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Hello Everyone
Apologies for visiting your site, but I am a lifelong Ipswich Town supporter and would welcome your thoughts and insights on Paul Jewell, our current manager. Ipswich supporters are completely split on whether or not he is the right man to take the team forward, and the 7-1 thrashing at Peterborough brought things to a head three weeks ago.
He inherited a mess from Roy Keane. The squad lacked leaders and was somewhat cowed, and he won many admirers by signing Jimmy Bullard, who stabilised the ship and became a folk hero in no time at Portman Road.
The fear is that he is not a strategist, and signing players such as Jimmy and Lee Bowyer at the end of their careers suggested a sticking plaster approach. He sent out a 4-5-1 formation on Saturday at Blackpool, inviting them to attack us, which they happily did, winning 2-0.
Many supporters have simply written him off, but most of us are reserving judgement, giving him a couple of months to knit his squad together. Keith Andrews from Blackburn and Michael Chopra from Cardiff look like decent signings and there may yet be a happy ending.
I would welcome your thoughts as he achieved great things here at Wigan, and your wisdom and experience of the man would give us some context. I must say that we would kill to have your manager – Martinez is a class act!
Hi Harry,
It took Jewell time at our place also, he inherited a team full of time dead wood and players who were here for a big pay day. It took a little while to clear out these players and build his own side but once he did he never looked back,
He signed older players during his time with us also such as Graham Kavanagh and De Zeeuw who both proved to be wise signings and I think Bullard and Bowyer will prove to be the same.
He is defiantly not a master tactician so don’t expect any match changing subsitutions from him but he did a fantastic job for us and built a side in the second division that went on to still be the core of the side in the Premierleague. ( Filan Baines Bullard mculloch)
So I would say give him time!!4-5-1 formation, its good you like that if Martinez is your man !
Jewell is acracking manager, it will take time for him to build a squad and get you back up. However he has done it twice, I wonder if he has it in him 3 times. Problems with his off field antics, not sure how Ipswich are for hairdressers and the like, but that might have an effect on his time there….
The key will also be the backing, Whelan backed him and it worked.
This is a difficult one really coz for what he achieved in his time here he will always be a club legend & so any criticism of him makes anyone who does look like a really ungrateful git
For his plus points, these are pretty obvious – he took us from the 3rd div to the top flight in 4 seasons & when he left had kept us there for 2 seasons & got us to a major cup final. We also played some bl00dy good football under him. I don’t really need to go into any more detail than that. And he signed some great players who gelled together perfectly (up until the last season anyway)
On his bad points – as the poster above has mentioned, tactically he seemed very limited. he had 1 formation & one approach to games & if it didn’t work he rarely seemed capable of doing anything to turn ti around (I seem to remember one game where latcis were losing & his match changing substiution was to take a right back of & put a right back on & keep the same formation)
He also seemed to have a bad attitude towards playing the “top sides” when latics were in the premier league anyway where he would spend most of the build up to the game admitting the game was as good as lost. You could see this pass over to the players when the game was played & it was interesting to note that when Steve Bruce started one of our players (since left) stated that for the first time the team were going into these games believing they could get somet from em
In his early days the team was awful & it became quite clear that he didn’t have the respect of his players. He wasn’t able to sort that out & it needed the intervention of our chairman for that to happen
The signings he started to make in our 2nd season in the top flight became increasingly poor
I don’t think that if he’d stayed, Latics would still be in the top flight – he himself admitted that he’d taken the club as far as he could
Steve Bruce are Martinez seem much better at selling the club to potential signings than he wasIf I was an Ipswich Town supporter I’d be looking at giving him at least a year before passing final judgement on him – Paul Jewell is either an all or nothing manager in that he’ll be a great success (Latics & Bradford) or he’ll be awful (Sheff Wed & Derby)
Jewell will turn things around at Ipswich, but as someone has previously stated it will take time.
Perhaps after the next window in January, he may have the makings of his own team and the players will get used to his style of play / management.The fact that he now has his mate CH at the side of him will help rekindle the old days of challenging and winning promotion to the big league.
His biggest downfall for me is no plan B. If things are not working out, he struggles to find the answer and often makes what the average supporters feels are stupid decisions. It’s a bit like he’s resigned to the fact he will lose the game but will accept damage limitation. i.e. accepting a 2 or 3 nil defeat rather than going for it and getting stuffed 4 or 5.
What you have in PJ is a fully committed and honest bloke who will do all he can to help you tractor boys reach the elite league. Don’t be too hasty to judge him but I realise all us supporters want immediate success. My money is on PJ to get Ipswich in the play offs this season, stick with it and enjoy the ride.
From Matlock to ManU
What a journey!going into these games believing they could get somet from emGiven that Harry is from Bath, it might help to point out to him that “somet from em” means “something from them” :ugeek:
His biggest downfall for me is no plan B.
Which is ironic, because he looks very much like a Plan B.The signings he started to make in our 2nd season in the top flight became increasingly poorVALENCIA
KIRKLAND
HESKEY
BOYCE
KILBANEthese were poor signings ??
also
denny landzaat –
perhaps not a roaring success but not poor by any means still playing in dutch 1st divisiondavid cotterill –
highly thought of youngster that didnt push on all teams sign this type of playerfitz hall –
wasnt as good as his reputation – but he played against us in the premiership 2 weeks ago and was solid until going off injured (perhaps that says more about how good our current team are) – granted not one of our better signingsjanuary transfer window
caleb folan –
not the best player -all heart (scored more goals than boselli, scotland and di santo put together) 500k purchase who scored some very important goals that kept us up – sold on for 500k profit – i would rate him as a successdavid unsworth –
brought in short term to shore our defence up – proven premier league player – stoic last day defensive performance and the nerv jangling penalty he scored against his old club ensures he will always be a hero at wigan —failure ???? no wayjulius agahahowa –
no doubting this fellah was a failure – but he had pace to burn and had scored plenty goals in the past so he was worth a shot although it didn work out.
so apart from fitz hall and a couple of punts/gambles on a 19 year old(cotterill) and a speedy goal scoring striker who failed i think jewell record is pretty damn good.
This is incredibly helpful feedback. There are three themes running back on our supporters website.
Tactics. There is a fear that he is not a master tactician, and this is echoed here. This is not a catastrophic problem, as long as he does not try to be too clever. Part of the problem with our 4-5-1 against Blackpool was that Lee Bowyer was the right winger and Edwards (a natural winger) was full back. Cue wide open spaces for the 4-3-3 to attack. We would like to see a simple 4-4-2 with solid understandings on the key areas.
Motivation. Your comments have really hit a nerve here. After Saturday, PJ reported that we should be battling more for draws, which really is quite a defeatist approach (and not unusual). We are really worried about the lack of ambition he has shown, but I wonder about his own self belief and how this may affect the team.
Signings. Your feedback here is really quite reassuring as this has many of us worried. It is clear that he can blend a team given the right group of players, and much of the last year has been removing Keane’s poor signings. There is a great deal of confidence to be taken from your feedback, although I am not convinced that all of his signings may work.
Thank you all so much for chipping in – it is really appreciated. For what it is worth, I would approach this season with confidence. You have a terrific owner and manager. Injuries permitting, you will have a decent season. Keep a weather eye on events in East Anglia!
P.S. I can speak the lingo! I lived for two happy years in Leyland before work took me to Bath.
An absolute legend, his only fault IMO was he was too honest. He would call a spade a spade when asked if we would beat the top 4 instead of bull…. he told it how he saw it. Only trouble is thats not what the fans want to hear and can seem very negative.
More to the point Hindley, it wasn’t what the players wanted to hear either just as they were about to trot out at Old Trafford or Anfield.
Still, it was one of his few faults, in my book. I thought he was great. He even wore brown shoes with black keks from time to time.
I still love his first comment when he was appointed as manager and was asked if he had noticed how things were different from when he was a Wigan player. “Well, there’s 200 houses on the pitch for a start, they weren’t there before”
My best memory was at one of the “Meet the Manager” Supporters Club do’s when he was asked whether we were going to fill in the corners of the stadium.
He was non-plussed for a second and then replied “it’s not Championship Manager, son”.
I liked him, although he didn’t have a Plan B and as said was negative against “better” teams. Think he’d taken us as far as he could, but that was far beyond what most of us had ever thought possible.
He could get Ipswich into the Premiership with a fair wind and support from the Board – not sure he’d do that well once there though.
I did once upset him though. I was stewarding in the tunnel and there was some advertising banner in the middle of the pitch (all the time now, but then rare). We were in what I still call the 3rd Diviision and had lost a couple of recent games despite going well overall. He came down the tunnel and asked me “what’s that”?. I jokingly said “it’s OK Paul, it doesn’t say “Jewell out””.
Sometimes my jokes just aren’t appreciated. This was one such occasion :)
My thoughts just about in the same ball park as the others.
I would say, Be patient and give him next season to make his move for promotion. He and yourselves will obviously want an attempt this season but we had a very mediocre mid table finish in his first full season but gradually over the season he found out who was worth their place and the style of player he needed in other areas. It takes a while to overhaul a squad. Before the next season started after finishing half way we were red hot favourites for promotion and walked the league. He will indeed get a squad of veteran warhorses and blend them with up and coming pacey young ones, And it seems to work for him. The key phrase around this thread is one i concur with. Give him time, Even if it takes until next season. As long as he has support from the board and the fans you will see the return.
I still love his first comment when he was appointed as manager and was asked if he had noticed how things were different from when he was a Wigan player. “Well, there’s 200 houses on the pitch for a start, they weren’t there before”And the classic
Reporter: 2nd in the table in October, when do you start thinking about Europe?
PJ: After about 10 pints
The signings he started to make in our 2nd season in the top flight became increasingly poor
VALENCIA
KIRKLAND
HESKEY
BOYCE
KILBANEthese were poor signings ??
also
denny landzaat –
perhaps not a roaring success but not poor by any means still playing in dutch 1st divisiondavid cotterill –
highly thought of youngster that didnt push on all teams sign this type of playerfitz hall –
wasnt as good as his reputation – but he played against us in the premiership 2 weeks ago and was solid until going off injured (perhaps that says more about how good our current team are) – granted not one of our better signingsjanuary transfer window
caleb folan –
not the best player -all heart (scored more goals than boselli, scotland and di santo put together) 500k purchase who scored some very important goals that kept us up – sold on for 500k profit – i would rate him as a successdavid unsworth –
brought in short term to shore our defence up – proven premier league player – stoic last day defensive performance and the nerv jangling penalty he scored against his old club ensures he will always be a hero at wigan —failure ???? no wayjulius agahahowa –
no doubting this fellah was a failure – but he had pace to burn and had scored plenty goals in the past so he was worth a shot although it didn work out.
so apart from fitz hall and a couple of punts/gambles on a 19 year old(cotterill) and a speedy goal scoring striker who failed i think jewell record is pretty damn good.[/quote]
note that i said “increasingly poor” and not that they were all poor
its all about opinions and i stand by what i said:
denny landzaat – regardless of who he is playing for now quite simply wasn’t good enough for the premier league
david cotterill – again not good enough. it doesn’t matter in the slightest that all teams sign promising youngsters that don’t work out. we are talking about jewell specifically and this turned out to be a poor signing
kevin kilbane – signed as a left winger, dropped & (bizarely) put in the middle by jewell then dropped. it was only under hutchings & bruce that he served a purpose as an emergenc left back. for that season under jewell he wasn’t good enough for the purpose for which he’d been signed for
fitz hall – complete and utter garbage for latics. poor signing
caleb folan – not good enough for the top flight. again that he scored more than 3 of bobby’s signings is irrelevant as is the fact we made a profit on him coz he wasn’t anywhere near good enough for the top flight. enjoyed his goal at city mind!!!!
david unsworth – a penalty in 1 game doesn’t make him a good signing. in his other thankfully brief appearances he showed that he was well & truly past being capable in the top flight. the penalty he gave away at home to everton shortly after coming on was idiotic
julius aghahowa – whether his record made him worth a shot is debatable. even if you think it was it still turned out to be a poor signing
there was also granqvist & the other scandanavian who were well & truly out of their depth & who he kept well away from 1st team action after appearing once or twiceon the other hand heskey, kirkland & valencia were good signings so in my opinion i make it:
3 good uns
9 bad uns
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