Has Ability- Must Try Harder

Despite mixed opinions amongst fans, there is a general consensus of opinion that the club is on the up and there has been much improvement in the side over the last year.

Blue Review questions some of the perceptions many have of where we are coming short and offers an alternative view on how the club might look to improve.

With the season poised to fizzle out, now might be a good time to assess what has gone on in this strange and somewhat dissatisfying season. It's beginning to look as though Town are going to come 8th - more or less where they have looked like they will end up all season. Pretty good some would say, me included. But others may disagree - particularly those adept at buck-passing on our new six-man board. So how will Jim Magilton fair in his end of term report?

In some quarters this season is viewed as a missed opportunity, particularly with all the nonsense that surrounded Town's pre-xmas sell-out. Perhaps that's because in a season with only one stand-out (but eminently beatable) team, the margin between success and failure in this division is closer than ever.

The unpalatable truth is that we lack a certain something that defines a promotion team and we are going to end up more or less where we deserve to be. The question is - what exactly is it that is the missing commodity - and can it be put right for next season?

This season, the difference between being on the fringes of the promotion race (well more of a promotion jog really) and the relegation trapdoor are wafer thin. After 38 games the difference between Town on the fringe of the play-offs and Leicester in the last relegation place was effectively 4 wins. Not a lot really.

Ask most Town fans where our problems lie and defence would be the almost unanimous answer. But here again, the truth is somewhat different. Our defensive record is actually just as good as West Brom and Stoke, the teams currently occupying the top two places. Curiously, Town's defensive record is a lot worse than Leicester's - which might suggest that a good defence gets you relegated, rather than promoted.

Our second major problem, according to the fans is our somewhat goal-shy attack. And indeed we do indeed lack the mythical 20-goal striker every team needs by some distance this season. But again, the stark truth tells a very different story. After 44 games we have actually scored more goals than every team in the division outside the top three - and of those, Hull have only managed one goal more than we have.

So there you have our conundrum in a nutshell. Our defence is as good as anybody in this division. Our attack is as good as anyone outside the top two. No wonder Jim Magilton buys so many midfield players.

We are of course shorter than most teams in the goalkeeping department, having lost our two to Scottish bench-warming duties so surprisingly in the transfer window. But having the much-reviled Bywater in (hopefully) temporary charge between the posts hasn't exactly been a catastrophe - more of a damp squib. If my calculations are correct we have been no better and no worse since our takeover or our somewhat dubious transfer window transfer activity. We have simply swapped a few dropped points at home for a few gained points away. On our good days we have been good - very good indeed. But there have been far too many games when we have come up just that bit short. And while it is convenient to blame the referee for such shortcomings - the buck stops with the players. Or those charged with orchestrating the way they play.

I'm not sure what that means, other than we shouldn't hold out too much hope for any close-season signings to make much difference. Unless of course Magilton comes to his senses and signs a commanding goalie.

So to sum up. In a division that is pretty competitive, Town have come up a bit short because...erm they are not competitive enough when the going gets tough. I could have put my finger on that fatal flaw after four games, rather than forty-four games. I'm pretty sure Jim Magilton did too - which might explain the bewildering changes and dubious signings. The only trouble is they made not a tad of difference.

When the three shiny suits and number crunchers allocated by Marcus Evans to look after his investment come to assess what is going on at Ipswich Town they will presumably be assessing everyone's performance and doing a review. When that happens I am not sure I would like to be in Jim Magilton's shoes. Clearly, whichever way you look at it he has had the material this season to do every bit as well as such giants of the game as Hull, Stoke, Bristol City, Watford and Palace.

Our defence is every bit as good as those teams - and so is our attack. And with at least two players for every position, our midfield should be pretty adequate too. Clearly the difference between Town and the top 6 is a coaching problem.

Like the lads at school who larked around a bit - Town have the ability, they just don't seem able to apply it as often as necessary to do well in what is effectively a pretty simple continuous assessment test. So Jim Magilton's end of term report will presumably read 'has ability must try harder'. Whether that means he's going to get the boot now or a few games into next season, only time will tell.

I doubt many Town fans would have been overly happy if their favourite bogeyman Neil Warnock had joined Town instead of Crystal Palace a year ago. But the way Warnock has shoehorned a pretty feeble Palace team into the play-offs to my mind illustrates just how easy a job football management really is. It really isn't brain surgery at all and it doesn't require money - it just requires a modicum of common sense - and patience.