Winning games of football is the best way to heal a damaged relationship between touchline and terrace, former Blues boss George Burley insists.
The Blues head into tomorrow night’s game with Cardiff on the back of Sunday’s 1-1 draw at rivals Norwich, in which Luke Chambers’ 89th-minute goal was cancelled out by Timm Klose’s header five minutes into added time to deny the visitors a first derby win since 2009.
The Cardiff clash comes at a time when the relationship between manager Mick McCarthy and the Ipswich support is increasingly strained, with the boss apologising for his choice of language as he celebrated Chambers’ goal but again insisting his outburst, which was captured on television, was not aimed at the Ipswich fans.
And Burley, the last man to take the Blues into the Premier League in 2000, believes the best way to mend that relationship is by getting results on the field.
MORE: McCarthy apologises to fans after Norwich celebration controversy
“Mick’s an experienced manager and you have your ups and downs with fans,” Burley said.
“He wants to win, the fans want to win and that’s the way it is. You don’t always see eye to eye.
“At the end of the day the manager and the fans want the same things. They want to win games and be successful. That’s the way it is.
“It’s like anything in football, you move on to the next game and it’s always been the case. Putting winning results together changes things but, if you’re losing games then it has the reverse effect.
“I think with any club it’s the same thing. Winning makes people happy but when the performances aren’t there fans get restless and that’s what’s happened at Ipswich.”
Burley is expecting a tough encounter against a Cardiff side managed by old stager Neil Warnock, as they bid to get back to winning ways following consecutive draws.
“It’s a lot to catch up, eight points, so it’s one of those where Ipswich need to putting winning results together to try and get near the top six,” he said.
“They have a big game against Cardiff coming up, that’s a massive game when it comes to trying to get in there and I think it will be a competitive game.
“I think Cardiff have done very well this season and will be up for another good game at Portman Road.”
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