Mr Consistent

If Jim Magiltons Ipswich Town management career were to end right now, it would surely be defined by being the most consistent manager in the history of the football club. Or possibly more simply; the most consistent manager in the history of football.

Some managers are constantly striving for a level of consistency amongst their players. Fluctuating form leads to frustration and exasperation.

Over the last year and a half Ipswich Town have achieved new levels of consistency, yet it has possibly led to even greater frustration and exasperation.

It all started with one of very worst starts in the clubs history; three defeats and a draw in the opening four games. This was quickly followed by a tremendous run of form which resulted in Magilton narrowly missing out on the Manager of the Month award, after the club recorded five unbeaten games, including four wins.

Then came the record-worrying seven away games without recording a goal in early 2007, a run which provided five losses.

At roughly around the same point that the above run ended, so one of the longest unbeaten home runs in the clubs history was beginning, one which now stands at eighteen games and at one point also threatened the club record for consecutive home wins.

However, it seems that the most notorious of all these runs is the current winless away streak which, coincidentally, has also reached eighteen games.

It is astonishing that one mans tenancy of the Managers role has resulted in so many strong runs of form which have severely troubled the record books. Plenty of managers have strived to achieve consistency, but have been unable to achieve it simply as a result of the fluctuating levels of performance of their players. Yet Magilton seems to have had the particularly unusual problem of having to try and break the consistency when it is of the wrong sort.

It seems inevitable that eventually, given time, Magilton will succesfully manage to get one of his sides into the record books. It seems the question is more likely to concern whether it will be a record he wants to be remembered for.