ShefkiKuqisSkidmarks

Sherwood is not in the frame. Lampard is a slow burner. ITFC fans overwhelmingly want Ross but the niggling thing is it does appear that we are waiting to approach Hurst. It is getting frustrating for all concerned!

If we get him we will love him and cherish him. Our owner is very secretive but I have a friend who gives me snippets of definite info now and again. She told me about the Jack Ross enquiry and the interview before it was in the public domain but she has gone all quiet today. This may sound strange but I think it's because something may be happening and she is in lockdown. Purely speculation of course. I can tell you now that whatever happens we will be looking over your results from now on, I think a lot of our following will adopt you as our Caledonian team. Maybe a few of us lot might pop up for a game and a few beers if we do eventually tie the knot. I know I am biased but if it happens I don't think he will find a better move at his stage of his career. A total of only 15 managers at ITFC since 1936 2 England managers 1 Scottish manager Guaranteed time to get it right and an absolute blazing set of youngsters champing at the bit and absolutely no interference from the powers above.

We don't know mate. My personal opinion is that he wouldn't have been invited for a tour and second interview so soon if he were still keen on Hurst - who realistically we can't talk to for well over a fortnight. It's not like we can say "Listen Jack, we like you but we are going to wait and see what Hursty says first. I think he'll be offered the job within a week - but others on our forum believe we will wait for Hurst. I think we are all convincing ourselves to believe what we want to hear.

To be honest I don't know anything about Hurst or Ross. I think that the people on our forum who claim to are just being a bit Billy Big Bollox.

I think the bookies are just reacting to the money being placed. Today Shrewsbury reached the play off final. Out of respect it seems we won't approach Hurst until their season is over and we're wondering if that means we will wait and run the risk of someone else pinching Ross - or whether we might bite the bullet and offer him the job this week. To be honest - I don't think anyone has a clue. Edit; I think we will offer him the job this week. P.S. I could be wrong.

Just to keep you fidgeting on your flight. https://www.twtd.co.uk/forum/430330/as-of-12.05.18-who-would-you-like-to-be-the-next-manager-of-itfc/#17

This thread has taken a bit of a swerve. To be fair Pork and Cheese isn’t really a racist term but Cockney Rhyming Slang. For what it’s worth Ipswich has always been very multicultural, we have always a sizeable black community unlike our Norwich neighbours who never saw a black man until Justin Fashanu arrived Ipswich truely lives in racial harmony - in fact back in the day the London club fans would sieg heil and aim monkey chants at our North stand and Norwich would constantly chant “Norwich is white”. “Ipswich lives in racial harmony” was our standard reply As for loans going your way - I guess that would make sense to look at this rather than send out to our 1st division. Our loanees seem to do very well wherever they go - sometimes ending up as player of the season. We have had a recent habit of selling them to the team they went to.

Paul Hurst was the perceived favourite but I don't think we have even been spoken to because of Shrewburys play off situation. If Ross has impressed as it seems he has it might force Marcus's hand. Personally now I think he may be the front runner - but we are all still in the dark a bit.

And this is what we want to do and build through youth and pick up some bargains. We bought Cresswell for not a lot and sold him for £4m, we bought Mings for £10k and sold him for £8m. We got Garner and Waghorn from Rangers for a combined fee of about £500k and they have been fantastic, our GK is arguably the best in the league and cost peanuts from Notts County. We really have some great young players coming through and whilst money helps we are the sort of club that likes to be self sufficient and it can work. I might be an old fart but I believe a club can compete with good foundations and the right people. Edit; And before Marcus tightened the purse strings we spent millions and millions on a pile of shite.

He was interviewed in London on Thursday, by all accounts he impressed and has been invited to Portman Rd for a second interview. Obviously others may be in the frame - I'm not sure

By the way everyone. I must apologise, I have been popping on here for two days and I haven't asked you the most important question. On TWTD (Our forum) it is our tradition to ask new friends their favourite cheese. So; What is your favourite cheese? I'm a Suffolk Blue man - although I am continually tempted by the namby pamby French Roquefort

100% correct and to be honest I still don't think he is top of the list - regrettably, as I have developed a bit of a man crush.

Yeah but a 2 bedroom terraced house here is about £4m

Maybe but I can't see why if Mick was on £20k we wouldn't pay our new target £15k. It would undermine the manager if a chunk of the first team were getting more than the manager. Mick just picked up what seems to be our going rate, the £1m thing that was floating about was I believe a separate bonus for keeping us up. Anyway, as I say, it was just a guess. Either way it seems that it is a life changing thing as he would be on a minimum of £10k - £12k

I'm just guessing at that figure but I think McCarthy was on about £20k and our highest player on about £18k so I just assumed the figure. I think a young manager would be given a two year contract - which would be worth £1.5m One has to look after oneself and and ones family. From what I have read over the past couple of days it seems that your man will go at some point, I would like it to be us as he sounds a good guy and he will get every chance with us. If he went to Derby, Leeds etc he could be undermined and face with the sack at any time.

As a matter of interest how much to you think he's on financially? I'm not 100% certain but I think he would be on about £15k a week down here.

To be fair that was a month ago and Ross wasn't in the frame then. The bookies odds are only jumping about due to the (very small) amounts of bets placed. I think Hurst is the one in contention at the moment but it depends on what happens in the play offs. Our owner has stated that we won't be announcing a manager until end of May at the earliest - probably June - which does suggest we might be looking at the play offs.

Aberdeen done a number on us the following season in The UEFA Cup. Back then The UEFA cup was harder to win than The European Cup as it was only the previous seasons champions in The European Cup and it wasn't the case back then that those clubs would be at their best again the following year. Folk law has it (but I think it's a bit of a wives tale) that when Sir Bob left to manage England he was asked by our board who he recommended as his successor and he replied "Ferguson". Unfortunately we appointed the wrong Ferguson and appointed Sir Bobs no 2 Bobby Ferguson over the suggested Alex. As I say - I think it's a bit of a friend of a friend story that has gathered pace over the years.

Yeah it was a great side and I was lucky to have been around. Unfortunately we really underachieved on the trophy front. I think we had the best team in Europe that year but the squad players just weren't up to the job, we had a lot of injuries as I think we played 66 games that season. We beat Villa three times but they won the league, we knocked them out of the FA Cup in the third round and they weren't in Europe so they got away with only using 14 players the whole season. We should have won the treble. We were runners up again the following season. Liverpool really had it in for us the late 70's and early 80's. Unfortunately we took it for granted at the time, we were in Europe 9 seasons out of 10 and to this day we remain the only team that would have won the league under a three rather than two points per win system - that was in 1974/75 Oh well, that's me all depressed again.

Yes I do, most certainly. I'm not daft enough to think that money doesn't help but football is littered with success and failures that go against this. When Roy Keane was here we were splashing the cash about and nearly went down. Marcus Evans is an ambitious fellow and not your typical owner. He tends to divide opinion because some of (shall I say possibly younger) fans want the moon on a stick. If Ross has confidence in his own ability then he will get all the support he needs from top to bottom. After our messy divorce from McCarthy we are looking for love!

I don't think Pardew is on the hit list! It seemed at first everything was concentrating on Mowbray but that now looks remote, partly because he looks like he is staying put and partly (I believe) because we have had more interest than we imagined and probably a higher calibre than we imagined. Gerrard was apparently interested as is Lampard and I think these sort of names attract our owner but whatever happens I think Evans is going to go with a young man and just work on a gradual build. I don't think the Prem is the be all and end all but it would be nice to go up and stay there. The problem with The Prem is that it is often a suicide mission, Norwich have absolutely no money and came down with a very large wage bill. Our owner is worth close to £800m, Delia Smith is worth £23m, it has got to the stage where an owner with wealth of £23m is red alert time. I really think all us lot want is attractive football and progress of sorts. Alex Neil was sacked in a state of panic, he seems to be doing well at Preston. Maybe I'm a bit old and in fairy land but I don't accept that big money to spend is the only way. Our main advantage at the moment is the tremendous talent coming out of our youth system which took a massive hit when Roy Keane basically destroyed it. If your man does go then I think we would be almost ideal for him, most Championship clubs are either owned by megalomaniacs or just hit the reset button too soon.

Sorry but you are wrong on many of your negatives. Without going into it too much and at the risk of repeating myself, our debt is irrelevant as it is our owners personal debt, if he goes he will have to walk away with it and he is happy to plug our losses to the tune of around £6m a year. We are perfectly capable with our current squad of challenging for play offs - without question. Finally, our managers just don't get sacked in a hurry, never have done. Since turning professional in 1936 we have only had 15 managers! If you really want some reasons why he won't come to us then I'll list them and it might cheer you up. 1/ He hasn't been offered the job. He might not take it anyway if offered 2/ We have had over 100 applicants - some of very high quality 3/ Personally I don't think he is our no 1 target. I don't know this for a fact but I think it is Paul Hurst - or possibly Frank Lampard. 4/ Although I would expect Ross to get paid very well (Marcus Evans pays good wages) I don't think Marcus will be prepared to pay much of a release clause. 5/ He is my first choice and I never get what I want.

Yes we are in debt but our debt is largely irrelevant. The money is owed to Marcus Evans our owner (who is worth around £800m). The deal that he signed when he bought the club is that he must walk away with the debt. Marcus keeps us going by pumping around £6m a year into the club, he won't spend millions as he got burnt by Keane and Jewell but the club won't go bust. Marcus, much like Mick divides opinion but those with sense realise that he has the clubs interests at heart. He is a very ambitious man but he won't attempt to buy his way out of the league, many have tried and failed.

Well we will have to agree to disagree on that one.