IPSWICH Town boss Jim Magilton has been criticised by a former manager for allowing his players to go on a pre-Christmas jolly to Dublin last weekend.Former Manchester United and Scotland striker Lou Macari went on to manage Swindon Town, West Ham, Stoke City, Celtic, Birmingham City and Huddersfield Town gaining two promotions with Swindon and one with Stoke.

Elvin King

IPSWICH Town boss Jim Magilton has been criticised by a former manager for allowing his players to go on a pre-Christmas jolly to Dublin last weekend.

Former Manchester United and Scotland striker Lou Macari went on to manage Swindon Town, West Ham, Stoke City, Celtic, Birmingham City and Huddersfield Town gaining two promotions with Swindon and one with Stoke.

Macari, who is now a regular pundit on television, said: “It's a sad comment on the modern-day footballer when the players of Ipswich Town and Blackburn went jetting off to Dublin last weekend.

“I wouldn't fancy my players swanning off anywhere for a knees-up because we all know the dangers involved.

“But when you've just lost at the weekend and heard your manager abused by your own fans it just beggars belief.

“Jim Magilton and Paul Ince have lost their brains if they have happily sanctioned these trips.”

Ince left Blackburn yesterday after a run of poor results, and Magilton's relationship with Ipswich fans has reached a new low after Saturday's home 2-1 defeat by Cardiff City.

And speaking before Ince's departure from Ewood Road, Macari added: “I can only assume that the two managers haven't got the power and/or the balls to put their foot down and order their players to cancel their Christmas knees-up.

“They are a further example of the inexperienced manager being over-ruled, it almost seems, by player power.

“That's the state of the game today.

“Those who earn the most are calling the tune far more than we should allow.

“As for their sense of pride in performance, at a time when their boss is coming under the cosh from their own fans, well they won't find that in a Dublin boozer in the early hours of the morning.

“For them, it's a case of happy Christmas gaffer, good luck in your next job.

“I don't want to wax lyrical about the old days, but if my former Manchester United skipper Martin Buchan had walked into the dressing room and said we're off to Dublin (not that he would have done, incidentally), I'm sure the rest of us would have thought he'd lost the plot.

“Today, though, it's a case of get your bags packed and let's get as far as we can out of town so no-one recognises us when we fall out of the pub at three in the morning.

“Gone are the days when you would be so hurt by losing 3-0 at Wigan, as Blackburn did on Saturday, that you'd prefer to get out onto the training field, work on obvious weaknesses and maybe even try to earn your fabulous wage.”