learnt that the club had agreed to release both Damian Delaney and Ryan Stephenson from their contract's and later on that night we found out that Paul Taylor had signed a deal to join us and that Daryl Murphy was on his way down from Celtic to sign another season long loan. 

Friday, deadline day Cheick Kourouma signed a one year deal having made a trip back to France to sort out existing paperwork thus ensuring that's he was a free agent. Alarmingly there were no centre half signings although PJ has intimated more signings will follow next week - loan deals leading to permanent contracts when the window reopens in January.

Bikes should be safe!

So there was renewed enthusiasm for Saturday's match v Huddersfield especially when I learnt that Jordan Rhodes had been sold to Blackburn for £8,000,000 (which means a nice little sell on fee coming our way) and so therefore wouldn't be facing us!

It was quite a warm day so we decided to be good and cycle to the match, locking our bikes up outside the Police Station in Civic Drive. Murphy and Taylor were both named in a different looking lineup along with Jack Ainsley, stepping in for the injured Carlos Edwards at right back, N'Daw was named on the bench.

There was another good atmosphere and decent game at Portman Road against the division one playoff winners who took the lead through Adam Clayton in the first half. Ipswich hit back after the break, stand in skipper Luke Champers scoring his first goal for the blues from close range before Michael Chopra lifted the ball over the advancing Alex Smithies in the Terriers goal to give us the lead. The visitors hit back when on-loan Canary James Vaughan finished off a good move. Chopra then came close to giving us back the lead only to see his shot hit the post, Huddersfield then had their chance to take the lead from the penalty spot but Scott Loach made a fantastic save turning Vaughan's effort onto the post. So the match finished up with honours even which was probably the right result and a very enjoyable afternoon was made even better with an extended ride home through the countryside!

Playlist

Cocaine In My Brain by Dillinger - New signing Paul Taylor was banned for six months after testing positive for using Coke!