Fuller Flavour: 'The worst crop of players to ever don an Ipswich Town shirt'

We generally don’t win two games over Easter when they are played on Good Friday and Easter Monday.

Of course, any other club challenging for a play-off place presented with two fixtures against the two bottom teams would not believe their luck.

For us Town fans, we are all too used to knowing that it doesn’t really matter how bad the opposition have been over nigh on 40 games, there really is nothing to get excited about.

Such was the performance against Bristol Rovers, I actually felt no different in myself than I have after most defeats this season.

Toto Nsiala heads for the dressing rooms at Rochdale in thoughtful mood (Image: Pagepix Ltd.07976 935738)

Yes, a win was a welcome result, but it papered over the cracks of yet another grim performance.

There literally is no pleasing me right now. I thought that once Paul Lambert had gone, the shackles would release a little and things might just become a tad more enjoyable.

But his sacking has proved, as we feared, to only be one-third of our problem solved.

And if I was miserable in victory on Friday, I was surprisingly no more or less dejected at the end of Monday’s game at Rochdale.

Despite taking two points less, I really just felt the same. It’s a feeling I’ve become accustomed to – win, lose or draw.

Whilst the majority of us want Marcus Evans to go and a takeover with ambition to rid us of our ongoing woes to take us two thirds of the way to some kind of happier times, the other third of our problem continues to be the worst crop of players to ever don an Ipswich Town shirt.

To not have a single shot on target against the bottom club, who had shipped 69 goals before Monday’s game, is embarrassing.

No matter how much Rochdale are in the mire and had their own fight to scrap for, we simply did not match them.

We made them look like a top-ten side, as we do every team we play.

Where was our own fight? We are a side in touch with the play-offs but spent the whole 90 minutes showing no urgency, punting hopeful balls to nobody, looking completely bereft of ideas and frankly were an embarrassment to the badge.

A badge incidentally which currently adorns a message underneath that should make them proud to wear the shirt and fight for every single second of every game to do that shirt some honour. Where is the pride of our players?

Ipswich players head for the dressing rooms at Rochdale in thoughtful mood after a scoreless draw (Image: Pagepix Ltd.07976 935738)

Paul Cook is already starting to have some doubters. Two wins in eight is not exactly the new manager bounce we hoped for, especially when you look at what Lee Johnson and Danny Cowley have done at their respective clubs.

But for me, it highlights even more how poor our players are. I will probably keep repeating this over the remainder of the season, but the sooner this season is over, the better. None of us can wait for this squad to be changed.

There was another excellent statement last week from the independent supporters group Blue Action. Everything they had to say about Marcus Evans was spot on. Enough is indeed enough.

They called for a systematic transformation of the club from the top down – an overhaul in every department, and a complete change of culture and mindset.

It took me back to an ex-player who recently said that there is no pressure in playing for Ipswich. There really isn’t.

Ipswich Town owner Marcus Evans was in attendance at Rochdale (Image: Archant)

We have an excellent fanbase and each and every one of us deserves the right to be rewarded for our support. That doesn’t mean winning endless trophies, spending millions upon millions or a demand to play like Manchester City every game.

I’m talking structure, transparency, communication, achievable goals and to just have the basics in place to give us the foundations to move away from the stagnation of 13 years of acute failure driven by Evans.

Cook recently said that supporters will be delighted by the changes in the summer.

The only change that would excite me is one that sees Evans replaced. Then maybe, just maybe, the handbrake can be released and we can finally move forward.

I can dream can’t I?