Short lived celebrations in Huddersfield as Town 'stop the rot'

On Saturday, I headed to Huddersfield fully expecting to see Ipswich lose. It's an occupational hazard when you are a Town fan.

Town had lost four of their last five games (five from six if you include the cup exit at Portsmouth), a poor run of form that has seen a large number of fans and even boss Mick McCarthy fearing 'our play off hopes are slipping away'. Add to that the memory of a disappointing defeat last season at the John Smith's stadium that saw our hopes for promotion very nearly crushed and you can see why a defeat felt inevitable to me.

So, to be honest, I felt a little numb heading to catch the train back to Leeds after the game: I hadn't been at all prepared for the joy of seeing my fourth away win of the season and, of course, the famous Luke Chambers' fist pump.

I think I was in shock. Sadly this wasn't because we'd performed like a promotion chasing side, scoring with ease and playing our opponents off the field. The shock was simply because the previous visit to Huddersfield had been such a terrible experience and, in recent weeks, us Town fans have become rather accustomed to expecting the worst.

You might think then that our loyal supporters would be over the moon with the three points, particularly as the match had been billed by so many as 'must win' (even at this early point in the season). Alas, that doesn't seem to be the case.

I felt a little deflated when I found that even before I had returned home a number of social media users seemed to be belittling the performance already, angry that we hadn't produced a Barcelona-esque performance in this vital Championship tie.

I exaggerate, of course, but it was disappointing and the low mood seems to have continued among a few during the following days as well.  I mean, come on, are we not allowed at least a 24 hour period to bask in the enjoyment of a victory before we are forced back to earth with the reality of the precarious position we find ourselves in?

I ask myself, why are some of our fans feeling this way? Why would you not just be happy with three points away from home to 'stop the rot' of the recent bad form?

Well, they can't really be blamed, it wasn't the greatest game of football I've ever seen. The match report stats speak for themselves:

Shots on goal: Huddersfield - 22, Ipswich - 6
Shots on target: Huddersfield - 5, Ipswich - 1
Possession: Huddersfield - 67%, Ipswich - 33%

Viewed in that format, the lack of shots on goal is really worrying and adds to a trend that we have seen in recent matches: against Hull we had not one shot on target (although Daryl Murphy did hit the inside of the post).

We seemed to struggle going forward, that much is clear from the numbers, and, in the first half at least, I personally felt the defence allowed Huddersfield to come too far forward before making any challenges.

A nervy one goal lead was all we really deserved and for the duration of the second half you could sense that the away end were expecting an equaliser at any moment.

But that equaliser didn't come. We defended confidently and, despite the lack of activity going forward, I did feel we looked the stronger side. It seems to have been easy for some to overlook these points, as well as the fact there were some very good individual performances:

Murphy's assist for the goal was fantastic, beautifully taken and controlled with a pinpoint pass to Pringle for the winner. It was testament to how much of an influcence he was on the game and it was the first time I have seen him play that well so far this season (with the exception of Rotherham and Charlton, where he was phenomenal). Hopefully this is something that he can now keep up, too often I've seen comments that he has been invisible in our matches and he clearly hasn't hit the form we so adored last year.


Bialkowski once again turned in a performance that looks set to see him named as Town's 'Player of the month' for February. Bart kept us in the game, something that has become a habit since his return to the side, with some heart-stopping saves. Early in the first half, he faced strongly into a one-on-one situation with Nakhi Wells and stopped the shot with his legs, what a very different game it might have been without his input.

Though I'm happy to see such great performances from our big Pole in the goal, I'm concerned by how often we seem to be saying 'the keeper saved our skin today', with Gerken in previous games as much as with Bart this month. What has happened to the solid defence that we had last season?

On Saturday, Berra was okay for the most part but made some terrible errors when clearing the ball and I felt Knudsen stepped in to save him a few times. Smith made no obvious errors during the game but he was perhaps a little too quiet for my liking, while a Chambers error just in front of the goal late in the second half had my hands covering my eyes.

However, Knudsen had the best game I have seen him play in a Town shirt so far. Strong on the left and stepping in with confidence when needed to clear the ball, he still has a tendency to 'hoof' the ball far and high up the wing, whether there is a player there to collect it or not. But he was hard working and reliable, the pure passion on his face as the referee blew his whistle in the 95th minute was clear to see, something that has certainly endeared me to him. I know you can't win games on passion alone, but I do believe you should be grateful when you can see that it is so very clearly there.

Such passion, of course, could also be seen among over 900 fans in the away end. The final ten minutes were a familiar slog of nerves, with half an eye on the clock counting down behind us.

As we neared the final whistle, a repeated round of 'Singing the Blues' roused the crowd to see the boys safely past that final whistle with three points in the bag. It was one of those moments that make me proud to be an Ipswich fan and will be firmly placed in my bank of away day memories.

Pure relief followed at the final whistle and a somewhat subdued fist pump due to the way in which we had managed victory. A friend said to me as we were leaving the stadium that he thought we had earned that win... 'but my god it was boring'. A perfect summary in my opinion: It wasn't pretty, but we achieved what we set out to do, probably more so, and you can't ask for more than that.

My friend's thoughts were echoed by a Huddersfield fan who I spoke to after that game. Understandably, he was disappointed that they had come away empty handed, but not a bad word was said about McCarthy's side. He told me he felt we had played intellegent football: 'you knew our weaknesses and you played to those'.According to him, the stronger side won in the end: it was a kinder report than I've heard from several Town fans since the end of the game and I'll happily take it.

No, we didn't play the prettiest of football.

Yes, we should be putting bottom half teams like Huddersfield in their place if we want to have a serious go at this promotion race.

But it was, after all, a win and three points. Three points that keep us well within the race for the play offs (particularly with Birmingham, Derby and Preston all losing).

All we can do is take one game at a time and that, my friends, means we achieved our goal for this weekend. Can we just be happy about that until the next one please?

Reading an all too familiar story at Portman Road

The fairy tale season for Ipswich Town has taken a further turn of worry this week, with the feeling of disappointment and slight despair becoming a little too familiar. We had become somewhat accustomed to the good run of form that saw us reach as high as second in the Championship on Boxing Day. But we were cautiously so because, as Ipswich fans, we're used to the nail biting twists a season inevitably brings. Still, before the game on Saturday my friends were saying to me, "maybe, just maybe Amy. This is our year". What I don’t understand, is why we appear to be such a different side to the squad that saw just two defeats in 22 games and only one home defeat since August? It’s virtually the same players, so what has changed for us to go from beating promotion favourites Boro, to losing to fourteenth placed Reading? Since the start of 2015, our results have been slipping and all too often we’ve come away from the match saying ‘it just wasn’t our day’ (I refer here specifically to Rotherham away and Reading at home). That’s all well and good, but how many times can we think that? Sometimes you just have to grab the royals by their crown jewels make it your day. So, what did go wrong on Saturday? In my humble opinion, a number of factors played a part: the first being was the absence of David McGoldrick. Whilst it's true he isn’t a prolific goal scorer, something we were warned about by Forest fans, he does have a huge influence on games. He controls the game in that final third by keeping the ball on the ground and passing it around cleverly to create chances. Without him, we seemingly had no control at that end of the pitch, no plan going forward. Balls were just 'hoofed' forward to Murphy, who was clearly clearly was experiencing a 'it just isn't my day' performance. This for me was the second factor which influenced our defeat, and will have been in no small part to the protective gear he was wearing on his face. Now, it would be pretty mean of me to not feel any sympathy for him with relation to the mask. I mean, the man was a hero last week playing on despite a broken nose during the match against Fulham. But, I felt it distracted him on Saturday by making him hold back and there's no point punting balls up front to someone who can't play for headers due to an injury and piece of kit he's not yet used to. He and Sears both missed clear cut chances early on, which might have changed the game completely - much like Daryl did at Rotherham. From another point of view though, credit needs to be paid to Reading for a strong defence that never really gave us the room to breathe. For the first half of the match they constantly had ten men defending in the box, preventing us from pulling back that one goal deficit. Mick McCarthy referred to them as parasites in his post match interview, for breeding off every mistake and sticking to us to stop us playing. But it's his job to make sure we're the ones controlling the game, not the opposition. Teams like Reading are increasingly showing they have worked out how to play against us, perhaps that is the difference between our team now and the one two months ago. We need a comeback, a plan B. And with that we come to the final factor that inifluenced our most recent defeat: the lack of confidence. The goal we conceded was poor and against the run of play, but it showed three defenders looking very frustrated with their keeper as he was perhaps a little slow to react to a shot from the lively Mackie. It was sad to see from a back four who had been so solid earlier in the season, when Luke Chambers was a regular in the centre. To my mind, Mick has two tasks ahead of the match against Birmingham: 1. To reintroduce Parr, who looked lively as a substitute on Saturday, and allow Chambers to return to the centre 2. To reinstill that confidence that saw is in a dream land of promotion parties and fist pumps Articles today suggest he will make more than one change due to the large number of games in the next two weeks. But those are the only two I ask for. Because, one thing's for sure, we head into tonight's match with one eye on Sunday - a win tonight would set us up nicely with the confidence needed for a derby say win, but a defeat would surely lead to the fourth defeat to our bitter rivals in a row. Enjoy the match if you're on your way and tweet my your thoughts at 9:30! @tractorgirlamy8

My China Town anniversary

It was a Friday evening, the day my life was changed forever.

On 5th August 1994, I vividly remember my Dad leading me by the hand down a dusty path surrounded by lots of men, all laughing and joking. It was only a small crowd that day (compared to the 20 thousand plus I would become used to at Portman Road), but the atmosphere felt exciting and I was instantly hooked.

That dusty pathway lead to the Abbey stadium, home to Cambridge United who were that night playing host to local top tier side Ipswich Town. Though I'd lived in Cambridge for two years and I was to grow up in the city, Ipswich was my home town and I had inherited the team from my Dad (despite his father being a Narwich City man). I'd seen my Dad head off to watch the Blues when I was younger, but today I was joining him for the first time.

My Mum has joked that she sometimes wishes she'd put her foot down and refused to let her daughter become part of that world. Some Saturdays I wish she hadto be honest, as the years that have passed since that first match have been filled with mixed emotions, but then I remember they have also given me some wonderful friends and great memories.

The result that night could not really have set me up much better for a lifetime of supporting Town: with Cambridge going one nil up inside the first five minutes, Simon Milton scored the equaliser on 6 minutes. I was so excited by the noisy start to the game.

The score remained the same until 45 minutes but soon after half time there was another goal - all around us fans in the family stand jumped up cheering and for a few moments I joined them, only to feel my Dad gently pulling me back down and explaining quietly it was Cambridge that had scored. The teams had swapped ends at half time and, being only 10, I hadn't understood that!

The game finished 3:1 and, as I say, was a good premonition of the ups and downs to come. The simple stands at the Abbey were a far cry from the glamour of the ties I would experience less than ten years later at Wembley and the San Siro, but to this day it is those smaller venues that I enjoy the most and I'm sure that has something to do with that first game that I loved so much.

When I look back, it's interesting to think that Ipswich Town has been the one of the most consistent things in my life. Friends, partners, cars and even homes have come and gone and I've grown up and moved on, learning from each. But, aside from my family, Town are the only thing that was there 20 years ago that I love just as much now and I still have to rely on today.

If I have a rubbish day, that football team are still there for me to immerse myself in and let those worries wash away for 90 minutes (even on the days when the football itself is just as rubbish). And often the good days I've had over the past two decades have been basically caused by that team: fantastic away days, a trip down with my Dad who I don't get to see so often nowadays and even part of a new tradition with my boyfriend of placing a bet on whose team will finish higher in the league at the start of each season - "we play for the pride", we told the bookies yesterday!

What's been the biggest learning curve for me is that, despite the loyalty for my beloved Ipswich never changing, the way in which I support them has. There was a day, in my over ten years as a season ticket holder, where I wouldn't have missed a home game and the thought of watching on television turned my stomach. Now, though there is still nothing better than the feeling of watching them live, I've learnt you have to enjoy supporting then in whatever way you can.

This season, I aim to actually go to around 7 or 8 games, one a month with the exception of August where I am on holiday and at the MotoGP. In years gone by I'd have scolded myself, but this year I know it is right for me and my personal life.

20 years on and I love the Town as much as I did at that first game.

I'm grateful to everyone who's been a part of the memories, both on and off the pitch, and to the people who have put up with my 20 year long obsession over my one true love - Ipswich Town.

I'm now off for a meal to celebrate my china anniversary with a lovely meal and a drink or two...

Can the Championship be 'easily navigated by throwing millions of quid at a club'

The Ipswich Town website currently display a SkyBet competition, fans can enter for the chance to win their club £250 thousand pounds to spend on transfers.

Whilst it isn't a vast amount of money,  you would need to win it 44 times to purchase stirker Ross McCormack for your team, it could go quite some way to boosting Mick McCarthy's apparent budget spend this summer.

Much has been said over recent years of Marcus Evan's lack of spending on the squad, particularly since McCarthy has taken over. With an approach of focusing on freebies and lower wages, it seems the club is being run in a very stringent way, too stringent some say. This last statement is something that amazes me, particularly considering the position we found ourselves in following relegation from the Premier League.

The title of this blog is a quote from a recent post on website TWTD, 'A Lack of Spending Will Curtail Progress', which I felt compelled to respond to. I know there are some around who would prefer to see us spend more money on transfers but, whilst I respect their opinion, I find the notion that not doing so will lead to an end to our progress far too simplistic. 'Money doesn't buy you happiness, as they say And, to take the argument further - do we even want it to be true that the only way to succeed in football is to have cash?

The catalyst for the article is the recent £11 million sale of big Ross McCormack from Leeds to Fulham. Whilst I think McCormack could be a great player at a club without the backstage dramas of his former team, I could never see this as a good deal nor one that leads the way for many more big buck purchases in our league.

No, £11 million for a player to move to a fellow Championship club is ridiculous. £11 million for a Championship club to pay for any player is ridiculous and surely only possible due to the parachute payment.

I'd be missing the point if I thought that was the full argument; the discussion itself is a comparison between that sale and Mick McCarthy's own recent declaration that he expects to be relying on freebies and loans again this year. It's a daunting prospect of course, but does it really spell the end to the progress we've seen in the past season?

The intended approach to strengthening our squad is no different to that of last summer. Mick McCarthy has built the current squad from out of contract or cheap players and those bargains took us to ninth place in the league last season and very close to the play off places. To my mind, there's no reason to assume the same cannot be true for this year.
Out of contract players or those demanding a low fee do not necessarily equate to dodgy or poor quality players. David McGoldrick and Luke Chambers (though admittedly the latter was purchased by Paul Jewell) were both straight from the bargain bucket and look what they have achieved at Portman Road so far, both regulars in the first team and McGoldrick, arguably, the most key player in our squad.

'McGoldrought', as he was less than affectionately known at his previous club Nottingham Forest, had been sent on loan and written off by fans as past his best. Meanwhile our fist pumping right back had also lost friends at the club as he became an on pitch scapegoat for the issues taking place off it. My point being, neither one cost £11 million - yet neither one will find it hard to make his way into our first team this year - we didn't need to spend money on them.

By the writer's own admission, 'Mick didn't have money to spend last season and has improved the club dramatically'. What is there to suggest spending money, a change in habit for us, would put a stop to the progress we have already made?

Outside of Suffolk, plenty of clubs have shown that large wallets do not equal instant success. Portsmouth are the best example of this, but QPR also show what a gamble it is to do that. It paid off for them, but it so very nearly didn't. As a neutral, I love to watch the play offs because they are so full of drama. But the reason for that is that they are so unreliable, they are one hell of a gamble for a club who risk going out of business should they fail. That unpredictability of the play offs is not a risk I would want to take with Town.

The article on TWTD points to recent clubs that have been promoted and claims that almost all of them have spent money to achieve this, but this statement is far too simplistic for me. Last year alone explains this a little further...

Following our match against Leicester City last season, where the soon to be promoted Foxes displayed the quality of football that would make them champions, I commented that the gap in quality most likely showed the gap in the value of each team. Very quickly I received a response from one of their fans pointing out that, actually, that spending had been in the years previous and the team playing that day had been with them some time.

I thought it was a valid point, cast your mind back to 2011, when Sven Goran Eriksson was at the healm and the club, spending hefty amounts of cash, seemingly believing this was the key to success. We riducled the fact that they didn't achieve automatic promotion and laughed at their failed attempt.

The truth is, that side did become the best in the league and probably would not have been had they not had the high budget to start with. But, they became what they did after two or three years of playing together and growing as a team and they deserve credit for that, not simply being written off as only being there as a result of the cash.

Fast forward to 2014 and the situation might have been different for the side, as the Financial Fair Play rules come in to play - and that's the situation we're in. Throw money at a team and you cannot guarantee they'll become Championship beaters in the first season, as shown by Leicester's long term development and QPR's gamble in the Play Offs. Fail in your mission and you risk huge fines and transfer embargoes, two things that absolutely would 'curtail Mick's progress'.

Aside from that, I always feel some fans are missing the point when it comes to FFP. The point for me is not about sticking to the rules for fear of the punishment, but because you know that running the club in this way is absolutely the right and sustainable way.

At over £80 million in debt, the option to speculate to accumulate simply isn't ours. Evans and McCarthy are right to take this approach, it may mean the goal takes a little longer to achieve but it certainly doesn't mean we won't get there at all.

Town adapt and very nearly overcome at Forest

'Guts and determination and we will get the wins we need'

Ipswich defender Tommy Smith after their defeat to Nottingham.

 

Town travelled to the City Ground on Tuesday to face an in form Forest. Sitting 8th in the Championship, the home team had won their last three matches and before the game their fans were confident they were about to make it four.

 

I think we surprised them: In recent games we have opted to play defensively, to protect the draw and to avoid defeat at all costs. (See our goalless draw at Huddersfield as a perfect example.)

 

But there was no sign of this two nights ago. We seemed confident going forward, worked on keeping possession of the ball and tried our luck whenever the opportunity arose. For the first time in a long time I actually enjoyed all 90 minutes of the match and felt, with the exception of the odd mistake, we played very well.

 

The most significant thing from our performance was the ability to adapt to unexpected changes. 

 

In the not so distant past, two red cards away from home against a supposedly competent team like Forest would have lead to a heavy defeat for us. It surely would for most teams? 

 

Lee Martin's dismissal changed that game certainly – but it didn't necessarily lose it for us. 

I said at half time I didn't feel it would affect us too badly; I expected we would revert to 4-4-1 and play more defensively. Though it hasn't been pretty to view, this style of play has been successful in recent games and earned us a point away at Huddersfield and the fantastic win over Leicester last weekend. 

 

The incident itself is a much longer conversation that is best left for another day. I've actually been having the very same discussion all day on Twitter and it seems to go round in circles! 

Briefly though, my personal view is that this kind of thing happens across the football league: a player reacting to something that made him angry. It shouldn't happen, but it does. Former Norwich player Henri Lansbury acted like he'd been shot and, in my opinion, he too should have faced a booking. Add to that the clear penalty claim from a foul on Martin and the fact the free kick that was given instead originally found the back of the net but was disallowed. All very frustrating and all just minutes before Martin's dismissal. 

 

That said, it is slightly worrying for me that this isn't the first time the winger has picked up a needless red card: I am reminded of his sending off at Peterborough last year. But all this is a conversation best left for manager McCarthy to have with the player, not for us to vilify him over. Hopefully Mick can reign his attitude in a bit, as he seems to be managing with JET (touch wood).

 

The similarities with the two red cards are certainly clear: it was followed later on in the game by a second dismissal (Tommy Smith, who had been on the pitch for a matter of minutes) and then a total change in the game. But after being reduced to nine men  this week, we didn't fall apart.

 

Rob Stearman's dismissal is being debated among Town fans and journalists alike. Some feel it was a little harsh and others argue that when you have already been issued with a yellow card you ought to be more careful. But, for me, losing him was the point for me where the game turned. 

Suddenly it felt like there was no way we could gain anything from that game.

 

The remaining men, who were already tired from literally giving it their all, were suddenly having to find a way to dig even deeper and hold on for a draw. 

 

I said to my Dad during the first half that it was great to see the defence talking to each other and marking the opposition so closely. From my memory all shots were taken from outside the penalty area as the Forest players just couldn't get near the goal and, once again, Hendo made some fantastic saves that kept us in the game.

 

So, as I say, it was clear that Town were able to adapt to what had happened in the game but still continue playing a decent game of football. The introduction of Frank Nouble even brought about some chances for us to score and I think we had Forest worried we might actually nick all three points from them. How embarrassing that would have been!

 

Forest's winner was cruel. We had started to sit a little deeper on the pitch and, though I thought we defended confidently, it felt that Forest were finally trying to take advantage of the reduced number of men on the pitch. Believe me it hadn't felt that way until then.

 

It hurts to see us lose to a goal from a massive deflection like that, but we genuinely should take heart from the 'grit and determination' that out players showed, as Tommy put it.

 

There's the commitment we've been crying out for, there's the pride in wearing our blue and white shirt.

 

I reckon Ipswich showed Manchester United a thing or two. 

 

Whilst they are sulking over a harsh red card and a disappointing exit from the Champions League, we - who are fighting for survival in the league - played with just 9 men and still looked the more likely to score. We fought hard and deserved a point for the valiant efforts of the players and the fantastic support from the fans.

 

(Add to this the fact that our manager, a Yorkshire man known for 'telling it as it is', was able to face the press with dignity and discuss the red cards with honesty - unlike the United manager.)

 

The travelling Blues supporters were the 12^th, 11^th and 10^th men and deserved to come home with more than a point. But if we play like that and support like that on Saturday, I think Peterborough can expect a really tough game.

 

Hopefully a 7:1 defeat…!

If you have any thoughts on Lee Martin's red card, please do feel free to jot them down and I'll publish them here on my blog. Similarly, if you're off to Peterborough this weekend (or any future ITFC game) I'd love to get a match report. 

E-mail me on amydownes84@Hotmail.com or tweet me @tractorgirlamy8. 

Chelsea and Ipswich: Could Benitez have been talking about Town fans?

"At the end of the day,  they are not doing any favours to the club, to the rest of the fans and to the players."

Rafa Benitez's rant on Tuesday night was a rare moment of honesty and an interesting insight into the world of modern football. 

 

His criticism of the Chelsea management for defining him as an 'interim' manager confirmed what most of us had been thinking: this highly successful man could not be happy with being brought in just to tide the team over until the end of the season.

 

But it wasn't just that, Benitez openly revealed that the behaviour of a group of fans at Stamford Bridge was having a profound affect on his players. 

 

It relates back to a quote from our own Mick Mccarthy at the start of this year, when he told the East Anglian Daily Times:

 

"Don't believe us when we say it (the mood of the crowd) doesn't affect us, it does." 

 

Both managers claim the atmosphere created by the fans has an effect on the game. Of course it does, we are supporters and if we didn't have an effect on the game why would we bother going? Wouldn't we just stay at home and watch whatever game happened to be on Sky that day? 

 

So, as you sit there agreeing with Benitez about the terrible way he has been treated by the club and the fans, could you possibly take a minute to consider how this relates to our own situation at Portman Road?

 

I have long argued that the away support directly correlates with the away performances of the team. With the exception of Middlesbrough at home, our best performances this year have been on the road - in my humble opinion. 

 

It's no coincidence that on a Tuesday night, with the away end at Vicarage Road full of travelling Blues, we finally overcame the Watford voo doo. The game is a favourite among our away fans and they all put that down to the incredible atmosphere. 

 

Fast forward to Birmingham City away and the change of management at Town had brought fans a feeling of hope and optimism. The win there was possibly the most significant of the season and arguably our best performance. What's the common factor from those two games? Supporters who were there say the atmosphere was one of the best of the season. Can we say that about any of our home matches? 

 

The best performance I have seen was Bolton away. Though it was a dire first half in freezing temperatures, the performance picked up towards the latter part of the second half and it's a long time since I've seen a Town crowd celebrate in the manner that they did when Chopra scored his late goal at the Reebok Stadium. They didn't settle on the one goal though, the support seemed to lift them into a far more attacking game, they seemed determined to give us another goal.

 

At the supporters AGM in Bury St. Edmunds two weeks ago, Luke Chambers told fans that the players 'hear the crowd and really want to send them home happy'. He said that's what they did at Bolton and the way they celebrated with us at the end of the game tells me that's not just Chambo saying what he thinks we want to hear. 

 

So how does that compare to my experiences at Portman Road? 

 

Although I wasn't there for the opening game of the season I did listen to the commentary on Ipswich Player and I was utterly dismayed by the sarcastic cheers when Jay Emmanuel Thomas was substituted. Since when did we become the type of fans to so openly and horribly criticise our players at their home ground? On the first day of the season too, when he's not even had a chance to show what he might be able to do for us this year.

 

What I would say about is that, at the time, people were clearly dissatisfied with Paul Jewell (at a point in the season that I felt was far too early – but that's by the by) and JET had caused friction with several thousand fans by calling some ITFC fans 'mugs' on Twitter. I think the reaction to his poor performance that day might not have been so judgemental had he not alienated those who follow him on the social media site.

 

But, that wasn't an isolated incident. I will never forget the experience I had on New Year's Day, my most recent visit to Portman Road. In days gone by I have really enjoyed my seat in the Britannia Stand (Sorry, East of England Co-operative). Being in Block R we are close enough to absorb the atmosphere created by the North Stand, but far enough to be able to sit down. We are surrounded by season ticket holders who have been there for many many years and I've often enjoyed listening to some of the older fans discuss in depth their opinions on our performance and our players.

 

But, January 1^st this year, that stand was silent.

 

Dead silent.

 

As was the vast majority of the ground.

 

The only discussion I heard was one older gentleman at the front of the stand rising to his feet to swear at Lee Martin every once in a while (He has done this every game for the past three years – a self fulfilling prophecy there I feel).

 

The winger is the subject of my story here: when he came forward to take a corner. There was a notable absence of the usually resounding chorus of Come On You Blues at this point. (I mean honestly, we sung it louder when there were a few hundred people at Bolton away) As expected, the ball did not pass the first defender and there followed a collective groan from the entire stadium, the loudest noise created for the entire game.

 

I don't think it was meant maliciously, I think the reaction was borne from sheer frustration because this is what we see almost every time Town take a corner. But imagine how that must have made Lee feel. How would you deal with that? Would you be able to perform at your best for the rest of the game?

 

Martin has actually commented today in the East Anglian that he is aware of the criticism he is receiving from the crowd:

 

'I'm not stupid – you hear things from the crowd… I think I've been unlucky on certain occasions and you can lose confidence when that happens. I'm trying though, that's the key'.

 

In the interest of being fair, I ought to point out that he also says the only opinion that matters to him is that of the manager. But it's clear the shouts and boos he hears from the crowd are having an affect on him.

 

Back to the corner against Brighton and I want to explain that I am not complaining about the collective groan itself; to a certain extent it couldn't really be helped as it was a knee jerk reaction to what was taking place on the pitch. What disturbs me more is that fact that this reaction was so prominent; had there been more support throughout the game, that onemoment may not have stood out and had such a detrimental affect on the player and his teammates.

 

I'm not for one minute saying you are only a true fan is you sing and chant your way through every game. But there's currently a severe lack of encouragement of any kind. At Huddersfield last week there was literally no reaction when we made a good pass or defended well – I was gobsmacked. How can we consider ourselves 'supporters' when we can't even support the things that the team are doing right?

 

Finally, there is the example of Michael Chopra. When he came on against Blackburn at Ewood Park I was so disgusted by the boos from our own fans that I shouted at, not only a fellow Town fan, a friend who I was at the game with.

 

It is my own personal view that as fans we should never boo our own players. It's not right. It's never excusable.

 

Chopra has, to be perfectly honest, really messed up off the pitch this year and I understand some people's feelings of hate towards him. He has reacted badly and too often to fans on Twitter, he has alienated even more by singling out TWTD users as 'morons' and his recent involvement in race fixing has left some of our fans, understandably, finding it hard to trust him.

 

The Chopra debate itself is something for another day, but I believe you should never boo him while he wears the Suffolk Punch on his chest. If nothing else, a player of his quality could be what keeps us up this year, if he can continue in the form he has recently found and start scoring goals to build on that - he could be our saviour.

 

Booing him is not going to achieve that.

 

Benitez said last night that fans should take responsibility for the consequences of their actions: I believe the same could be said for our own fans.

 

Everyone has a right to an opinion and, though I disagree with it, everyone has a right to express that opinion – even if it does have to be at a match. But if they do decide that's the route they want to take, could they please think about the affect they might be having on the atmosphere at Portman Road, the players and their fellow fans.

 

Are they so determined to boo that they will accept the detrimental affect those actions might have on the result of the game?

 

As I have said above, the decision to boo may well be understandable. But using excuses like 'he slagged me off on Twitter' or 'he's a gambler and a cheat' or even just 'he's crap' does not, in my opinion, resolve people entirely of all responsibility.

 

If you have decided to do this and you're happy it's worth it: knock yourself out.

 

But it might be wise not to do it if you're stood next to me ;-)

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"Come the final whistle, I felt like we had won promotion": a fans eye view of ITFC's trip to Birmingham

At 16:54 on Saturday afternoon I received a phone call, it was one I'd recently come to dread - but this time it was different.

That call was just after full time at St Andrew's and came from a very good friend of mine: Jordan, a Town fan for 15 years, who had made the trip up to Birmingham to watch his team play for the first time under their new manager Mick McCarthy. I answered the phone to hear over a thousand Town fans singing, 'And it's Ipswich Town…'.

Listening to those travelling fans via the commentary on Ipswich Player, they were - once again – a credit to the club. And hearing the celebrations at the final whistle really brought home what a relief these three points were, how much hope Big Mick had brought and, sadly, the realisation that perhaps it might have been better to have parted company with Paul Jewell a little sooner.

I have long argued that the mood of the crowd can have a huge influence on the result of the game: a point I felt is somewhat proven when you compare our terrible home record to the increasing frustration or even apathy felt among fans at Portman Road. This is, of course, due to the inconsistent performances from our team – but I have always felt this creates a vicious cycle that's hard to break. The departure of Jewell may have ended this through and I was keen to find out whether the atmosphere had changed after an exciting week at Portman Road.

As I was unable to make what I saw as the most important game of our season, Jordan, who's studying to be a sporting psychologist, agreed to write the report for me. He has missed barely a handful of games so far this season and has witnessed the mood of fans fall lower and lower. Like me, he's always tried to have a positive outlook (despite the recent tough times), but this weekend sounds like it pushed those emotions to the extreme:

"Trying to capture the emotion, happiness and pure rush of Saturday is one of the most difficult things I think I've had to do.

Even after all these years, l sit down of a Friday afternoon and look ahead to the game; usually with excitement, but more recently with apprehension and nervousness. I'm often far too optimistic, but this season has been different to those previous to it and I predicted an actual mid table finish rather than the high hopes of a play-off push.  Rightly so, it seems.

Despite this, I had a feeling we'd break our duck this weekend. Yes I may have said it before Hull too, but I really felt our luck would change. It seems as though this feeling was shared amongst the other Town fans that made the trip to Birmingham from various corners of the country. Chatting with a few in the pub beforehand, I began to get the impression that 'MM' does in fact stand for Merlin Magician and not Mick McCarthy, as the Yorkshire-man famously said in his first press conference at ITFC. 

The mood was the same at St Andrews too, feeling even more buoyant in the build up to kick off: walking into the stand I was hit with a wall of noise as the Blue Army were already in full voice, singing the praises of the new boss.

This continued as the game started, but reached another level when crowd favourite DJ Campbell rifled in the opener. Fans have definitely taken a liking to the QPR loanee I think, more so than any other of the borrowed players brought in by Jewell; he seems to have three songs on the terraces, all sung by the masses, which is a very strange occurrence amongst Town fans!

The change in mood was hard to believe, to be honest. After witnessing fans fighting at recent home games, boos when we lost the ball and constant shouts for both the manager's and chief executive's head, the constant singing and banter I experienced this weekend was exceptional and unlike anything I've experienced for a long while. 

As the game progressed, one Birmingham fan became particularly annoyed by our buoyant mood: anyone that was there will know what to do if ever again they hear the words "Let's all do the chavvy"…!

Come the final whistle, I felt like we had won promotion. After battling and holding on for most of the game, there was a fear we would see the "same old Ipswich" creeping in. But with block after block by the tireless back four, there wasn't that eerie silence that so often hangs over stoppage time for a Town fan. Instead there was singing and the large majority of the travelling thousand were on their feet begging for that final whistle.

If I could describe to you the noise and relief when the final whistle blew then I would, but really can't put into words how it felt. 

After long trips to Blackpool, Barnsley, Hull and Brighton, coming away feeling like we'd lost even when we hadn't, it was an incredible feeling to finally get that monkey off our backs and come away with 3 points.

These blog posts are normally finished with a choice for man of the match, but I couldn't possibly pick one player who played better than the other. For once, all of the men in white played for the shirt and showed that desire and fight that we had all been longing for. I left St. Andrews on Saturday feeling as though, to some extent, we had our Ipswich back."

It kills me to be missing another important game for The Blues tomorrow night, but if you have enjoyed Jordan's report and you'd like to write one for our game against Palace please get in touch –amydownes84@hotmail.com or @tractorgirlamy8

 

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