Come on, Marcus - it's time for a change
WHEN the fans and the players stop caring about their club, you know it must be time for a change.
Such is the case at Ipswich Town. Apathy has reined down by the bucket load at Portman Road this season.
Supporters, who have been nurtured on nail-biting season climaxes, are bored - bored with the dismal football, bored with the rhetoric which tumbles from the boardroom and bored with investing significant sums of money in a club which has failed to deliver.
And the players, judging by the utterly insipid display against mediocre opposition on Saturday, appear uninterested and disenfranchised with the fortunes of the Blues, too.
On one level, I feel for Jim Magilton – his squad have completely failed him in recent weeks.
The question, of course, is why? Why are seasoned professionals failing to reach anything close to their potential? Why are they not fighting for their boss’ future when they know his job is on the line?
In the aftermath of the pitiful defeat to Doncaster, Ipswich fans have not been backward in slating Magilton.
But in the interests of balance, his three-year tenure, which must surely be winding to a dismal conclusion, has not been all bad.
Last season, for example, Town played some wonderful football at home. The 6-0 drubbing of Bristol City was sublime, as was the dismantling of Premier League-bound West Brom.
The discovery and capture of Jon Walters, one of the few members of the current squad with the talent to perform in the Premier League, is another feather in the manager’s cap.
But, as has been often documented, Magilton’s downfall is his inability to convert the millions made available to him into a squad capable of winning promotion.
Put simply, too many of his signings have been duds.
His shortcomings in the transfer market have been exacerbated by an over-sized playing staff and the failure to establish his strongest team. With only four matches of the season remaining, it is incomprehensible that the manager does not know which eleven represents his best side.
Key partnerships have not been developed. The central midfield pairing changes every week. Upfront, Magilton has employed Kevin Lisbie, Pablo Counago, Jon Stead and Danny Haynes. But there has been no continuity, no relationships have been forged.
There have been baffling selections, too. How can a player, Tommy Miller for example, go from being exiled from the matchday 16, to starting the next week, and then to once again not even making the bench? How can two players returning to the squad from injury – Giovanni Dos Santos and Jon Walters – find themselves starting a match after weeks on the sidelines?
Magilton must accept that he has enjoyed every chance to succeed. His appointment may have been as much about saving cash as it was about installing a bright, young coach, but he was welcomed to his new post as a hero. And rightly so. His Town career was excellent. He served the club with passion and ability after forgoing a cushy place in the then Sheffield Wednesday Premier League squad.
Since Marcus Evans assumed control at Portman Road, he has been furnished with the sort of cash that, for instance, Kevin Blackwell at third-placed Sheffield United could only dream of.
And he has been given that rare entity in professional football – time. Evans appears in no hurry to wield the axe.
Yet, despite all of this, the club is no further forward than when Magilton was appointed in 2006.
In fact, the disharmony on the terraces – which is likely to significantly impact on season ticket sales – and the general mood around the club could constitute a giant step backwards.
In my eyes, Jim will always be a Town legend. His hat-trick against Bolton in 2000 is a special memory. Indeed, all of his committed performances in blue and white will never be forgotten.
But, after a season of woe with the Northern Irishman at the helm, the time has come for change.