DE.

If the discussion over Mowbray/Bowyer spilled over 2 or 3 pages then yes it would be moved to a more appropriate place, but if it's contained to a handful of posts then it isn't a problem. It's as simple as that really. If you want to steer the topic back to the game then by all means do so, if you have a problem with the discussion taking place then as aforementioned the mods are available to be contacted via PM.

There isn't one.

Can't disagree with anything you say there, although I think it's also fair to take Bowyer's inexperience into account. Mowbray had already been in management for 13 years when he joined us. By comparison we were Bowyer's first real management job. As much as I agree we underachieved as a team with Bowyer in charge, I believe the manager himself actually overachieved somewhat relative to his experience and taking into account the dysfunctional way our club is run as a whole.

It's hard to say because at the time a lot of our outgoings were tied up in payments to players whose contracts we had severed. Etuhu, Murphy, Best, all the Portugeezers, etc. The likes of Hanley, Duffy, Rhodes, Gestede, Evans, Conway and Cairney were likely on a decent wedge. All brought in for relative pittance or nothing at all though. In terms of transfer fees Bowyer spent Duffy was probably the biggest? Can't remember exactly how much he cost off the top of my head but I seem to recall it was around £2m. Rhodes was before Bowyer became first team manager, and from recollection the likes of Cairney and Evans were both under £1m. We found some real bargains back then.

Mowbray has more or less gotten us back into the position we were in under Bowyer before Venky's pulled the rug out from underneath him. A squad somewhat unbalanced that doesn't play great football but can grind out enough results to finish comfortably mid-table if never really challenge for the playoffs. I think Bowyer had a better team overall (with less money) and that was reflected in slightly higher league positions than TM has achieved (assuming we finish lower than 8th/9th this time around). At the time the general concensus was that Bowyer had run his race and we needed to replace him to move forward. Obviously Venky's made the wrong choices and ended up relegating us with Owen Coyle instead. History could very easily repeat itself so personally I'm very wary of TM departing. With that said my ambition for the club remains the same as it was back then, so I'm at the point where I'm wondering if TM can realistically get us into genuine contention for promotion. I think probably not, but am I confident in our owners appointing the right person even if Mowbray left? No, I'm not. I imagine it would be chaos, confusion and disaster again. It's a tough situation to be in as on the one hand my ambitions for the club are beyond what I believe Mowbray can achieve, but at the same time I'm well aware that if he leaves we're more likely to spiral downward than push on - because if there's one thing Venky's have proven it's that they don't take the managerial position seriously and will always opt for the cheap route. Sometimes you get half-decent managers in the likes of Bowyer and Mowbray, other times you get a Kean or a Coyle (although one could argue Kean was not cheap at all retrospectively). What you never get is a manager that will get the club punching above its weight, which is realistically what we are going to require in order to get promoted. It's just a shit situation and I don't see it being resolved until Venky's are gone, and right now it seems like they are going nowhere.

In fairness considering we're having to resort to playing JRC out of position in the Dack role he probably would be straight into the side at present purely due to injuries. Granted Mowbray normally has an incubation period for new signings but I get the feeling much like Cunningham earlier in the season he may have had to adopt a 'needs must' approach with Maddison with Dack, Holtby and Rothwell all on the sidelines.

Mowbray has plenty of positive points as a manager imo, the issue is that he seems unable or unwilling to improve on his flaws. The strikers on the wings experiment being the most obvious one, along with a questionable at best recruitment record which has unfortunately left us with some major work to do in the summer just to stand still let alone progress.

Hold on there, I was responding to somebody saying we would be in the top six if not for injuries. I never said I expected it.

Something often conveniently forgotten! TM has never had us in the top six during his entire time here. Not even for one match.

Even if we are it's only impressive as a statement without context, as those five seasons include when we were under embargo and had all of our decent players sold, a season where we spent 7 months under Owen Coyle's management (still with no money to spend), a season in League 1 and last season - and from memory we're practically identical in terms of points for that.

Let's keep this on topic guys, it's about the Championship not Chaddy! Mods are available via PM for any genuine concerns over behaviour and the report button can also be used to direct us to any posts that people feel are overstepping the mark.

Yeah, but since TM has arrived we haven't really sold anybody of significance. I don't know how much truth there was in Dack being the sacrificial lamb in January or the summer, but during the last period of Jan 19 - Jan 20 we've essentially splashed £12m on transfer fees with only Raya's £3m sale as a return, although that fee was likely gobbled up by a combination of Tosin and Cunningham's wages and loan fees. I'm still not convinced FFP is as big of an issue as is currently being touted. Up until last month it wasn't being talked about at all by Tony or anybody else at the club - I've previously linked an interview from September regarding the upcoming window where it literally wasn't mentioned once. So why all of a sudden has it become this huge barrier? Was nobody paying attention until January?

I'd go as far as to say Lambert is doing a genuinely bad job there to be honest. I appreciate he inherited a bad situation from Paul Hurst but most managers with anything about them at least improve a team slightly if not by much. Mowbray inherited a pretty shitty situation from Coyle but still improved us almost instantly and we were ultimately unlucky to go down. I believe Lambert did no better than Hurst when he took over for the remainder of last season. For Ipswich to be where they are and in the form they're in right now is appalling - League 1 is very poor so there can't be any excuses really.

We can spend roughly £13m per season via FFP. We literally spent a third of our entire FFP budget on two players who have flopped and we'd be no worse off without. It might be simple but it's also true.

Well if we hadn't splashed £12m on two absolute duds we'd be in a much healthier position financially, so no I wouldn't say it's much of an oversimplification at all.

Yes you're right, they did make one loan signing, so more achieved than us!

https://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/o-neill-on-ipswich-s-quiet-january-transfer-window-1-6502497 There's quite an extensive interview here from their general manager of football operations which goes into detail, but basically very similar excuses to the ones we got from Mowbray and Waggott this time around. Domino effect, valuations not being right, etc.

I think you'd surely be concerned though. They didn't sign anyone during this transfer window either. Even we made a few signings in January during our L1 campaign. Downing and Armstrong, the latter of whom had a significant impact on the second half of our campaign.

5 years actually! You mentioned before that you don't see why Ipswich fans are being negative, but isn't it fair to be negative when they've dropped into 7th and only won 3 out of their last 19 games?

It always confuses me when the lineup is posted with Armstrong and Gallagher in the team and people are saying we must be playing 4-4-2. It's like, come on guys, you know how Tony's mind works by now. If Gallagher and Armstrong are in the team you can practically guarantee SG will be out wide right. Granted today the inclusion of JRC probably made the 4-4-2 assumption seem more feasible, but never doubt Tony's ability to play people completely out of position.

Dynamite was great again this week. They've been much more consistent since the turn of the new year - although apparently that was when Tony Khan began taking more control of creative, so that might be why. I get the feeling he saw the backlash to the horrible Dark Order main event segment before Christmas and realised the inmates couldn't always be in charge of the asylum.

I wouldn't even be happy with Samuel as 4th choice backup in all honesty as I just don't think he's good enough and I'd want even 4th choice to be able to have some kind of impact. With that said I agree that Brereton isn't any better which doesn't help, but as you say at least Brereton theoretically has room to grow. Samuel is basically at his "peak" now. Graham leaving will mean we only really have Armstrong as a decent option up front, which is a bit of a scary thought. Gallagher is really struggling although I have some sympathy for him being repeatedly played out of position. The rest of our so-called strikers are rubbish and usually deployed on the wings anyway. Just more work that needs to be done in what is becoming an increasingly daunting summer transfer window.

Has Dom even played any games for us as a striker? I swear I can only remember him ever playing right wing. Problem is even as backup striker he'd be below Armstrong, Gallagher and Graham in the pecking order. Probably Brereton too, so do we need a 5th choice backup striker who is 26 years old in two months?

I'm not even sure why Samuel is still here. Massively below the standard required and will never be a first team regular unless we get relegated again. Can only assume there's been no interest in his services due to the wage we're paying him, whatever that is.

Is there a reason these posts are in the Lewis Holtby thread rather than the match thread ??