Leagues One & Two - 2020/2021

[SAFC1]

On 14/02/2021 at 18:10, Fox92 said:

He has got to be one of the best players, if not the best, in the division. Amazed he played so few games last season or was he injured?

Phil Parkinson froze him out and made him train with the U23’s then loaned him out to Charlton (in the league above at the time). Absolute ****ing joke that bloke. 

[isaidno]

Surely Lambert can't last much longer at Ipswich ?

[adam]

Did anyone see the ref in the Ipswich game. Squared up to one of the Ipswich players. No nonsense refereeing 

[RowlattsFox]

8 minutes ago, adam said:

Did anyone see the ref in the Ipswich game. Squared up to one of the Ipswich players. No nonsense refereeing 

Twitter searched this to see what it was about. Ref definitely lost his composure for a second, and I'm surprised it doesn't happen more given the abuse they are given by players. The Ipswich player obviously said something. He is a terrible ref though, Darren Drysdale. 

[Corky]

50 minutes ago, isaidno said:

Surely Lambert can't last much longer at Ipswich ?

He's still living off his Norwich reign a decade ago.

 

One hit wonder.

[moore_94]

 

 

[Wymsey]

2 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

 

 

Will be interesting to see if the Football League and/or the Referee's Association ban him..

The first time I've seen an image like it.

Edited 16 February 2021 by Wymsey

[StanSP]

2 minutes ago, Wymsey said:

Will be interesting to see if the Football League and/or the Referee's Association ban him..

The first time I've seen an image like it.

The still image makes it looks worse than the actual footage... 

[Super_horns]

Certainly not a ref to be messed with! 

[Ian Nacho]

1 hour ago, moore_94 said:

 

 

Nowt wrong with it I say. 

[Bert]

Nothing wrong with it for me either. If you’re prepared to give shit out be prepared to take it back. Of course it doesn’t look good especially when referees are currently under a lot of scrutiny. Imagine some form of punishment is coming his way. 

[Arriba Los Zorros]

13 hours ago, isaidno said:

Surely Lambert can't last much longer at Ipswich ?

 

12 hours ago, Corky said:

He's still living off his Norwich reign a decade ago.

 

One hit wonder.

It's because the owner gave him a 5 year contract for some bizarre reason and now doesn't want to pay him off.  Lambert's record at Ipswich: relegation to league 1, finishing 11th in league 1, currently in 11th place this season. Pathetic.

 

The owner Marcus Evans is the real problem at that club, basically bought them to take them to the PL and make a quick buck, it didn't work and he's had to shell out for no return. Now he doesn't give 2 hoots and just want to cut his losses: they will be non league in 5 years time. ****ing sad state of affairs at a once proud provincial club that I'd always thought were a similar size to us.

 

 

[fox_up_north]

I've just seen Lambert's interview about it. Did everything but say the owner is a problem. 

https://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/ipswich-town/lambert-on-northampton-draw-7380258

 

Q: Who else can you be directing your anger and frustration at though if it's not the owner? There';s only one person who runs the club.

A: Everything. He's in charge, aye, but he's put in an unbelievable amount of money. I don't think you can have one blame culture. I think it's everything. 

 

Q: How do you put that right?

A: My opinion is that everybody needs to get around the table. And they strip it back somewhere. They have to. Because it's not moving. There are things I've done behind the scenes to try and get them going and give some advice on it. Whether it comes, nobody knows, but I definitely think they need to get around the table and stop this feeling that's around here.

 

Q: Clearly something has to change. And your frustration is that everything is being directed at you?

A: That's it. But that's always the case. I think there's definitely got to be a sit down at this football club and see where it's going. 

 

Q: Will you ask the owner for that discussion?

A: We've spoke. He knows my thoughts on the situation. He's not a silly guy. I get on well with the guy, no problem, but you've got to put friendship aside at certain times in football. At the minute, this cannot go on.

 

[BenTheFox]

It seems as though Sunderland had been run poorly for a number of years, but Sam Allardyce leaving for England was the real turning point. I'm confident that he would have turned them into a respectable mid-table premier league side, but instead they plummeted. Must be even worse for Sunderland fans that he was only in the England for two months. 

[Corky]

6 hours ago, Arriba Los Zorros said:

 

It's because the owner gave him a 5 year contract for some bizarre reason and now doesn't want to pay him off.  Lambert's record at Ipswich: relegation to league 1, finishing 11th in league 1, currently in 11th place this season. Pathetic.

 

The owner Marcus Evans is the real problem at that club, basically bought them to take them to the PL and make a quick buck, it didn't work and he's had to shell out for no return. Now he doesn't give 2 hoots and just want to cut his losses: they will be non league in 5 years time. ****ing sad state of affairs at a once proud provincial club that I'd always thought were a similar size to us.

 

 

Oh yeah, they are struggling to get rid because of that long-term deal which was ludicrous to begin with but every job he's had since Norwich has been mediocre or worse.

[isaidno]

Sunderland vs Lincoln dreadful so far.

[Corky]

Last season Wigan beat Hull 8-0 at the DW. Currently, Hull are 5-0 up at Wigan with 20 minutes to play....

[StanSP]

 

 

 

[TJB-fox]

Drysdale is incredibly well known within the game for being a twat. Not surprised at all by this.

[filbertway]

1 hour ago, TJB-fox said:

Drysdale is incredibly well known within the game for being a twat. Not surprised at all by this.

As is Alan Judge  Nice to see that he's old school and is able to let something go and accept it was heat of the moment. These days it feels like the majority of people/social media wants to see people suffer for any mistake.

[Wymsey]

Sunderland have a 23-year-old chairman on board.

Good luck to him.

[Fox92]

3 hours ago, filbertway said:

As is Alan Judge  Nice to see that he's old school and is able to let something go and accept it was heat of the moment. These days it feels like the majority of people/social media wants to see people suffer for any mistake.

Tell me about it. The amount of times on twitter I see "just report them to where they work, show them this, they'll get sacked".

 

Obviously the referee shouldn't have reacted like that but some players are so direspectful to referees.

[AjcW]

37 minutes ago, Wymsey said:

Sunderland have a 23-year-old chairman on board.

Good luck to him.

Can't do any worse than any of the other ****ers they've had. 

 

Insanely rich family too, whether they are backing him or not I don't know.

His father (dead now) was Marseille owner and Adidas CEO.

[filbertway]

21 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

Tell me about it. The amount of times on twitter I see "just report them to where they work, show them this, they'll get sacked".

 

Obviously the referee shouldn't have reacted like that but some players are so direspectful to referees.

That's the worst thing. People's reactions to something seems to be "make sure they lose their job". I quite like it when compaies stick up for their employees in those instances. Sadly it's rare because they seem to think it's best just to bow to the pressure.

[Arriba Los Zorros]

Ipswich Town: How fans have turned against Paul Lambert and the club - BBC Sport

 

Ipswich Town: How fans have turned against Paul Lambert and the club

By James LawBBC Sport

Last updated on7 hours ago7 hours ago.From the sectionIpswich231

Paul Lambert has won 35 and lost 48 of his 110 games in charge of Ipswich

"When I look at that team I'm thinking where's the backbone? There's not even a finger bone."

Former England full-back Mick Mills is Ipswich Town's all-time leading appearance maker and was part of the club's greatest era.

But from the dizzy heights of trophies and the Premier League, the Suffolk side have suffered a steady regression that sees them staring at the possibility of a third successive season in League One unless results improve.

Fans, ex-players and even the local newspaper have called for boss Paul Lambert to be sacked, but just how deep-rooted are the problems at Portman Road and how far will a change in manager go to turning things around?

• Referee Drysdale charged after Judge clash

'I think Paul's days are numbered'

Mills won the FA Cup and Uefa Cup with Ipswich in 16 years as a player between 1966 and 1982, playing a club record 591 league games, and captained England at the 1982 World Cup in the absence of the injured Kevin Keegan.

The 72-year-old is now a co-commentator on the Tractor Boys for BBC Radio Suffolk and says he felt "sad" watching Tuesday's goalless draw with Northampton, leaving them four points from the play-offs on a run of just two wins in nine games.

"I do think that Paul's days are really numbered, I really do - I'm not sure whether he's ever going to get out of it," Mills said after the match.

"There will be a change, [but] I'm not sure whether we'll have a change until the end of the season.

"The type of person that could do something is one that could come in here, shape this group up, no nonsense, and maybe with the amount of games we've got to come and the fact we're not too far behind, he could get a reaction from this group and we could get promoted."

It is 20 years since Ipswich finished fifth in the Premier League, but relegation from the top flight in 2002 saw them spend 17 consecutive campaigns in the Championship.

They eventually went down to League One in 2018-19 under Lambert, who took over the side when they were already in trouble at the foot of the table.

Their two League One seasons have followed a familiar pattern so far - a lightning-fast start followed by a steady decline which has seen them drift down to 11th, where they finished last season and where they stand after 26 games this time around.

Mick Mills was captain when Ipswich won the Uefa Cup in 1981

"It's almost like everybody can see it but the right people can't," Mills said.

"Nobody seems to be able to arrest that slide. They didn't in the first year and they haven't in the second year.

"I believed at the start of the season that our squad was well capable of promotion and I'm not going to change that - it's got to be better managed."

Protests, sympathy & ownership

Ipswich fans memorably applauded Lambert and the players off the pitch on their relegation from the Championship, but that goodwill has long since evaporated.

Last month regional paper East Anglian Daily Times took the step of calling for a change of manager while supporters group Blue Action this week protested at the club's training ground.

Supporter Amy Downes is a regular on the Talking Town podcast and believes fans are on the same page over the issue.

"In all the 30 years I've supported them I've never seen our fan base so united in wanting our manager to go," she told BBC Sport.

"Lambert's tenure has been a series of mistakes and a story of Ipswich fans giving him a chance. We are a nice, patient fan base - we don't jump on people's backs, it takes a while for us to turn."

Since winning five of their opening six in League One this season, the Tractor Boys have picked up just 24 points from 20 games.

"I've gone from spending every Saturday night really cross to feeling really sorry for him [Lambert] - he's stuck in a situation and doesn't know what to do next," she said.

"Without being nasty if he went I think there'd be quite a lot of joy, but then when we wake up the next morning it's the realisation of dealing with the hangover of what's next."

Ipswich fans stayed behind their side despite going down from the Championship in 2019

That is because there is an awareness that the club's predicament is not only the fault of one person.

Owner Marcus Evans took over at Portman Road in 2007 and has regularly faced criticism for not investing enough on players.

"He backed the first couple of managers, they blew his money and all of a sudden he's become very careful about what he does," Mills said.

"What you had here all the time was the man at the very top didn't know football at all and wasn't giving the right leadership at the right time - backed the wrong managers at the wrong time and didn't back the right one [Mick McCarthy] at the right time."

Lambert wants collective responsibility

After months of defending his side's displays, former Norwich boss Lambert acknowledged on Tuesday that "it hasn't been good enough for a number of weeks now", and showed sympathy for the fans' frustrations.

"I hate it, I hate that the club is in the position that it's in. I hate the way it's gone not just this year but I don't know how many years," the Scot told BBC Radio Suffolk.

But he said "a few others" are to blame for the club's malaise, as well as himself.

"Why the hell has it happened? Why has everything gone the way it has? I don't know. We've been here two and a bit years. It's an accumulation of years gone by and I get it all.

"I'm loathe to say the last nine, 10, 11, 12 years of no success is my fault.

"I just think everybody at the football club needs to take a right good look at themselves - everybody - with what's happened to this football club. There's no way it should have happened. But it has happened.

"I get Marcus puts a hell of a lot of money in. But it's a build-up of years and years and years. This football club needs a bit of help without a doubt."

Edited 18 February 2021 by Arriba Los Zorros