Tazskool

IPSWICH TOWN FC

GENERAL INFORMATION
Club: Ipswich Town
Full Name: Ipswich Town
Nickname: Tractor Boys
Ground: Portman Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, England
Capacity: 30,300 all seater with under-soil heating
Training Ground: Top facilities plus Youth Academy
Chairman: David Sheepshanks
Manager: Joe Royle

FINANCES
Transfer Budget: Around £3.2 million
Wage Budget: Approximately £65,000 per week
Current Wage: £42,755 per week
Wages Differential: £22,245

GENERAL IMPRESSION
Ipswich finished in third place at the end of the 2004/05 campaign after leading the Championship for a large portion of the season. They were eventually edged out by Sunderland and Wigan and crashed out in the playoff semi-final at the hands of West Ham. With one of, if not the most promising team in the Championship, Ipswich had half of their squad taken apart by Premiership clubs. Darren Bent, Shefki Kuqi, Tommy Miller and Kelvin Davis were arguably the side’s best players, but they all left for Premiership sides. A respectable position is expected within the Championship and this should be feasible with a nice transfer budget. The fans also expect the same finish, meaning to please them you should be aiming for a playoff position. With Ipswich’s reputation you should be able to attract most players of Championship capability, as well as a few transfer listed Premiership players.

PLAYING STAFF
Although fairly talented, the playing squad is fairly small to begin with. With the sales of the players mentioned above it is probably not capable of mounting a serious title challenge without heavy strengthening. As usual the youth system produces some real gems, with Dean Bowditch, Ian Westlake and Matt Richards all promising youngsters. Be aware though; if these players’ form is high by January the Premiership clubs will come calling. Shane Supple is also a promising name with the media ‘touting him as the next Shay Given’. The Irish youngster is pretty capable but personally I think Lewis Price is slightly better and at 21 has a bit more experience. Price however is not good in the air, so some defenders with good heading attributes would be needed.

The defence needs improving. Richard Naylor, Ipswich’s longest serving player, is a striker turned defender and is a pretty good all-round centre-half, but there is question marks over whether, should you win promotion, he would be able to handle top flight players. Jason De Vos is likely to be his partner, with a fantastic header and decent marking and tackling, although De Vos has no pace whatsoever. Sito is a decent right-back, with a good heading attribute as well as decent pace. Matt Richards is again quite quick but lacks a header. Like Sito he is good at getting forward. Expect a few bids for Richards during pre-season. Scott Barron is tipped to be a good prospect at left back but to be honest is pretty useless. Fabian Wilnis is another good attacking full-back, but it may be a wise idea to sell him, as he is 35 and a few Dutch clubs usually come in for him.

Into midfield, and you have quite an ageing group of players. Attribute-wise, Darren Currie is a vital player. He has Premiership attributes for just about everything you could want for a winger. He can play all across the midfield but is usually used out wide. Jim Magilton is now 36 but still going, and seems to make the team tick. He is a very good passer of the ball. Kevin Horlock is a good all-round player but again ageing at 32, while loan signing Jimmy Juan makes a good holding player. Juan is very good in the air and very strong. Ian Westlake is the latest product of the Academy and makes a good central midfielder. Also expect bids for him during pre-season.

BACKROOM STAFF

Scouting: You will have a fair few scouts to begin with. Romeo Zondervan is pretty good, as is Martin Dobson. Colin Suggett and Colin Harvey aren’t too bad, while the weakest two are Andy Thorn and Richard Hall. Overall they aren’t a bad set of scouts and should do the job pretty well. All of them have long term contracts and won’t need renewing for a couple of years at least.

Coaching: Bryan Klug is a good all-round coach. You want him to be working with the youth teams as he has a high ‘Working with Youngsters’ attribute. Andy Rhodes is your goalkeeping coach and a goalkeeper himself. Tony Humes is a very good all-round coach and also decent with goalkeepers. He is an excellent man manager. Ken Goody has average attributes in just about everything and is a useful all-round coach to have. Simon Thadani is a attack focused coach and a useful member of your staff.

Physios: You only have three of these to start off, and it needs adding to. Dave Williams is an average physio but is useless at everything else. Mark Endacott is slightly better than Williams but nothing special. Matt Byard is easily your best all-round physio but his actual Physiotherapy stat is nothing special.

Assistants: You have two assistant managers, Willie Donachie and Stuart McCall. Donachie is a good coach and very good in the man management department, while McCall is a very determined coach and your partner where tactics are concerned.

TACTICS
Wing-backs may be a good call if you can sign a third centre-back. The good thing with this system is that it can be toyed with to face the better and worse teams. You can go 5-3-2 with wing-backs when facing the weaker sides, and play 5-3-1-1 against the better sides, with just ordinary full-backs instead of wing-backs. But it’s your call; just play to your team’s strengths and try to pick out your opposition’s weaknesses.

CONCLUSION
Ipswich are a side that could be anywhere in the table. They have consistently under-achieved and the playoffs always seem a likely destination. In fact, Ipswich have been in the playoffs so many times that rival Norwich fans now joke about the Tractor Boys’ worst fear being the playoffs. Unless you can get the team performing consistently in big matches then the playoffs could be your downfall once again. If you can make some good signings then automatic promotion is never too far off. If you get them there, keeping them in the Premiership will be an even tougher task.