Ipswich Town column: ‘Goodbye to play-offs, but stick with Mick’

Que sera, sera, whatever will be will be, but WE WON’T be going to Wembley...

With no goal music to dance too, it was the night I concluded the music stopped for our play-off challenge.

Frustratingly, it was the excellence of an ex-Bury Town and West Suffolk College goalkeeper who slipped through our net in Nick Pope that ensured that.

And Charlton could and should have won it.

In essence, they had exactly what we didn’t: bags of pace to break and turn a slow-on-their-heels backline inside out.

They just couldn’t finish.

With results going against us on Tuesday, we’re now seven points adrift of the top six and it would take us topping the league’s form table over the last six games to overturn that margin.

And who can say they see that happening?

There are big questions to answer: why was the impressive Kevin Foley jettisoned out of the midfield?

Why did David McGoldrick, so impressive for the under-21s, not play a bigger role over the last two games?

There have already been calls for Mick’s head, but Ipswich fans should be careful what they wish for.

A young, hungry manager with cash to spend is what some want.

My colleague said it all: What? Like Roy Keane? Mick has been caught out as a victim of his own success with this spinning straw into gold stuff. So what I want to see is our owner release those purse strings and give him a proper chance to assemble a squad to add another promotion to his CV.

n Brentford (14th) visit Portman Road on Saturday (3pm) and there can be no excuses about scrappy tight games looking to grind results out now. The fans are in dire need of a lift after recent home displays, so it’s surely time to let the shackles off and see what happens...