Football Seasons

For me and my team, the season is over.

Even whilst Premiership clubs are nervously preparing for that final attempt at retaining their status, Ipswich players have been strolling around the Portman Road pitch in flip-flops, carrying out the traditional “lap of honour”. (Incidentally, it now seems that at under-achieving mid-table sides where the concept of “honour” isn’t quite appropriate, this has been renamed as the “lap of appreciation”).

Which signifies that its all over, but as in the real world, one season changes to the next. And thus, we now enter the “off-season”. To be closely followed by the “pre-season”.

Football fans could deliver lectures on the value of optimism. Even as the season reaches its end, attention just focuses on the next phase of the football calendar in order to draw enthusiasm and excitement. In the 2 days that have followed the end of the season, here are just some of the items which have sprung to prominence, comfortably replacing the need to discuss anything which actually occurs on a football pitch.

1.) “I think Player A was substituted early, so that he could get a standing ovation as hes going to be off in the summer”
2.) “Did you see how upset Player B was when doing the lap of honour (sorry, “lap of appreciation”)? Surely this means that hes going to be sold?”
3.) “I saw some of the players out on Saturday night. I had a chat with one of them who told me that Player X is definitely not signing for us, as the player budget is only £XXX,XXX this season, so we cant afford him”
4.) “When the players were doing the warm-down, a steward called out to Player C and said that it was West Ham on the phone. Not sure whether to read anything into it, but reckon he might be interested in moving there”
5.) “We aren’t going to get the sell-on fee for Player Y, as they are going to sell him to West Ham in a joint-deal with Player Z, so they can mark up the cost of Player Z, but mark down the cost of Player Y so they don’t have to pay us anything”
6.) “We are going to be signing our former player, Player E, which means that Player C is definitely going to leave. Player E still has a house in the area”
7.) Player C used to be managed by Manager A, so apparently we are going to do a swap deal with Club M for Player F”
8.) “The new kit is the best one in 6 years”
9.) The new kit is rubbish”
10.) “Is there any more news on that reported takeover deal?”

Every single one of the above is something I have seen and heard discussed by Ipswich fans since the season finished. Of course, I don’t believe any of it*, but this is what its all about isn’t it? Besides which, I don’t want to be caught out as in previous years when Ive gone away on holiday, only to find on my return that we have signed two strikers which completely passed me by. Never again. Got to keep in touch with it. Cant miss out.

But I also know that it wont last. Inevitably, we will reach mid-July and the expected signings will not have materialised and enthusiasm will turn to anguish. The club will tell us that they are waiting for the right players to become available, that they have a number of “bids on the table” which they are optimistic about, that they are very confident that the existing squad of players can mount a promotion challenge. And we wont believe them. But by then, it wont really matter, because the truth is that by then we wont really be interested in transfers anymore anyway, since the fixture list will have been published and we will therefore be fully into “pre-season”.

*Obviously, whilst I say that I don’t believe any of it, the players involved must remain unnamed, just in case other clubs get wind of who we are trying to sign, or find that certain players might be available……… After all, I don’t want anybody else noticing just how good Franny Jeffers has been for us, whilst we still hope to sign him.