Town fan Karl Fuller takes a look back at another FA Cup third round exit at Portman Road

East Anglian Daily Times: Town fans watch on as Ipswich are booted out of the FA Cup at the third round stage.... again! Picture: STEVE WALLER WWW.STEPHENWALLER.COMTown fans watch on as Ipswich are booted out of the FA Cup at the third round stage.... again! Picture: STEVE WALLER WWW.STEPHENWALLER.COM (Image: � Copyright Stephen Waller)

Mick McCarthy’s post-match comments on Saturday of being happy with that performance just about summed our club up at present.

How on earth can anyone be happy with zero shots on target against pretty much a reserve line-up of a club in our own division?

Supporting Ipswich Town at the moment reminds me of an ex-girlfriend.

One that I dearly loved but despite her dumping me and making me feel so unhappy, I still harboured hopes of rekindling better times ahead purely because of the love I still had for her. In the end though, you could say that I lost that loving feeling.

East Anglian Daily Times: Callum Connolly battles with Caolan Lavery. Picture: STEVE WALLER WWW.STEPHENWALLER.COMCallum Connolly battles with Caolan Lavery. Picture: STEVE WALLER WWW.STEPHENWALLER.COM (Image: © Copyright Stephen Waller)

Blues tumble out of FA Cup without a shot on target!

Walking towards the ground from the train station on Saturday, the sight of our stadium soon had me forgetting about the awful performance against QPR on Boxing Day, the way the men of Derby had made us look like boys and that capitulation last week at Fulham.

This was a new day and another game that offered hope and was the one that could ignite the better times that surely lay ahead. The mantra of a football fan is that there’s always that next game to put things right. The view of my second home ahead of me was a glorious one from a distance.

However, once I found myself walking down Portman Road, I was soon reminded of the current climate in which we are faced.

East Anglian Daily Times: George Baldock pushes Kevin Bru off the ball during this challenge. Picture: STEVE WALLER WWW.STEPHENWALLER.COMGeorge Baldock pushes Kevin Bru off the ball during this challenge. Picture: STEVE WALLER WWW.STEPHENWALLER.COM (Image: � Copyright Stephen Waller)

It was 12.30pm, there was a lack of life and soul about the place, paintwork was both tired looking and flaky and as I looked up at Sir Bobby Robson’s picture on the cladding above the shop, there was enough mould to make my stomach churn.

Much has been made already of how we are in our 40th anniversary season of winning the FA Cup.

It’s a shame that we probably knew that our run in this season’s competition was as good as over in the 25th minute when Sheffield United scored.

Eight years have now passed since we have won an FA Cup game and McCarthy joins Roy Keane and Paul Jewell in being three successive managers not to win an FA Cup tie at Portman Road in that period.

I’ll refuse to say that everything about our once wonderful club is rotten.

I personally know people who work in the media team, the ticket sales department and the club shop and have done so for years.

They are wonderful people who do their absolute best for us supporters.

Northstander: I have never felt so alienated by my club.

But I do wonder how they must feel to walk into their jobs on a Monday morning when their very customers are sick to death with what is going on and many continue to turn their back on the place.

I know I’ve said this on a few occasions in the past couple of years, but things really need to change now.

We could be about to witness key players leaving this month and despite our MD telling us that our manager will be given money to spend, our manager implies that replacements would be made up of loans and Bosmans. Who do we believe?

If Mick really is going in the summer, then he may as well be released now to give a new manager a few months to look at what’s in place from which to build on over the summer.

There is so much wrong at the club that needs righting quickly otherwise another battalion of supporters will be lost when the next batch of season ticket renewals hit our doormats.

As for that ex-girlfriend of mine – well, once I accepted change was required, I moved on to someone else and have enjoyed 17 blissful years since.

Go on Marcus, you can too!