FAN’S VIEW  2025/26 –IPSWICH AWAY

Pre-match

Would I still attend if I had no hope whatsoever? That’s a question I sometimes ask myself. Perhaps it never quite gets to absolutely zero hope but I’m just left with the dregs at the bottom of my almost empty glass. Half full or half empty, don’t give me that at this stage of the season.

I’m talking about where we’re going to end up when the curtain goes down on the 25/26 campaign and our trip to Portman Road.

Yes, we beat the Tractor Boys at our place only a month ago. Yes, we had that fantastic result against Southampton just two games ago. BUT. There’s nearly always a but and the but here is a massive one.

We’ve not managed to win two consecutive games this season. To me that’s not down to being inconsistent. That’s down to not being good enough.

Even when we’ve got the results as in the two games mentioned above and played well, I’ve not had real confidence that we were very likely to go out and do it again next time out. And let’s be honest that game against the Saints could easily have gone the other way. If we were to play them 10 times, I’d guess at one win for us and two or three draws with the rest being defeats.

This is obviously coming over as defeatist but that is genuinely how I feel. I thought we were atrocious against Swansea, other than only losing by just the one goal again. On further thought we are quite consistent, consistent in not being very good.

We don’t play like a Championship team. We have loads of players who, on the evidence we have seen in the first half of the season, are not of the calibre required for tier two football which is incredibly demanding.

Things could change of course, with the employment of a new manager and a successful transfer window. I can’t see it but as ever it is wait and see. Meanwhile I’ll do my best to carry on supporting my football club and getting behind those representing us on the pitch, hard though it is at times.

Travel and pubs

Trying to crack the code of the train timetable to find the best value for money when going from a to b isn’t easy by any means. Initially I’d found two singles that could have got me from Bicester to Ipswich and back for approx. £26 but waiting on a potential lift I didn’t go for this. They were limited in number and disappeared. Prices then looked prohibitive. My mate Mark then said he could get returns for £31 via Trainline so we went for that. The tickets to Ipswich were from Oxford Parkway, not Bicester Village, which would have been much more costly. Allowed to get on at BV though, we checked. All very strange as was the fact that the times Trainline had given us didn’t quite align with the actual timetable. Never mind, we got there and back but it did seem crazy that we had to wait around for certain trains when we could have got on earlier ones that appeared nowhere near full.

We had to wait a few minutes on the train home to leave Marylebone because the driver had been delayed. All the way back we had a message from Chiltern Railways passing before our eyes telling us we were being held up by a red light and that they were sorry for the delay.

And don’t start me on the state of the toilets on Stratford station. A urinal that could accommodate two and a sit-down crapper. Everything battered and full of piss that looked and smelt like it had been there for at least a fortnight. I nearly threw up. Third world country.

For all that, we got to Ipswich on time at 12:35. Time for a couple of pints. Even though it was New Year’s Day we assumed the pubs would be open and headed for one we knew from the past, the Briarbank. It’s a modern bar above the Briarbank brewery. Lots to like about it but an honest assessment doesn’t come out totally positive. The Briarbank bitter at £5 a pint was very good. That I didn’t like the spicy pumpkin IPA (or some such) so much was my own fault for choosing it. The food was great value. £8 for a vegan chilli jacket potato that was sizeable, had some kick to it and was accompanied by lots of fresh salad. What it wasn’t accompanied by was knives and forks. I asked the girl who brought the meals out from the kitchen where I could get such implements from. She nodded to the girl behind the bar and said “she’ll get them”. There were just the two of them working and it had at times been busy so I had some sympathy for them with it being New Year’s Day and all that comes with it after a possible heavy previous night. I still had to go and ask. I got the cutlery but no apology.

Although I was stuffed when I’d finished, I knew I could fit another half in so went back up to the now much quieter bar. The barmaid was looking down near the till. I thought she might have been calculating a bill or something but soon realised she was on her mobile. I decided to wait for her to look up. She didn’t. I gave her ample time to do so. So, we left. We said goodbye and thanks as we did so. She then looked up and said goodbye. Probably not realising we’re that bit less likely to visit should we be playing the Tractors Boys again. Not that this looks like happening anytime soon.

Immediately over the road is another pub in the Good Beer Guide, the Lord Nelson. The real ale is served from old wooden casks. I stupidly went for the one with the stupidest name. It was average. My mate went more traditional and said his pint was excellent. We supped in a small room which looked into the side of the main bar. There were a handful of Ipswich fans in there but they had soon finished their drinks and got up and left, leaving just one bloke.

There are topics to avoid when first getting chatting to strangers in pubs. Politics, religion, etc. But there are others that really bring people together. I’d say that football is the main one but music can too. Spot someone wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the name of a band you’re really into and often away you go. Given I’m a man of a certain age I think it’s fair to say you can throw walking football into this category too. Me and my mate were chatting about walking football and the man sat on his own said “did you say walking football?”. We said yes, we did. He was an Ipswich fan from Colchester who had just moved to Ipswich and was looking for a local club. He’d thought that we might be able to help but we had to tell him we were Oxford fans and were talking about Oxfordshire walking football. A very friendly discussion about football of both varieties then ensued. Interestingly he thought that there were two strands to the walking kind. A social kick around and the competitive stuff. Proof that this is a debate that takes place within most walking football clubs throughout the country.

For the record 32% of players movement in the Premier League is walking and only 8-9% is sprinting. I can’t find such stats for the Championship. I wonder what our percentage of walking is because we do come across as being more static than our opponents on most occasions.

Ipswich Town 2 Oxford United 1

I took my wallet out of my pocket and held it in my outstretched hand as I was being body scanned prior to walking past a sniffer dog on my way to the turnstiles. Didn’t want a repeat of the Charlton episode. The administrator of the scan couldn’t have been less interested in what I was holding. I understand why we’re subjected to this at football but it does become tiresome. And why was there a row of stewards sat in front of us travellers looking disinterestedly towards us throughout the whole game? Minimum wage. No wonder they looked bored. I think one nodded off at one stage. Never any hint of any trouble. Surely with CCTV these days no need for it.

I’d never heard of anyone called Leif before I became aware of Leif Davis. Before kick-off Chris Davis from Bicester told me his grandson Leif was there and lived locally. Turns out he’s about 10 years old and not the Ipswich number 3.

Wikipedia informs me that Leif Erikson a.k.a Leif the Lucky (c. 970s – c. 1018 to 1025) was a Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to set foot on continental America, approximately half a millennium before Christopher Columbus. So, Leifs have been around for a very long time. Learn something every day.

As ever now reluctantly onto the actual football.

Small mercies, we only lost by a single goal. AGAIN. We didn’t get slaughtered 5-0 like Portsmouth did. We are though second from bottom with only Wednesday below us with their negative points total. Pompey are three points above us in 21^st place and with a game in hand. Bloody hell, it’s grim. Blackburn in 20^th and Charlton in 19^th have also played one game fewer than we have. We’ve got the third worst goal difference in the league.

We don’t keep clean sheets. Never look like doing these days. We kept the score at 0-0 until the 17^th minute. No surprise when it became 1-0.

It was a familiar story. We just looked second best. Our players make way more errors than the opposition. Players that I used to think were assets and key to us having a chance don’t look like that to me at present. Ciaron Brown made two mistakes in the first 10 minutes.

We’ve got no game plan, or if we have it’s one that can so easily be countered by our opponents. We can’t play out from the back. We’ve not got the ability. I’m sure any team we’re playing against is more than happy for Brown and Michal Helik to have the ball at their feet. They don’t hit killer passes. They don’t bring the ball forward in the style of a Rob Dickie or a Rob Atkinson as an attacking threat. And when they do pass to the midfield, so what? The opposition still won’t be worried because where’s the creativity there? You tell me.  Brian De Keersmaecker? Not really, or if he does something along those lines it’s usually all too slow.

So, we can’t build from the rear. The alternative is to go long from the keeper. Whatever centre halves we’re up against usually gleefully win the aerial battle and possession is lost.

What other way is there to get through in open play? Pace down the flanks. That’s an option, but quite easy to stop when our wide men suddenly have two or three on them.

Ipswich made 112 successful passes in the final third. We made 21. Embarrassingly pathetic. They had six shots on target. We had just one. Good one at that though because we scored from it.   

Their opener came following some very neat football in the final third. Good control in tight spaces, moving the ball nicely with angled passes, the type of play we rarely if at all produce. This neat football broke down though because we had our men back and were defending to the best of our ability.  Filip Krastev was able to nick the ball away and dribble it a few yards outside our area only to be easily robbed. £20m man Jaden Philogene was the beneficiary and scored with ease given the skill he has. For that price you would expect quality though wouldn’t you? He came inside Sam Long but I don’t want to be critical of our man from Bicester allowing this to happen because there was an unmarked blue shirt to Philogene’s left. We just can’t cope with this level of football. Krastev could have played a relatively easy pass to Will Lankshear who was in space. He never got his head up and looked. Not good enough by any means.

To our credit though we didn’t fall apart. That’s something we don’t do. Hope that’s not tempting fate for the games to come.

We could have gone further behind but out of the blue we were level in the 34^th minute. Teams like Ipswich don’t expect to lose the ball to teams like us when they’re playing it about, especially on their own turf.  When Jens Cajuste received possession out wide near the half way line Shemmy Placheta closed in on him intelligently and with the right amount of speed to put the Swede into difficulty. Brian De Keersmaecker picked the ball up and played it immediately to Placheta. With Cajuste unnecessarily having chased the ball our man was left unmarked with plenty of green grass ahead of him. Also ahead of the ball were Lankshear and Krastev. Placheta is quick. Ipswich weren’t expecting it. They weren’t ready for it, although they did get men back to make it 4 v 4. The ball was slipped inside to Krastev. He made a neat turn presumably hoping to get onto the ball again himself to get a shot away with his second touch. As he was brought down Lankshear got on to it and hit a great angled shot back across keeper Christian Walton into the net.

Unfortunately, in any game we don’t put together many moves like this. If we did, we’d be much closer to what looks like a very far away mid-table than we are now.

The goal highlighted the importance of Placheta. That such a player who delights and frustrates in equal measures is one that is currently key to what we can possibly achieve says a lot about the overall calibre of our squad. It was a real pisser when he didn’t return for the second half. Felt his calf apparently. And then there is this rumour doing the rounds that he’s going back to Poland in the January transfer window.

A mention to our scorer too. That’s his sixth in 17 starts which isn’t bad for a 20-year-old. No one else is really contributing, are they?

I thought it was ill advised of our supporters to chant “Only sing when you’re winning,” fearful that the home fans would soon once again be doing so.

Sure enough, that’s what happened just six minutes later but not before Jack Currie had hit one over the bar after good work from Placheta with Krastev also involved. The latter had a much better option than the one he took. Lankshear had taken up a very good position and if the ball had been squared to him a goal would have been quite likely. Some players have more awareness than others. I wonder how many Lankshear would have netted by now if he was getting better service.

Ipswich got through our left side way too easily with too many of our players being left stranded. Darnell Furlong got away and his pull back, after looking up to see what was on, was finished neatly by Chuba Akpom. Michal Helik appeared slightly clumsy in his attempt to stop it happening, but it all takes place so quickly.

That was it as far as the scoring went. In the second half we needed some very good saves from Jamie Cumming and plenty of blocking to keep it that way but we had the best chance during that period.

Stan Mills, on for Placheta, hit the ball clear. We won the battle for possession and Krastev took it on his chest before laying it back to Will Vaulks. It’s when our Bulgarian does things like this that I tell myself not to give up on him.

Vaulks hit it forward first time. He had no other sensible option. We suddenly had 2 v1 in our favour not far outside the Ipswich box. Lankshear used his body well against Dara O’Shea and De Keersmaecker came running through getting his head on the ball which took him and it one on one with the outcoming Walton. Our Belgian had to be favourite to score the way it was playing out, but he didn’t. He tried to score with the outside of his right foot instead of the inside of his left. It went horribly wide. I thought he had a reasonable game, but this. What the ****. It’s moments like this that the annoying song “that’s why you’re going down” starts to play in the back of my head.

The Tractor Boys got a bit jittery but we didn’t have it in us to exploit that. I don’t want to be rude about any player but when we bring Mark Harris on for those final few minutes it does not inspire our followers.

On the final whistle as I walked down the steps to leave, I briefly clapped the players. All that had happened was the inevitable and although I was far from overjoyed, I’ve seen us play worse than this when we lose. No one hurled abuse at the side and they were never turned on during the encounter. Given how poorly we’ve been playing recently this was a good turnout from the travelling yellow army but I think many of the younger element, probably the majority of those who sang “Gary Rowett your football is shit” at Charlton, weren’t there. Wonder what they would have made of this.

Most of them will not have experienced relegation unlike us old and very old heads. The last time we suffered such a fate was 20 years ago in the 2005/06 season when we dropped into the Conference. There are only 2 or possibly 3 other teams in the EFL who have not experienced a relegation since then. Bromley, Salford and Harrogate. The latter would have gone down after the 2009/10 campaign if it hadn’t been for a reprieve when Northwich got into a financial mess.

So perhaps the footballing gods have decided in the interest of fairness and spreading suffering around it is our turn this time around.

I very much worry about our next couple of games. Sheffield United have won seven of their last 10 league matches. I’m expecting nothing. Then a League Two side away in the FA Cup. MK Dons must be licking their lips.

But we don’t know what the future holds do we?

We’ve just got a new player in through the door – Jamie Donley on loan from Spurs. Will he be the catalyst we need? We have an option to buy. I’ve just read the figure quoted. £4.5m if reddit is to be believed. We’d never pay that would we? Certainly wouldn’t if we went down. (Blimey I typed “if” not “when”). Perhaps the thinking is that we could sell him on for a big profit.

Odds on us going down are now 2/5.

Meanwhile no manager. Current favourite, Alan Sheehan.