Not going to reveal source etc but have it on 100% authority after today he's off this summer. Will reveal all at some point with you all / away from this. It's a cracking story how I know, will reveal when dust has settled. Not a wind up either. Will try and give you info on another guff match tomorrow......
Look, you can yawn all you want but I've been categorically told by someone his contract is not being renewed / along with big season ticket changes which will please a lot of people the same day. I will one day in the future reveal who etc but not now. Mick WILL be leaving this summer.
I don't understand why they have dragged it out so long then if the decision has been made. The majority of football clubs who decide to get rid of the manager would have sacked him once they made the decision. It's not fair on anybody to drag it out.
Guys, help me here; isn’t our drab footy a product of a injury ravaged squad of limited ability assembled on F all money? Mick can play good football; he did well with Ireland at a World Cup and his wolves side blew the division away with flying wingers like kightly etc. Ok it went tits up in the prem and I’d be the first to admit change of manager would be good if we got to that point. So we go up the food chain to the owner: ME, thanks for saving the club from Portsmouth style oblivion, bad luck you got duPed by Jewell and Keane’s promise of success if you pump a few million of your own cash in, smart idea appointing Mick given the relegation we were likely to suffer. But where are we going from here? We’re solid mid table, our manager probably lifts us a bit higher than the players deserve on ability, but what’s the plan moving forward? For me that’s the rub: we change manager, but still likely to have no money. How can we expect a better outcome? No way do I want someone playing flowing football every week and we’re getting done 3-2 every time. Pointless and daft. You don’t get good football without good players and they cost money. So investment is needed and I accept its a big ask to say c’mon Marcus, shove more of your hard earned cash in and see what happens. But that’s kinda what happens when you own a football club and if you do it smartl, which I think he and mick are, you do get much more competitive at the top end of the table. So guys; if Mick goes who do we want and how are we going to be better off unless the cash is spent on improved players?
We've been playing drab footie under Mick for the last three years(yes it is that long,I trawelled through the old threads and I personally became disillusioned with his hoofball in Feb 2015!). please log in to view this image Injuries this Season haven't helped but the main problem is the way Mick and Terry set up the team and the lack of any coherent plan to actually win a game rather than bore the opposition into submission and try and nick a goal. I wouldn't expect the new manager to be able to radically change the playing staff but at least get us playing remotely more passing/adventurous football.I can't see us improving on upper mid table but at least visiting PR would become something approaching an enjoyable experience again instead of the present ordeal.
Exactly Bigal, there's no excuse for the way Mick has us play, there a teams with smaller budgets than us that still try and play football.
Interesting. It is hard work being an itfc fan I completely agree. But who is the manager to take us forward? I just don’t see how this group/level of players can play more attractive football without trading off an increase in the potential for inferior results, which we can’t afford, it’s tight enough as it is. Mick knows how to play that kinda footy but u need players capable of doing it surely which these guys aren’t; there’s hardly any flair or creativity in the squad because it’s an expensive commodity. If the players support him and they seem too(?) you’d think he could play like his wolves team did with players of that calibre. I just can’t see a better outcome with no obvious choice to replace him and unless ME chucks money at the problem, which is easy to say when it’s not out money!
Words going around the pub Mr Mowbary is the man but didn't discuss this my end at all so no clue sorry! Not convinced anything is on the cards for that, get the feeling more a short-list and see what happens.....
Definitely wouldn't come mid-season. I'd like to see Mowbray though the more I think about it. A man who knows the Ipswich way, has experience at many levels of the English and Scottish game, would work on a budget and develop our youngsters. Makes sense to me.....but would he come?
I thought Mowbary played quite a direct game however apparently Blackburn play decent stuff. May feel he's taken Blackburn as far as he can and would see us as a decent project? Not really sure! I want Clark off Bristol Rovers this summer when Mick leaves.
That is the Million Dollar question. But I suppose the way I look at it is that there are other sides with little money who are capable of similar outcomes. An example being Brentford, they sit 1 place and 2 points ahead of us after 38 games, but their method of accumulating them has been worlds apart from ours for the majority of the season. They have a near identical wage outlay this season and have gone about playing an entertaining brand of football, developed over a few years and have sat 'midtable' pretty much all season. The same as us. The one major difference in that they have actually reinvested some of their transfer income (Money from Jota and Vibe went towards buying Watkins & Maupay... And with change left over) Had we taken a similar approach (Murphy & Mings money, then we wouldn't be slinging as much mud at the owner) but that is a different argument. Ultimately. Too much water has gone under the bridge for Mick to reverse the tide and after 5 and a half years, the club needs a "freshening up"
If there is a change in management, I also think it will come in the summer and after McCarthy has served the short remainder of his contract. I don't think we'd get a decent manager at this point of the season and I'm generally against caretaker appointments. Regarding speculated names for his replacement, I'd be happy with either Tony Mowbray and Darrell Clarke. I know both Mowbray and Clarke traditionally set their teams up to play a more direct style of football, but if it produces goals and entertainment, I don't mind that. The peak years of McCarthy's reign when we went a few months unbeaten and made the play offs, as well as Joe Royle's time when we played attacking football (albeit in a rather direct style of play), were entertaining periods in our recent history. I'm still hoping for Maurice Steijn. I know it's generally a mixed bag when managers from abroad take over in the Championship for their first job in English football. For every David Wagner or Aitor Karanka there is a Philippe Montanier, Walter Zenga, or a Thomas Christiansen. But Steijn has got an average VVV Venlo team playing attractive football that gets results and are punching above their weight (mid-table in the Eredivisie following last season's promotion). Having a couple of Dutch lads coming over to reinvigorate our traditional Dutch connection would be an added bonus. I think we need a change of culture and Steijn strikes me as a forward-thinking, innovative appointment.
It won’t happen till the summer Tightwad Evans won’t payMick to leave especially as our season is over anyway.
When have you ever heard of a team where they've decided they don't want the manager and let him run his contract down?