It is fair to say that at least a small amount of Ipswich fans are unhappy with Paul Jewell’s management of the team this season. A lot of this criticism comes from Jewell’s decision to often leave out Luke Hyam and Josh Carson in favour of using more experienced players like Lee Bowyer.
The other source of this criticism comes from Jewell’s overall win ratio whilst he has been the Ipswich boss which sits at roughly 40%, only just a few bad results away from being as low as Roy Keane’s or Jim Magilton’s record. Obviously the critics have reduced in numbers since the team pulled away from the relegation zone but the fans are clearly split when it comes to the former Wigan manager.
It would be unfair to just talk about the negatives in Jewell’s management since taking over 15 months ago. He took over an underperforming side when he came in and had a huge task ahead of him to turn the team into promotion hopefuls.
Whilst there have been some less impressive signings over the last 15 months, I would argue there have been more good than bad considering he brought in Cresswell, Drury, Emmanuel-Thomas and Chopra. Although it may not be saying much, I would say that the current Town management has dealt a lot better in the transfer market in comparison to how Roy Keane did. On top of that Jewell has started to get the most out of Lee Martin, who has now revealed that Keane never gave him a chance in his preferred position. Overall, the whole team does seem to have a better attitude and togetherness since the change in management, which has been great to see. Without a doubt the team has moved forward since the Roy Keane era but like I say, that doesn’t mean much considering what a train wreck his management was.
In terms of the results this season it is hard to argue that Jewell has done a good job. However, he is a man who has admitted he made mistakes in the summer which caused a huge string of losses this season. Since realising these mistakes the team has improved and if you look at results since the dramatic away game against Barnsley in December, they have been fairly impressive.
The reason a lot of Championship or even Premier League teams never get anywhere is because they are always too keen to sack their managers. You really do have to give a lot of credit to Marcus Evans for being patient and not cracking under pressure from the fans, because without that patience the whole club would crumble. Once you start sacking managers all the time, the players and coaching staff never have any job security because whilst one manager might like them, the next might not.
On the issue of Luke Hyam and Josh Carson it is a tough one to judge because both youngsters have been promising. Hyam has been singled out as one of the main players who battled and played out of his skin to get the team away from the relegation zone. Personally, I like to see younger players being used as a lot of the time they show the hunger and drive you need to get out of the Championship. The major argument for Jewell current team selection is based on the fact that he shouldn’t be playing youngsters just for the sake of it. In reality Hyam and Carson have already shown that they can add something to the team though, so I find myself thinking what is the point in playing a declining Lee Bowyer over youngsters?
That would be the one criticism of Jewell I would certainly agree with. For the most part though, a lot of the criticism has been over the top nonsense where certain fans are calling for his head just because they want something to moan about. You could argue that Jewell’s stats aren’t far off what Keane produced but if you are looking solely at win percentages then he isn’t far off Bobby Robson’s stat of 44.6%.
Personally I don’t always agree with the team selection or even the transfer policy but I am reasonable enough to realise that sacking Jewell this season would have only caused more problems. Generally the fans are behind the team and there is an element of excitement about next season at Portman Road. It is good to see that although a lot of fans may be critical of the team’s management behind closed doors, they get behind the team on the match days. My message to the Jewell haters would be to wait until November and then make an assessment based on how close to the play-offs we are.
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