Ipswich Town are finding that the steady, unspectacular, consistency that manager Mick McCarthy has made his trademark is enough to stage a long-overdue play-off charge in this season's Championship.
If you only knew of Mick McCarthy through the medium of YouTube, you’d be forgiven for thinking of him as some sort of Ian Holloway-type clown character within the sport, always up to some jolly jape or other to relax everybody and get the players laughing. Search for his name and amongst the gruff press conference answers you find the Whisper classic, or that time he got frightened by a ghost on the touchline at Blackburn Rovers. There’s also a exchange with George Elokobi and a bottle of water. Ahhh Mick, stop it.
Actually, a fairer reflection of McCarthy’s outlook on life and football can be found further back in the archives. Way back in 2000 Real Madrid were playing Brazilian side Corinthians in the World Club Cup — that crucial tournament that Manchester United were allowed to bunk out of the FA Cup to play in — and everybody’s favourite anti-Semitic knobhead Nicolas Anelka had scored twice in what looked set to be a 2-2 draw.
When a late penalty was awarded to the Spanish team it wasn’t the greatest surprise in the world to see Anelka take the matchball and step up to try and complete a hat trick. McCarthy, on co-commentary duty that night with the BBC, however, was absolutely furious. "He’s not the regular penalty taker, this isn’t right at all, not right it’s not, not right at all,” he repeated over and over again throughout a prolonged build up which eventually culminated, to a mixture of fury and vindication on the gantry, with a miss that cost Real the chance of a win.
Now let’s be perfectly honest here, nobody really gives a stuff about the World Club Cup, least of all Real Madrid. Anybody watching at home listening to Mick’s commentary would have been doing so only because there was nothing else on, or they’d fallen asleep while watching the programme before. But to Mick, who has no known affinity with Real Madrid, football is a serious business and Anelka’s pursuit of personal glory was folly.
That’s Mick McCarthy. He’s a man’s man. From Baaarnsli. Call’s a spade a spade. You sense the McCarthy family kitchen gets through a lot of pastry and gravy in an average week. A figure of fun to some, but somebody who has promoted Sunderland and Wolves from this division before. It’s rarely pretty, it’s always pragmatic, but it’s regularly effective. Ipswich have lost only two of the last 17 games, drawing nine of them including five of the last six. Their last three matches have finished 1-1 and it’s now nine matches since they conceded more than once in a game.
Ipswich fans raised on a diet of Bobby Robson, or even George Burley football, may chunter under their breath at the basic approach, but having taken over with Town bottom of the Championship just over a year ago McCarthy now has them on the cusp of the play off places. Nobody since Joe Royle has had the Tractor Boys this close to the promotion race in the second tier and they’ve spent an astonishing amount of money on their stagnation.
According to the club's last set of accounts, owner Marcus Evans — who only bought the club in 2007 — is already owed more than £72m. Those accounts, for 2012, show everything at Ipswich heading in the opposite direction to what you'd want in a business. Gate receipts were down by more than £1m to £5.36m while the wage bill increased £400,000 to £17.95m. Losses increased by £12m to £15.96m, and in truth they'd have been as bad the previous year had they not flogged Connor Wickham and Jon Walters for big money. Transfer revenue was down from £10.84m in 2011 to just £248,000 in 2012. Commercial and television revenue fell by £1m. The debt went up from £72.83m to £79.62m of which £72.62m was owed to Evans. Only in football can a 'business' with this sort of balance sheet continue to happily carry on as it is.
And what has Evans had by way of reward for this? Well, not much. They finished eighth in the Championship in his first season in charge — 2007/08 — and have never managed to get that high again. They have subsequently finished ninth, fifteenth, thirteenth, fifteenth and fourteenth last season. In total 52 players have come in during that period on permanent contracts, and if you include youth teamers released from professional deals 85 have gone out. Evans has also had four different managers. For all of that, and £72m spent, Ipswich are basically exactly where they when he found them seven seasons ago.
Perhaps his biggest failing has been the appointment of managers, which is why the success McCarthy has enjoyed so far must be such a relief. Evans may have had a lucky escape by not getting Mike Newell from Luton when he first took over but Billy Davies would have been a far better option than Jim Magilton in his first ever managerial role. Roy Keane is a serial spender of money for little return — this the man who thought Anton Ferdinand was worth £8m — and perhaps his time at the club could be summed up by the decision to sell Jordan Rhodes to Huddersfield for £350,000 and putting that towards the £1.6m purchase of Tamas Priskin. Keane now spends his time aggressively saying what other people should do from behind a desk in an ITV studio, something he once said he’d rather visit the dentist than ever take part in.
Paul Jewell’s career has alternated between hits (Bradford, Wigan) and misses (Sheff Wed, Derby) and perhaps Ipswich can console themselves with the fact that usually when he misses he misses spectacularly, whereas at Portman Road they simply stood still a while longer, and then chopped him before the relegation rot set in last season.
Still, with serious investment being made in the club’s famed academy set up once again and the team finally starting to pick up decent results on a consistent basis, there’s just the slightest hint that the glory days — well, the regular play off campaigns of the late 1990s in any case — might just be making a belated return after all.
Two Ipswich interviews this week… thanks to Phil Ham from our sister site TWTD.co.uk, and another of my old six-a-side muckers Andy Thompson for their input.
Not the best start to the season, but only one defeat in 13 and now up to sixth, what's changed and started going right?
AT: Whilst the league has few 'easy' fixtures, our start contained playing all three relegated clubs away from home in the first eight league games giving us a very tricky start to the campaign and left us hovering in lower mid-table. The turning point was away at Blackpool where we turned round a 2-1 deficit to win 3-2 with McCarthy making some bold substitutions in the second half time with four strikers on the pitch at the final whistle. This was the first time he had employed such a system, one which was received well by Town fans and has been used since. The defensive solidity seen at the end of last season returned after the Blackpool win, and we have only conceded six goals in nine games, losing only once against Leicester. With these two factors, and the form of goalkeeper Dean Gerken, we have been able to push up to the play-off places.
PH: Not a huge amount changed, we were a bit unfortunate in one or two early games - sides kept doing things like scoring in the last minute, as you might remember. We’re consistent rather than brilliant, which I think is what you need to be to get somewhere near the play-offs in this division.
Is promotion a realistic aim this season, and how well equipped would Town be if they did end up in the Premier League next season?
PH: Having spent most of the last few years spending the large part of seasons climbing away from the relegation zone, I think most fans viewed a solid top ten finish as the target for this season. Anything above that is seen as a bonus.
Given where Town were only 14 months ago when Mick McCarthy took over, bottom of the table with seven points from 13 games, it would be a remarkable rise if we were to make the Premier League. The squad includes a handful of players with top flight experience — several with McCarthy’s Wolves side - and a few others, such as David McGoldrick, Aaron Cresswell and Cole Skuse, who may well eventually get the chance at some point either with Town or someone else, but like most long-term Championship sides strengthening would be required in order to stay up once there.
AT: Automatic promotion is not realistic with the top two berths set to be contested between Burnley, Leicester, Derby and yourselves. At the start of the season, I would have been delighted to make the play-offs and still hold that view even though we are in a good vein of form. The table remains very tight (outside of the top four) with six teams within three points of us and, given where we were when McCarthy took over 14 months ago, I would happily take a place in the top ten with the team developing and growing for a promotion push in the next two or three years.
In saying that, if we were to get promoted, I would not turn it down. The ground, facilities and soon to be category one academy status are all Premier League quality, but the playing staff would need some investment. I believe that the owner would give McCarthy some money to spend as he had earned the right given his very tight budget restrictions so far and the money that was thrown away by Keane (Priskin: £1.7m! Selling Jordan Rhodes for £500,000) and, to a lesser extent, Jewell (Jimmy Bullard's wages). If we were to follow the much publicised model of Southampton and invest in young players (which we have a good history of doing) and supplement these with experienced heads then I don't see why we couldn't be competitive in the Premier League. This, however, is easier said then done.
Who have been the stand out performers so far? Where are the weak links in the team?
AT: The two stand out performers for me so far this season have been David McGoldrick and Aaron Cresswell. In McGoldrick we have a striker who can bag more than 15 goals in a season with the ability to score from anywhere in and around the penalty area. Aaron Cresswell is, as McCarthy states, the best left back in the league with a great set-piece delivery and we might struggle to hold onto him through the coming transfer window.
The weak links in our team at the moment are our wide midfielders and right full-back spot. Unlike previous McCarthy teams, we are not currently playing with out-and-out wingers and that can leave our full-backs exposed. Cresswell is not often troubled by the opposition right-winger and has the ability to handle that threat, but we are currently playing Luke Chambers at right-back and, whilst he is a good centre half, he can often be exposed if not supported by a right-sided midfielder. This was particularly evident in the goal we conceded in the Huddersfield game when Adam Hamill was able to get to the by-line in the penalty area and pull it back for Danny Ward to score.
PH: Twelve-goal top scorer McGoldrick’s probably the favourite for the Town Player of the Year award at the moment, while no one has more assists in any of the top four divisions than Cresswell’s ten. But Town are a team more than anything else with most players putting in a decent shift week in, week out, just as McCarthy requires. Weak links? You’ll only pass it on to Harry if I tell you.
Any potential ins and outs in the January transfer window? Who would you like to sign — realistically?
PH: Cresswell has been watched by Premier League scouts for the last three or four transfer windows but no one has as yet firmed up their interest. We’ve had the usual youngsters go out on loan to get experience but I don’t see January being particularly busy at Portman Road in terms of moves in either direction.
If Cresswell were to be sold then McCarthy would probably use the money to add to his options but overall he says he’s happy with what he’s got, although is keen to add to his defensive strength in depth. I think all things being equal he’d like to bring back former loanee Richard Stearman from Wolves, who is out of contract in the summer, although whether that’s a likely prospect remains to be seen. Most fans would probably like to see a more creative central midfielder, ideally one with an eye for goal.
AT: We have added Sylvan Ebanks-Blake on a deal until the end of the season as he comes back from a broken leg, but he only lasted 30 minutes of his debut against Charlton, so how much game time he will get for the rest of the season remains to be seen. Our key area to improve is in the weak links mentioned, namely a right full-back and wide midfielders. The signing of Stephen Hunt is unlikely to be a long term fix (given his age, not his ability) but I would like to source young hungry players from the lower leagues.
How do you rate the job Mick McCarthy has done since taking over?
AT: McCarthy has been terrific in the last 14 months, to take a team from last to sixth and spending less than £250,000 on transfers in the process can only be seen as a great achievement. There are a handful Town fans that are still not happy as we're not playing the Ipswich way, made famous by Ramsey, Robson and Burley etc, but we have needed to become difficult to beat as under previous managers we have collapsed when under pressure all too easily. During his first few games in charge, we saw 5-0 and 6-0 defeats at Palace and Leicester respectively and people wondered if such collapses would continue. From then on, (other than the 4-4 draw at Derby , having been 4-1 up) he has instilled a new found resilience that has made us difficult to beat at home, and more recently away. Now, the next step for him is to build on this platform and get us playing more expansively, with the ball on the floor, getting in behind the opposition and not relying on set-pieces and direct balls into the strikers. We have the best man at the club at the moment and, if he stays, I believe he will get us to the Premier League. However, if this compromises the style of football, he will find it very hard to convince some sections of the support.
PH: Difficult to fault it given where we were when he took over. The last time we were sixth at this stage of the season was six years ago and the last time we actually made the play-offs was 2004/05, so this season has very much been progress in the right direction. The main criticism is that we’re not the prettiest to watch, but I think most are just happy that we’re towards the right end of the table at the halfway stage for the first time in so long.
Which other teams/players have impressed you in this league over the first half of the season?
PH: I thought yourselves and Reading both looked very much like sides who had been playing at a higher level when we played you, Joey Barton in particular looked a class apart. Leicester have probably been the pick of the established Championship sides, while AFC Bournemouth were the biggest surprise, played some lovely stuff and we were pleased to come back with a hard-fought point. Wouldn’t mind Cherries winger Matt Ritchie at Portman Road .
AT: The strike partnership at Burnley of Danny Ings and Sam Vokes has impressed me this season and is the biggest factor in their great start. It is good to see Sean Dyche doing well at Burnley after his ousting from Watford and if they keep these guys fit, there is no reason why they can't remain in the hunt. Leicester City have added a much more ruthless edge to their performances this season and have been able to beat teams when not playing well, making them look a very strong candidate for automatic promotion. If promoted, it will be good to not be in the same league as David Nugent next year that is for sure. We missed out on signing Charlie Austin a couple of seasons back, and given his performances and goals this season for Rangers it looks like we missed out on a quality player, certainly at Championship level. I've been pleasantly surprised at how well Bournemouth have played so far this season. I thought that Eddie Howe's playing style might not suit the Championship as they are often quite open and attacking, but they appear to have adapted to Championship life very well.
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