Another campaign fast approaches, and, having finished in a play-off position last season, the target for all Ipswich Town fans remains the same: promotion. This will be Ipswich’s fourteenth consecutive season in the second tier of English football – six seasons longer than the second longest consistently serving members, Derby and Nottingham Forest, both on eight consecutive seasons. Although Ipswich Town will be aiming for the Premier League and there is an atmosphere of optimism amongst fans, it looks like a fifteenth season is to follow. Not being promoted is not purely a negative, but is part of the continuing process of the improvement of Ipswich Town under Mick McCarthy.
The majority of the main squad from last season’s play-off finish has remained at Portman Road, and, although apparently close to making new signings, Ipswich’s involvement within the transfer market has been somewhat muted as of yet. The majority of losses from the squad have been players on the fringe who haven’t had their contracts renewed, such as Paul Anderson, Noel Hunt, and Stephen Hunt. This also includes Tyrone Mings, who left for newly-promoted Bournemouth, albeit for a substantial £8m. As part of that latter deal, Ipswich also received winger, Ryan Fraser, on a season-long loan, and Ipswich Town have signed, on a free deal, striker, Brett Pitman, also from Bournemouth. As well these two arrivals, Ipswich have also signed 20-year-old defender, Josh Yorwerth, formally of Cardiff, as a free agent. Further still, they have penned with wide midfielder, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, on a season-long loan from Arsenal. The additions to the squad look promising and should follow the trend of McCarthy’s successes in the transfer market while at Ipswich, but may not be enough to achieve promotion.
Last year’s success relied greatly on Daryl Murphy’s 27 league goals, making him the league’s top goal scorer and, despite the seemingly endless transfer rumours about Murphy’s departure, he has remained with Ipswich. However, prior to last season, he had never been a prolific goal scorer; it is unlikely that he will have such a successful season again, so the crucial goals he provided will have to come from elsewhere. As well as Murphy, Freddie Sears joined midway through last season and has proved already to be a good Championship striker. David McGoldrick seems to have returned from the injuries and poor form that plagued him last season, and, with the addition of Brett Pitman to the squad from Bournemouth, it seems that Ipswich have a wealth of quality strikers. Whether they can match last year’s goal tally is going to be a struggle, but certainly have the depth of choice to do so.
A solid defence is also crucial for any promotion push; in terms of goalkeepers, although some fans feel a new number one is needed, Ipswich have two decent Championship goalkeepers in Dean Gerken and Bartosz Białkowski, who will continue to compete amongst themselves for the position in the first team. However, Ipswich are struggling to replace the departure of Tyrone Mings and the imminent departure of Matthew Clarke – who is now on loan to Portsmouth – leaving just five recognised defenders. The signing of a young, inexperienced Josh Yorwerth is the only cover; the other four defenders in the squad who will all start in the first team are Jonathon Parr, Tommy Smith, Christophe Berra, and Luke Chambers. Ipswich still have talented youth players that could fill the positions, in particular Joshua Emmanuel and Myles Kenlock, but their lack of experience is worrying if they are to be the main cover within the squad. Although undeniably a good Championship defence, it is not enough to lead a successful campaign.
Ipswich seem to have, again, a number of midfielders suited to this level, including Cole Skuse, Teddy Bishop, Jay Tabb, Kévin Bru, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Ryan Fraser, Luke Hyam, Cameron Stewart, Alex Henshall, and Darren Ambrose. However, despite the number of midfielders to their disposal, there is still a dearth of quality. With the exceptions of Bishop, though, who is still improving and interesting Premier League sides, Maitland-Niles, who has great potential, and Fraser, who played an important part in Bournemouth’s promotion last year, the team might be lacking. The Ipswich midfield is certainly not as good as that of their promotion rivals. Worryingly, fans will, again, not be expecting a lot of goals from this position; a problem that Ipswich have struggled with for a number of seasons, with no midfielder scoring more than two goals last season. The additions of Fraser and Maitland-Niles will be expected improve the quality and hopefully provide more goals, but Ipswich fans will be hoping for more signings before the closure of the transfer market.
However, the results of others will also be important to the campaign of Ipswich Town. The chase for promotion remains as competitive as ever; Middlesbrough and Derby have spent well and greatly in the transfer market, and understandably are the favourites for promotion. Premier League-relegated Queen’s Park Rangers, Burnley and Hull will be hoping to compete well in the Championship, looking for a quick return to the top tier. There are obviously many more clubs aiming, very realistically, for the play-offs and promotion, including Nottingham Forest, Wolves, and Brentford. It will be tough, as it always is, and results will be hard to achieve for all teams in this unpredictable league. However, there are a lot of teams aiming for only six places and only three very desirable places in the Premier League; anyone can get one.
There is obviously very little to base the squad performances on at the moment – only pre-season friendlies. This is hardly a true reflection of the team’s ability and is far from a reliable way of predicting the season to come, as they often used as an opportunity to allow the squad some ‘game-time’, rather than a competitive match. The pre-season results to date have been, however, very disappointing for Ipswich fans: a win at Shelbourne; a loss against German second tier side, Fortuna Dusseldorf; a draw against League One Peterborough; a narrow victory and two goals conceded against League Two Cambridge; and, most recently, a 3-2 loss against Colchester, one of the bookmakers’ favourites to be relegated from League One this season. The latter of those results also included a dismal performance, leading to fans focusing instead on substitutes warming up on the touchline and chants between sections of Ipswich fans, rather than watching the game. Although other promotion hopefuls have struggled – Derby have lost to Grimsby, and Brentford have lost to Luton – it has hardly been a promising or inspiring pre-season, and, although only friendly matches, this must be a concern, given the results and the opponents faced.
The first team remains strong ahead of the season, albeit if further transfers are a necessity, particularly to strengthen the defence, which is looking very thin. The competition in the league is as strong as ever, and this will be the problem with only the top sixth places to aim for. Everyone involved in the club will obviously be aiming, very realistically, for one of these positions, and Ipswich should finish in or around the play-off positions. “Anything can happen in the play-offs”: it’s a cliché, but it’s true. If Ipswich Town make it into the top six, they could very well be promoted. It has to be said, however, that it remains unlikely that Ipswich will be a Premier League team next season.
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