Midfielder Cole Skuse has described Ipswich Town’s drop down the League One table as ‘outrageous’ and ‘hugely disappointing’.
The fate of the third tier season remains in the balance ahead of a meeting between clubs and the EFL on Tuesday, although the likely outcome is the season being curtailed and final standings being decided using a points-per-game formula.
That would see Ipswich drop to 11th, having topped the table for much of the first three months of the campaign and returned to the summit in January.
“If they finish the season on a points-per-game and we’re in 11th, it’s outrageous really considering we were top of the league for a long time,” Skuse admitted, during an interview with BBC Radio Suffolk.
“As a group it’s hugely disappointing and to not even be in with a chance of reaching the play-offs is hugely disappointing from our standpoint. We can only apologise to everyone for that.
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“But if the season restarts then great but we’ll also be giving it a good go to finish far better next season.”
While Skuse is keen for football to return as soon as it’s safe to do so, the midfielder has concerns due to the fact his wife suffers with type 1 diabetes and his eldest daughter has recently been in hospital with a respiratory problem.
However, should the season resume in a safe way, he believes the Ipswich Town squad could get up to match speed relatively quickly.
“It’s like anything in the world, as much as we want the football season back there are greater things that need deciding first,” he said.
“It’s all a bit unknown. They can’t just go out and give dates because of the uncertainty, but it’s the prolonging of it.
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“I’ve heard people talking about how long will be needed to get up to speed, in terms of injury prevention, but the athletes that players are today and the stuff we do at home is maybe a little different. When I first started you would come back in the summer and use pre-season to get fit, after six or seven weeks of doing nothing, eating and drinking. But now we get programmes from the day the season finishes and we come back at almost peak position.
“If we’re told to be back at training from next Monday then the lads would be in unbelievable condition. If you asked me whether we need three or four weeks then I’d probably say no, but sports scientists might say different in terms of injury prevention. I guess you can run on the road or be on the bike as much as you want but football fitness is completely different.”
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