Is Jewell's time up?

Second bottom after ten games is hardly an ideal start and many Ipswich Town fans feel that time is up for their under fire manager Paul Jewell.

At times Ipswich have actually played nice football, however their inability to sustain it for 90 minutes has been their downfall. Excluding their 6-0 thrashing at Blackpool, away from home their results have been solid. Picking up draws on your travels is a good start, but that must be backed up with home victories, and Ipswich have none of them. At Portman Road Ipswich have been poor, picking up just the two points from a possible fifteen.

Too many of Paul Jewell’s signings have flopped at Town, with Michael Chopra, Jimmy Bullard and Lee Bowyer all struggling in the Blue of Ipswich. The club has been heavily reliant on the loan market under Jewell, with no less than 14 players on loan at the club over the last two seasons. A huge downside of loan additions is the fact their parent club can recall the player at any time, which has happened at Ipswich, with David Stockdale and Keith Andrews both having their deals cut short.

One scenario Jewell couldn’t have predicted is the gambling problem that has followed the usually predatory Chopra around. Having twice being admitted to the Sporting chance rehabilitation clinic, Chopra’s gambling past has caught up with him, and his goal tally has taken a hit in the process. Just two strikes this season is well below his usual average, and if Ipswich can find the player that had no problem at Championship level, then their paltry goal tally of just eight goals in ten games this year will improve.

Getting rid of Jewell will only relieve half the problems for Ipswich, and appointing the right manager is the hard part. Ipswich have never replaced Joe Royle who narrowly missed out on promotion with the Suffolk club on numerous occasions. Harry Redknapp is surprisingly favourite to be the next manager at Ipswich, however I doubt he’d take it. Alan Curbishley and Owen Coyle are two big names, and two managers also out of a job who could come in and turn Ipswich’s fortunes around.