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Jewell is the right man for the job. He has a balanced head on his shoulders, unlike his predecessor. Keane's success at Sunderland now looks a massive surprise - ever since that promotion he has looked a ragged manager. I think that Jewell will get the best out of the players and ensure a mid-table finish this year. If they can hold on to some of their better players, and maybe make a couple of good loan signings they could then potentially push on and aim for promotion. The Championship chops and changes so quickly it's not that unlikely (I should know, I'm a Bristol City fan!).

His resignation at Derby came on the back of a well publicised Newspaper 'sting' on his personal life as well. He is a capable manager, who needs to be given the chance to rebuild the side. I suppose he has the players ready made to play his 'style' of football, as in Priskin and Wickham (and Scotland as well) they have a couple of very capable strikers, but they need to be given the chances by the midfield.
I suppose he'll look at changing the style of play, and improving the side defensively, as they seem a bit short of pace at the back, and I always thought of Ipswich as being a decent, passing club, which Charlie McParland proved last night by getting them to move pretty well with a few 'direct' balls as well.
I hope he does well (Except against Forest, of course).

Well done to Jewell & Ipswich. Believe it or not a forcast the upset.

Wenger may have a point calling his team naive, but most of us have been sayinf for years that his little boys are just never growing up (seems Wenger does not know how to raise them).

However, they are still not as naive as the Liverpool fans (and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ it appears) ho hailed "King Kev" as the solution to all that ails them. They probably would have been better off with Jewell (and some new players) but that's not going to happen.


I would love to see Ipswich go to the final, but unfortunately there chances do not rate highly. Their best chance is probably if they can grab an early goal and defend like crazy. I wish them luck.

I like Paul Jewell, but am always surprised when the same old managers get new jobs.

Was Eddie Howe on the shortlist?

Another one of your merry go round managers though Paul which you mentioned in a previous blog.. fair enough he has been out the game for a while now but surely this appointment merely inspires mediocrity??

3. At 10:56am on 13 Jan 2011, HotdogSalesman wrote:
Wenger may have a point calling his team naive, but most of us have been sayinf for years that his little boys are just never growing up (seems Wenger does not know how to raise them).
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Surely that's not a pop at the Manager of the Decade?

It would be a good idea to not get too excited by this result, there is still the away leg at the Emirates to come and I think that could end up 5 or 6 nil to Arsenal

Jewell with his spray on Hair

I think Jewell may do ok, and may well get Ipswich promoted next season rather than this. However there lies his problem. Ipswich are a bigger club than Bradford and Wigan, with a much richer history and I don't see why Ipswich should settle for getting promoted and then looking to hold onto a PL place on the last day of the season which is all Jewell has to offer in his skills as a manager.

Yes 1 good season with Wigan in the PL. Yes a Carling Cup final. A decent achievement, but when you follow that up with a season fighting relegation, only to stay up through GD and a David Unsworth Penalty, i'm afraid this can be put down to fluke.

ITFC require a manager who will build a side capable of not only promotion but also having a sustained run in the PL. Jewell is your man for the 1st part, not for the latter

Our new manager has a lot to sort out.We need to look at the way we play,which under K***e was very plan A,which was lump it forward,and plan B(see plan A)21 players out of contract at the end of the season,so we need to identify who stays,goes and comes in quickly.Confidence needs to be boosted and a little more tactical nous.

Good luck Paul.I hope we can all get behind our new boss and show that last night was not a dead dog bounce.

I think that Jewell is the right man for the job. Something clearly wasn't working with Roy Keane at the helm and the differences between the two men in terms of personality alone suggests there may be a significant change in form at Portman Road.

www.feeling-football.blogspot.com

The same managers do seem to keep popping up around the place, don't they? The most disappointing example, as far as I'm concerned, was the appointments of both Gordon Strachan and Tony Mowbray at Boro. Should have hung on to Southgate, maybe now they wouldn't be desperately trying to avoid relegation. The point is, a recognised name in football management isn't necessarily a good thing. Experience does not equal success.

That said, I wish Paul Jewell all the best with Ipswich. Maybe he can live down the shadow of Derby.

Time will tell whether Jewell can be the man to turn Town around, but I'm cautiously optimistic. We have to hope the players buy into his way of thinking. Despite the awful results and dire football we played for the most part under Keane, the players oddly seemed genuinely shocked when he was sacked... The man took us backwards and spent a fair amount of money in doing so. Overall I think Evans could have gone for a worse appointment, I was strengthening my neck muscles in case we got Megson and his hoofball approach!
Had a cheeky fiver on Town to win 1-0 last night at 12/1, get in!

I like the post there by Donny.
I'm an Ipswich fan and was underwhelmed by the appointment of Jewell initially. On paper - he looks a bad choice - awful record in his last job and has been out of the game for over 2 years to name but a few of my issues with him. But i've since had a chance to calm down and he's come out and made the right noises so far - entusiastic, owned up to his mistakes, said he wants to get the players smiling and happy to come into work again - so i'm willing to give him a chance before i do anymore moaning! I also don't think there are many people out there realistically available who i might have preffered (although given my choice it would have been Gus Poyet with his assistant ex-town man Mauriccio Taricco!).

For all of Keane's public flaws - my sole footballing issue was that he'd been with us a season and a half and not decided what style of football he wanted us to play or even what formation or 11 players. He seemed to set his stall out more tailored to the oppostion than making them worry about us and our style.

Ipswich does have a tradition of being a club that tries to pass the ball about and be stylish (i said tries!!!) so it would be great to see us get back to that. Obviously on a different scale but Liverpool were in the same position under Hodgson - not a bad manager but his style was not for Liverpool.

So hopefully Jewell's style will suit us, we'll get promoted, stay up and just to add a twist to it all, he WON'T walk away when things get a bit tough the next season! ;-)

Ipswich should count themselves lucky they have got rid of Keane & got Jewell in place of him. Keane is one of my heroes but he doesn't understand the word failure & can't accept it in his players, no matter how hard they try. He's just not good at man management & would be better suited to either a coaching or corporate role. Jewell on the other hand will gell Ipswich into a single unit . He will bring in a them & us mentality that will have players straining at the leash to get out & play for each other. Wether the team is good enough is another matter. They will have to wait another year before getting a shot at promotion so he has plenty of time to evaluate players & make changes were necessary. Ipswich fans should be feeling a lot happier this morning.

An excellent result last night but more a case of playing to the occasion rather than a true indicator of form. Obviously Keane signed some good players and for some reason could only get them firing in the cup competitions and for the next 2 games player swill want to keep their places for the trip to the Emirates. If you lose there then teh games against Derby & Sheffield United will give a better indicator of how Jewell will do so I would wait until then. If you win or draw at the Emirates then players will want to be involved at Wembley gettinga couple of more good league performances in the interim.

What I am worried about is if results dip straightaway will we get the excuse of "it's Keane's team, not good enough etc" the way Hodgson was at Liverpool or will he just admit it is down to him to get things working the way Ian Holloway does.

I hope Ipswich do well but I think Chris HUghton would have been a better choice as Eddie Howe is staying at Bournemouth

He's proved that he can do well if expectations are low and he is shown patience. I'm a Derby fan. At Derby, and Wednesday, the fans demand a certain standard, perhaps an impossible one to achieve. These are two seriously big clubs with big fanbases, and a large part of that is the success they had in the past which fans are impatient to see replicated. Ipswich, whilst a club with a rich history of its own, strikes me as a more relaxed club with less demanding fans. The money is there for him to mould his own team and if he is allowed to do this gradually, rather than change everything instantly like he did at Pride Park, he has every chance. This is the environment Jewell thrives in. My advice to Ipswich fans is give him time and you may well see your club back in the top flight quite soon.

Paul Jewell doesn't exactly inspire me but time will tell I guess. Personally, and assuming he was interested of course, I would've liked to see Matty Holland given the job with George Burley in some sort of advisory role. Holland always comes across as articulate & knowledgable & was a fantastic servant to the club.

#18 - sounds like a great plan and one and oen that Bournemouth used with Eddie Howe but unfortunately will only happen if Jewell fails

I'm surprised that people aren't happier to see Jewell come in. His Wednesday tenure is fairly irrelevant as I see it, there were so many off the pitch problems to contend with he was bound to fail. His time at Derby was poor but most people accept that sometimes a manager just doesn't work at a particular club, it doesn't make them a bad manager.

What are Ipswich fans looking for in their manager?
experience of getting teams to the premiership, check
steady hand dealing with egos, check
good at nurturing team spirit, check
success utilising a reasonable but not gargantuan transfer budget, check.

He sounds like a great fit to me, and as for the guy who said:
"I don't see why Ipswich should settle for getting promoted and then loking to hold onto a PL place on the last day of the season"

that is understandable to want you team to be established, but it certainly smacks of wanting to run before walking. Time and time again we are reminded how club size is no guarantee of premiership football, remember Leeds and Newcastle are both bigger clubs than Ipswich, but with a little patience and steady evolution under a solid manager I have no doubt Town will be back in the premiership with Jewell at the helm in the next few seasons.

18. At 11:55am on 13 Jan 2011, Neilroyston wrote:

Paul Jewell doesn't exactly inspire me but time will tell I guess. Personally, and assuming he was interested of course, I would've liked to see Matty Holland given the job with George Burley in some sort of advisory role. Holland always comes across as articulate & knowledgable & was a fantastic servant to the club.

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I think that would certainly have been an interesting combo, Holland certainly always came across as intelligent, honest and hard working, and he seems like he has management potential. Sadly as far as I'm aware he has no interest in it though and would rather work in the media, so I guess we'll never know :(

The Question is what do Ipswich fans want?? ideally to be back into the premier league and to stay there. Paul Jewell is a man who could do that he has taken Wigan and Bradford up and kept them there the following seaso. Then left, a critisim aimed at him but I disagree as I believed this might have been outside his comfort zone and capabilties, which shows foresight to let some one else take the club on insted of backwards which he may have done, it is what the club next and look at wigan who have a good chairman (as it seems do Ipswich) and has appointed two good managers after in Bruce and Martinez (exc. Hutchings) so if the foundation is there the club will progress.
Derby he made mistakes but has the pedigree to get Ipswich to the promised land of the premier league, and if he can keep them there it is where they go from there, isn't that what Ipswich fans see there clubd as a premier league club.
So give him 2 years and see where you are, as I think the mess Keano left with his scouting and player purchases from the limted pool of clubs he had managed and played i.e. Sunderland and Man Utd will take time to sort. Judge what Jewell does in the summer where he restructures the team with so many players out of contract.

A decent appointment by Ipswich with a man who has some experience of dragging a team into the Premier League. Glad to see the back of Roy Keane. A thug and a coward who goes out to injure another player (as he admitted in his autobiography) should be banned for life from the game.

#20

I'm happy with the appointment.Let's hope he can turn things around.

I'm looking forwards to see how he deals with the problems Ipswich always face:

1) The commute - a small Suffolk town can't attact big names - Keano's last complaint.

2) Retaining the youth - Wickham is the latest in a long line from a huge catchment area- Dyer, Bramble etc, Money and the bright lights are too tempting.

3) The City rivalry - Sir Bob had it, Keano tried it - the acceptance that you are part of the area. Keano moved to Suffolk, but it wasn't enough in the long run. Beating Norwich is all that matters.

I wish PJ the best, he will be given time and money, but he's starting from scratch and the season is running out.

Eddie Howe. Just been appointed Burnley's new manager. Breaking news from the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳!
Great blog Paul, as ever!

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Sad to see my team lose last night, but a great result for Town - it wasn't even that we weren't trying, coz we were! I think we'll beat them at the Emirates, but I doubt the Carling Cup is a priority for Ipswich at the moment.

I like Paul Jewell, he did well in getting two teams promoted to the PL and keeping them there which should be enough proof that he is a good manager. I also thought he was quite passionate about the teams he has managed and I think that will definitely benefit Ipswich... they need all the confidence and support they can get after Keane's horrible tenure.

Good luck in staying up and maybe even climbing the table!

P.S. don't get to see much Championship football since my move to Holland a few years ago. Is Wickham as good as people say?

27. At 1:04pm on 13 Jan 2011, 1867_waddle wrote:
Eddie Howe. Just been appointed Burnley's new manager. Breaking news from the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳!
Great blog Paul, as ever!
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I hope not as Bournemouth are looking certs for promotion to the Championship =- very sad day if true as Burnley aren't exactly a big club with lots of cash

As a Wigan Athletic supporter of some 24 years now I fell pretty well qualified to comment on Paul Jewell's abilities as a manager.

For what he achieved at Latics he will be forever remembered as a legend of that there is no doubt & when his preferred style of football works it is very good to watch. In fact his record there speaks for itself so I don't really need to tell you the good points

So what I will do is point to the negative side of his management:
1) Comparatively speaking he had alot of money to spend at Wigan Athletic compared to many other clubs & it was an accusation levelled at us all the time as we climbed the leagues. Its a little harsh on him to be honest coz whilst the chairman did provide funds, the majority of what went out was recouped through player sales as we climbed the league. Ironically Ipswich fans were particularly vocal in that accusation as we were challenging them for promotion to the top flight in 04/05. However we were also amongst the lowest spenders on wages in the Championship (bottom 4 or 5) so he managed things well in that respect. I think its also forgotten that he took charge of Bradford when their chairman decided to start spending quite big (I remember it as I took notice of it at the time & bet on them to get promoted!!!!)
2) When he was at Latics he had one style of playing & that was it. A fairly regular accusation levelled at him was that if a set out their stall against Latics to frustrate them he wasn't able to adapt to overcome that. For example with 10 minutes to go at 1-0 down against Port Vale his inspired substitution was to take off his right back & bring on another right back. No changes in formation, no changes in tactics - it was a failing (however small it may seem) that ran through his time here & which he never seemed to learn from
3) One thing that does frustrate me are comments that Paul Jewell saved us from relegation in our 2nd season in the top flight. For me he didn't. He was in charge all year & he took a team which finished 10th & in a cup final to one which finished 17th & stayed up on goal difference. His tactics, his signings & his team selections were highly responsible for that drop in fortunes - his signings in particular became increasingly poor
4) He seemed to have a lack of belief in his team for games against the "bigger clubs" which transmitted itself through to his players & its no coincidence that we lost every single one of them that we played (apart from beating a weakened Arsenal side in the Carling Cup semi-final 1st leg). None of us expect much from them games still but it used to get pretty depressing reading in the build up to the match how we were "lucky to be on the same pitch" as the other club and how he "writes these games off". I think not long after Steve bruce took over one of our players said that for the first time since we'd been in the top flight they actually went into "big club" games believing they could get something from them - & they started to
5) Has to be the way he left Latics - he himself stated that he had taken the club as far as he could. Just indicates to me a lack of that extra bit of quality & self-belief. Another manager arrived 5 months later was able to progress the team & the season after had them on the verge of European qualification until the chairman decided to dismantle the team as "the objective of staying up has been achieved"
6) Whitehartwonder mentioned that he "has a steasy hand at dealing with egos" - I wouldn't be so sure. In his first season at Latics we were in a mess with a lot of big money players who couldn't give a stuff. He had a stand up, on the pitch row with one in an LDV game at Wrexham & shortly after that whilst trying to read the riot act to them during training one player turned round to him & basically told him that no-one was listening & they'd be at the club alot longer than he was. He couldn't deal with it himself - he got the chairman to do it. I also believe that he had problems at Derby dealing with Robbie Savage

Like I said, club legend but he has big failings & the original blog is pretty much spot on when it says he will either be a success or unmitigated disaster

parkymax - you say our club (Wigan) has appointed a good manager in Martinez. You must be having a laugh!!!! he is dire

I've been following Ipswich for decades, and what I saw last night reminded me of happier times. However, I too have my doubts about Paul Jewell (along with rugbytomic I'd have gone for Gus Poyet), and these posts raise an issue that seems to be unique to football. Is this the one industry where proven failures can always be assured of re-employment?

@balzac

Is Connor Wickham as good as people say he is? Honest question, as I don't get to see much Championship football anymore, unfortunately

Is Jewell too small-time for Liverpool? Obviously, the question is now moot. But when it became likely that Hodgson was on his way I wondered if Jewell might be among Henry's thoughts.

I think Liverpool missed a trick there.

@12 - Southgate was a better choice than Mowbray? Did I read that right? If Mogga was available when Southgate was sacked Gibson would have crawled at his feet. There are plenty of Boro fans, and I am one of them, that still to this day believe we should have moved heaven and earth to get him after Eindhoven. Southgate was fast heading to David Platt at Forest territory in my eyes. At least Strachan had the good decency to walk when he realised he wasn't up to the job.

Had Southgate not been an ex-captain with us, the fans would have been far more vocal in ousting him - so don't trite the whole 'loyalty' debate out. He asked for three years and we gave him more than that.

Be very surprised if Eddie Howe headed for Burnley following his pretty emotional interview (on the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ website) where he revealed he was staying , seems like a genuine and decent bloke as well as a good manager....that said we all know anything's possible in football...

Mentioned on another blog prior to the appointment when it was just hearsay that I couldn't really see why people were so dead-set against the appointment (not the theme of this blog but it was on the other), he seems to have a reasonable record! Let's be frank Billy Davies over achieved with a poor poor Derby team by getting them promoted - for Jewell to not gain a win with them was not good - but I think he was left a very difficult task! His Wigan team set a record (since taken by Reading I believe) for highest goalscorers when they achieved promotion from the Championship so he clearly believes in playing in the right manner!

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On a final note

13. At 11:25am on 13 Jan 2011, Sporky wrote:

Had a cheeky fiver on Town to win 1-0 last night at 12/1, get in!

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You were done mate, I had a cheeky fiver on 1-0 at 22/1 ;)

37. At 2:58pm on 13 Jan 2011, you wrote:

Should just point out I was moving on to talk about Paul Jewell here....

Mentioned on another blog prior to the appointment when it was just hearsay that I couldn't really see why people were so dead-set against the appointment (not the theme of this blog but it was on the other), he seems to have a reasonable record! Let's be frank Billy Davies over achieved with a poor poor Derby team by getting them promoted - for Jewell to not gain a win with them was not good - but I think he was left a very difficult task! His Wigan team set a record (since taken by Reading I believe) for highest goalscorers when they achieved promotion from the Championship so he clearly believes in playing in the right manner!

lets seen now what paul does after roy keane was shown the exit door.

I think it's unfair to suggest he "flopped" at either Derby or Sheff Weds. Both jobs were massive asks, and he wasn't quite up to them. Neither would a lot of present premiership managers be. Actually, I doubt any top manager would have done better than keep Weds up at that time, and he realistically needed an entire season of consolidation in the CCC at Derby.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Read my reaction to last night's match at

Given who was available this month I'd have liked better, but by the same virtue it could have been a lot worse! (*cough*Megson*cough*)

I'll give Paul enough time to turn performances around, but I can't say I've ever been a fan of him...

I'm a Town fan, and would like everybody to give Paul Jewell a chance. Who were town fans expecting? Jose Mourinho? I get the feeling that a lot of Town fans think we have a divine right to be in the premier league,we don't! Perhaps that's why a lot of Town fans prefer to sit at home and moan about the club's fortunes. Rather than get down to Portman Road & get behind the team. I know that the prospect of Doncaster United ( no disrepect to Doncaster, just the first team that popped in to head) on a cold Tuesday night, in the middle of winter isn't particularly apppealing, but everyone needs to get behind the team. The atmosphere was awesome against Arsenal, if fans want that week in week out, we all need to get behind the team & the manager. Don't expect promotion this season, expect improvement, and being able to have a real go at it in August!

This is a bit of a trivial reply but nonethe less, in one of the cooments below, it is wondered,amongst other things, how Paul Jewell will cope with ...

3) The City rivalry - Sir Bob had it, Keano tried it - the acceptance that you are part of the area. Keano moved to Suffolk, but it wasn't enough in the long run. Beating Norwich is all that matters.

surely that should be Town/City rivalry as last time i looked you werent a City

Anyway, I happen to think Paul Jewell will do well at Ipswich, I think he is a safe pair of hands, and has the right personality for a club like Ipswich, down to earth, open to the fans,honest and jovial, but i also think that Ipswich maybe be right for him and his type of management. It happens so often where a manager can achieve miracles at one club but fails to produce anything similar elsewhere (when Paul Lambert was employed by Norwich mine and alot of Norwich fans first impression was why?what has he ever done as manager?He had a fairly average-poor record previously or so it seemed(on deeper inspection there are alot of factors as to why things happened at other clubs) But at Norwich he was just the right man at the right club at the right time and i think Jewell(athough unlikely to be quite as successful as Lambert) could do similar for Ipswich. If nothing else he will get them playing good attacking football rather then the boring one dimensional play keane adopted

45. At 09:54am on 14 Jan 2011, GrantHoltforEngland wrote:
surely that should be Town/City rivalry as last time i looked you werent a City
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I think by "The City Rivalry" they mean "The Rivalry With City."

Have a look at this article on what went wrong for Keane at Ipswich.

After what Jewell saw at Ipswich on Wednesday as they beat Arsenal, he will be looking forward to the challenge. It is obvious that Ipswich still have a very strong side and Jewell could be really successful there. He should turn their season around and I think a change was all it needed. It's the same Ipswich side, they just don't have Roy Keane as manager any more.

PJ is a walking disaster with a tedious, slurred diction that is as inspiring as ten-day old gravy.

He had massive backing from fans and high finance from the regime at Derby and collected a random ragbag of players, of whom few survived: Commons, Hulse, Green....and we have to 'thank' him for the stupid outlay on such as Roy Carroll, Alan 'crock' Stubbs and the self-promoting robbie Savage.

The mind-numbing year of apologies and exasperated drivel after defeat upon defeat broke supporters' hearts, it really was good riddance!

So....all the best, then, Ipswich.

I believe whilst Simon Clegg is at Ipswich Town the club will not move forward. He will not pay for decent players as the fact we missed out on Charlie Austin proves. Jimmy Bullard is a good player, but his injury record is horrific how many games will we get out of him?. Paul Jewell has got a massive job on to save the club from relegation.