EPL 2024-2025 Discussion Thread

[bravo6]

I don't think we're Luton, and McKenna appears to me to be a bright up and comer.

But I want you to look at what happens when you WIN at Ipswich:

1) In 1955, Ipswich had been relegated to the Third Division (they'd never been top flight at that time) and hired Alf Ramsey. Two years later, they were promoted to Second. Three years after that, they finished first in the Second and got promoted. THE VERY NEXT YEAR (1961-62), Ipswich became the first team ever to win the Second Division and get promoted and then win the FIRST Division their first season in the league.

So what happened?

"If you can do that at Ipswich, you can manage the national team." And Alf Ramsey became the England national coach and they won the 1966 World Cup. Ipswich, meanwhile, went back to nearly as bad as they were. Ramsey took over England in May 1963 and Ipswich were relegated at the end of 1963-64 back to the second division.

2) Bobby Robson came to town in 1969 as the new manager. They'd just been promoted back to First and Manager Bill McGarry just walked out one day and took over at Wolves. After building the infrastructure for a team, Ipswich became one of the best clubs - without any hardware - in England.

1973 - 4th place, won Texaco Cup
1974 - 4th place
1975 - 3rd place, lost FA Cup Semi-Final after having two goals disallowed and a replay.
1976 - 6th place
1977 - 3rd place
1978 - fell to 18th mostly due to injuries but won the FA Cup. (Seriously - almost every starter including the goalie missed time with injuries and their lead scoring threat missed 1/2 the season).
1979 - 6th place
1980 - 3rd place


1981 - won UEFA Cup, 2nd place (by 4 points)

In 1981, Ipswich were leading the league on March 18, but because they won the UEFA Cup and advanced to the FA Cup semi-final, they faced a backlog of rescheduled games in the final seven weeks of the season. Worn out, Ipswich collapsed in the league and lost 7 of their last 10 league games to finish four points behind Aston Villa.


OH.....and then England chose Bobby Robson.



Every time Ipswich gets really good, someone takes their manager.

I agree on all points. Ipswich are much better suited for an immediate return to the Prem in 26. In addition to the parachute payment they will receive from relegation, they have another $30M coming in from the sale of Liam Delap.

I imagine their main concern, which you have alluded to, is trying to hold on to McKenna. I'm sure Ipswich will have plenty of phone calls inquiring about him once the firings start as the new season gets underway.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

I agree on all points. Ipswich are much better suited for an immediate return to the Prem in 26. In addition to the parachute payment they will receive from relegation, they have another $30M coming in from the sale of Liam Delap.

I imagine their main concern, which you have alluded to, is trying to hold on to McKenna. I'm sure Ipswich will have plenty of phone calls inquiring about him once the firings start as the new season gets underway.

The other catch to the entire deal is that when you are gone as long as Ipswich was from PL, you have to bring up your arena up to PL standards - and that costs the bulk of the money you get for promotion. If we can get back to PL quickly, it will be easier next go around.