Ipswich Town fan Russell Claydon says Paul Jewell is on borrowed time
EVERY managerial reign has its tipping point and for me Paul Jewell’s was reached on Saturday.
And I was far from the only one with 95 per cent (21 from 22) of you responding to my question of ‘Jewell out’ or ‘Jewell in’ on Twitter immediately following our fifth defeat in our last six games.
Rumours of Harry Redknapp supposedly being in the wings waiting to take over were spreading like wildfire ahead of kick-off in a game where the bad luck story that had kept me hanging on to hope evaporated.
We were even given a gift of a goal off the boot of Leon Cort after Charlton’s quickfire double early in the second half, but weren’t able to force an equaliser at 2-1 down.
But neither did we deserve it, having spent most the time raining in wayward long-range efforts instead of the promising chances we had created and squandered in the previous games.
To me, things only look to be going backwards and despite owner Marcus Evans giving Jewell his backing through the mouthpiece of Simon Clegg this week, I’m afraid I can’t see him turning it around.
Throwing on Danny Higginbotham up front in the final minutes was a desperate measure from a desperate man.
Jewell even sounded like one in the post-match press conference, saying the players were giving everything but it wasn’t enough and he would keep going until he was told otherwise.
How long he has got to turn it around we don’t know, but I should think he has to get a win at Barnsley on Saturday.
The reverse fixture last season, a 5-3 win after being 2-0 down at half-time, saw him keep his job, so it would be ironic if the opposite happened this time.
In almost 20 months in the job he has had enough time and failed to sort out our biggest problem, our defence.
As I’ve previously said when backing him last season, our problems run deeper than Jewell, but with Evans and Clegg seemingly here to stay, something has to change before it is too late.
I can’t see Redknapp being interested, but he is a wheeler-dealer who gets the best out of people.
Under Jewell we’ve simply had too many signings who have failed to hit the heights.
Mick McCarthy is a more realistic option of someone who could prosper on a budget, but whatever happens I’m not one of these hoping for results to go against us to force Evans’ hand as there is too much at stake.
I’d love to see Jewell prove me wrong and come back from the brink, but in my opinion that is going to take something quite miraculous.
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Weather for Bury St Edmunds
Saturday 18 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 7 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
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