In his latest monthly column, American expat, PR professional and Ipswich Town fan James Wall shares his thoughts on the Blues from across the pond....
As Town were playing Wayne Rooney’s Birmingham City last weekend, I started thinking about the vastly different business approaches employed by our Blues and the Brummies.
There are some surface level similarities between the two. Both clubs are now owned by American-based ownership groups, both employed new, experienced CEO’s after their respective takeovers and both have spent the better part of the last 20 years in the Championship.
Both aspire to get back to the glory days of old in the Premier League. Both are spending money to upgrade their ground and facilities after years of neglect.
But other than that, the approaches start to diverge.
Ipswich’s owners made it clear that their strategy is long-term. The club employed a man as CEO who’s never worked in the Premier League before but has many years of experience in the Championship (Mark Ashton).
For their manager, Ipswich hired a very young coach who’d never managed in any league but had enormous potential (Kieran McKenna).
Birmingham on the other hand went the flash route. They recruited retired star quarterback Tom Brady to chair their advisory board and to throw in a few quid by way of investment, generating a media frenzy at the one game he’s watched this season.
Birmingham’s CEO is a former Manchester City chief executive with a penchant for big money acquisitions – Garry Cook.
Cook came to Brum after initiating the Saudi Arabian league’s new European star-player recruitment approach as league commissioner.
The final piece of the puzzle is of course Wayne Rooney. Not happy with John Eustace, who had turned around the club’s fortunes on the pitch, Cook decided he needed a big-name manager to draw even more attention to the club.
Rooney, fresh from his DC United adventure a few miles down the road from where I am now typing, was the perfect fit.
I chatted with DC United fan and MLS journalist Charles Bohem the other day, and he’s not confident that Rooney will have success back in the Championship.
Bohem says DC United fans saw Rooney as a potential saviour figure first as a player and then as a manager. Both times he’s let the fans down.
Time will tell which approach will work best – the measured, low key Ipswich way or the showy, media-focused, big money approach of Birmingham City.
All I know is that I’d rather be an Ipswich fan now than a Birmingham fan!
But enough about rival teams – let’s turn our attention to our recent matches.
There’s no doubt the last few league games haven’t been up to the standard of some of our earlier performances – but we’ve still managed to avoid defeat, which is pretty remarkable in this very tough league.
I’ve been trying to figure out why our performances have slipped a bit. I’m guessing it’s a combination of factors: fatigue (both mental and physical), teams figuring out how to play against us (the high press seems to be a favourite), and the conditions (the intense rain at Birmingham for one) have all played a part, I think.
While I hate to point fingers at officials, refereeing decisions have also not been kind to us. Just the other night at Rotherham we had two solid penalty calls turned down by the ref and they’re certainly not the first. I’d like to see some of those decisions going our way soon.
On the plus side it’s nice to see two players who last season were on the fringes of the team doing surprisingly well and making a big difference in the Championship.
Vaclav Hladky might well be the best keeper in the league at present. His shot stopping has been spectacular, his positioning spot on, and the command of his box decisive.
A few weeks back when Christian Walton was fit again there was a lot of debate on social media about whether to bring him back in the side straightaway, given his performances last season and his status as our number one keeper.
I’d say the majority of people would have opted to drop Hladky and bring back Walton – which was a major surprise to me.
Seeing how rusty Walton was in the Fulham game, I’m happy McKenna decided to keep Hladky as the starter.
Now we have two of the best keepers in the division on our books, pushing each other daily in training – an embarrassment of riches.
The other surprise is Marcus Harness. Many of us thought Marcus might be allowed to leave at the beginning of the season, given his fringe status last season and his so-so performances in League One.
But it’s clear he has been working incredibly hard in training, picking up instructions from his manager and slotting into his role on the left behind the main striker perfectly.
Harness is the ideal alternative to the flashier, more skillful Nathan Broadhead – he’s solid, dependable and a great passer of the ball.
And when he’s on song, Harness can score goals, as we saw at Birmingham. It appears his style of play suits this level perhaps better than League One.
Lastly, I was happy to see Jason Schechterle back at Portman Road a couple of weeks back.
I was lucky enough to meet Jason and see his presentation at a conference in Kentucky in the summer. What a great guy!
He and I text back and forth a bit and he truly loves the club and the town – reserving a special place in his heart for the players.
When I texted him after the baseball World Series had concluded with a loss for his team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, Jason responded with words so indicative of his approach to life: “It was a fun season!”
The club is fortunate to have Jason as a fan and morale booster.
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