A lot of my blog space has been taken up by recently with the trials and tribulations of Paul Jewell. The pressure on him has been pretty immense once again since the home defeat v Forest. Hardly a day goes by without his name being mentioned in conjunction with getting the sack.
In the build up to the F.A. Cup game at Hull (which we lost 3-1) last Saturday Ívar Ingimarsson had his contract terminated by mutual consent then during the match Damien Delaney was taken off with a reoccurrence of his foot injury leaving us with just two centre halfs, Ibrahima Sonko and Tommy Smith.
When Neil Warnock was himself sacked by QPR last Sunday there were lots of fans calling for him to be given the Town job and save us from “certain relegation.” It’s quite ironic that this is the same man who Ipswich fans love to hate and via his management skills earnt his Sheffield Utd side the tag “The Norwich of the North.”
Last Monday Town had a bid accepted by Leicester for Sean St Ledger, and when asked via Jewell Marcus Evans assured him that the club were not about to sack their manager, thus paving the way for him to sign. Then the Foxes decided that he was not after all available as they needed him for an F.A.Cup replay! Strange. We did however sign Reading’s keeper, Alex McCarthy on a three month loan.
The biggest headlines though we’re reserved for Wednesday night after the 2-1 defeat at Birmingham. Town were drawing 1-1 and were denied a “stonewall” penalty in the 81st minute which if converted could have seen Ipswich collect three vital points. As it was we conceded a 90th minute goal and came away empty handed.
In the after match press conference an under pressure Jewell was asked the question “I think everyone to a man thought it was a penalty, what’s your view?” Jewell responded, “Unfortunately to every man, but not a woman. Although the referee didn’t have a very good view, the lineswoman, or whatever she’s called, had a great view - it was a stonewall penalty and a sending off. You’ll have to ask her why she didn’t give it.”
The controversial decision was made by lineswoman Amy Fearn. This quote caused lot’s of fuss with him being labelled a “sexist” it even got him “trending” on Twitter! Not for the first time this week people were calling for his head, I have to admit I did wonder if the club would use this as an excuse to “let him go” but they stood by him.
Friday the thirteenth marked Jewell’s first anniversary in charge at the club, there were the obvious comparisons made between himself and his predecessor Roy Keane and the fact that there has been no progress made during his reign………..boring!!
By the time Saturday arrived I should have been feeling fed up and negative about the visit of Blackpool, if I didn’t have a season ticket I’m sure that I wouldn’t have paid the £30 entrance fee on the gate. But guess what? It was a cold, crisp, bright & sunny - the kind of day when winter smiles and I was well up for it predicting a 2-0 victory for home team! Max, who delayed his return to Worcester by a week managed to sweet talk Tracey into letting him be Kev’s carer again and he got to see the best game at Portman Road since we beat Brighton way back at the start of October.
Town fielded a young side with only one loanee, the afore mentioned Alex McCarthy which was quite refreshing, although I did notice Tamas Priskin warming up on the pitch. We were one nil up at halftime courtesy of an Angel Martinez home goal and Tommy Smith popped up with a header to double our lead in the second half, unfortunately Blackpool hit back with two goals of their own, substitutes Elliot Grandin and Kevin Phillips (who else?) scoring to ensure the first home draw of the season.
So we left Portman Road with far more positives than of late, although there were only 16,497 (the second lowest gate of the season) there was actually a bit of atmosphere and the crowd were really quite positive towards P.J.
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