It is difficult to comprehend the way that Ipswich Town have plummeted in recent years. Having watched my beloved Blues for the last ten years it feels like we as a club have drifted completely full circle. After a period of development under a relatively young and unknown boss in George Burley, the Scot made himself a hero around these parts leading Town to 5th position in our first season back in the Premiership. European football beckoned once again on the hallowed turf of Portman Road. But a change in mentality, with an influx of foreign ‘fancy dans’ who were merely in it for the money meant the players took their eye off the ball and suddenly we found ourselves out of Europe and in a relegation scrap, which we inevitably lost.

Ipswich used to be a club that many sides used to model themselves on. Plymouth Argyle in particular were keen on using Town’s blueprint of development over a period of time to reach the promised land. But soon Ipswich became a blueprint that no-one would wish to model themselves against, with spiralling debt and a club still reeling from its spell in administration.

The task of rebuilding the clubs’ fortunes rested on the experienced shoulders of one Joe Royle. The former Manchester City and Everton boss had achieved a decent amount of success throughout his time as a manager and it was hoped that with minor modifications to the Town squad they could bounce back to the top flight. In Royle’s first full season in charge, his side fell foul of West Ham in the Playoffs leading him back to the drawing board.

The following season, Royle had a side that were built for the Championship, with the brute force of Shefki Kuqi providing an excellent foil for the electric Darren Bent in attack. The pair came within ninety minutes of firing the Blues to automatic promotion, but a draw at Brighton on the last day of the season, coupled with Wigan’s win at home to Reading saw the Latics pip Town to the post.

And so it was another date with the Playoffs for the Tractor Boys and once again they were paired with West Ham for a place in the final at Cardiff. Despite drawing the first leg 2-2 at Upton Park, battling back from 2-0 down, Ipswich capitulated in the home leg, losing 2-0 and 4-2 on aggregate. It was a dismal end to a season that promised so much. Yet with the likes of Bent and Kuqi on their way the following Summer to Premiership clubs, the future looked bleak.

Armed with a small transfer kitty, Royle set about revitalising a squad that had had its spine ripped out over the close season. The evergreen Nicky Forster was signed as a replacement for Darren Bent from Reading on a free transfer and Sam Parkin was acquired from Swindon for £450k. Parkin had a torrid time trying to win over the Portman Road faithful who had been used to the swashbuckling style of Shefki Kuqi on show every other week. But what the majority of Blues fans failed to realise was that Parkin was a different type of player. He was a poacher, and a poacher who never got the chance to do what he did best thanks to a midfield that was about as creative as a blank piece of paper.

Ipswich struggled and ended up finishing the season down in 15th position, their lowest finish in over fifty years. With this in mind, and with Town fans growing restless at the way Joe Royle had seemingly lost control of the situation, Royle and Chairman, David Sheepshanks agreed to a parting of the ways and Joe Royle left the club by mutual consent. Many names were in the running for the job, with Lawrie Sanchez and Ian Holloway both hotly tipped to take over at different stages. But one unlikely name that was to crop up was former Ipswich skipper, Jim Magilton. The ‘Belfast crab’ as he was affectionately known by the Ipswich fans had retired at the end of the season and appeared to have said a fond farewell to the club that had given him such success in recent years.

Yet an impressive interview and a week later, the Ipswich board of directors had arrived at a unanimous decision that the Northern Irishman should get the job on a full-time basis, with Brian Klug acting as his assistant.

There was an instant buzz around the stadium and the local area yet again. The ambition and the enthusiasm that Magilton oozed in the press conference during his unveiling inspired even the most pessimistic of local reporters. Magilton was given a three year goal with which to get the club back into the Premiership, and to date the enigmatic boss appears to be making small strides towards this.

The signings of promising youngsters, Dan Harding and Alex Bruce have certainly shored up the defence somewhat and added some youth and exuberance to what was a rather stale back four. Magilton has also been very astute in the loan market so far, with the likes of Mark Noble, Simon Walton and Jon Macken all arriving for three-month periods and making good impressions on the team. The Ipswich boss has a decent amount of money to spend in the January transfer window and Magilton has revealed in no uncertain terms that he is keen to spend it on players who will bring back a winning mentality to the side.

This has been clearly lacking from the side since the departure of the likes of Matt Holland, Hermann Hreidarsson and Shefki Kuqi. With the January window now open, there are a number of irons that Magilton appears to have in the fire at present. A striker with which to partner Alan Lee appears paramount, whilst Town are locked in talks with Cork City over the transfer of midfielder, George O’Callaghan to Portman Road for a nominal fee. Hibernian right back, Steven Whittaker is a player who has interested Magilton for some time now and it is rumoured that he has made preliminary moves to acquiring the Hibees defender.

The optimists amongst the Ipswich supporters now believe that there is much to be excited about. With a younger, hungrier squad of players at Magilton’s disposal, fans are hoping for a new era under the former captain. Players such as Ian Miller have been acquired from local non-league football, and Miller in particular appears to be a really inspired find. The central defender has the hallmark of a former Town favourite, Terry Butcher in his playing style and has been earmarked as a future lynchpin at the back for the Blues. Miller has been given a chance to improve his footballing education in the short term whilst on loan at League Two side Boston United.

Meanwhile the Academy continues to reel off a number of talented youngsters at an alarming rate, with the likes of Billy Clarke, Danny Haynes, Shane Supple and Owen Garvan all attracting the attention of Premiership scouts. But with the Blues out of administration they are no longer in a position where they have to accept offers for players, and with assurances given by the board that the squad will be kept together, a new chapter in the club’s history could be just beginning.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 15th, 2007 at 7:53 am and is filed under Ipswich Town. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.