Lambert is a symptom, not the disease

Posted this before but they're dinosaurs. One Man Must Run It All syndrome: so on the club level, no proper CEO or governance etc, literally nothing in the community (to the extent that promising youngsters in Ipswich itself, let alone surrounding areas, train in Norwich kit under Norwich coaches, cos scum Don't Do That), All Must Flow Through Evans (who doesn't seem to give much of a s**t, honestly); on the football level, no DoF, no proper sports science and so on, All Must Flow Through The Manager. Any proper organisation has people to challenge and support the people in the top jobs, collectivised decision making and people who aren't the Top Person but have delegated authority to take proper desicions within the framework of the overall strategy and the resources to back it and accountability for results and so on. Their academy is s**t, no discernible strategy other than "let's try to go up this season, eh?", their scouting is s**t, their balance sheet is embarrassing, etcetcetc.

Football has simply moved on, and more than once, since they looked at these kinds of structural and governance questions. Barnsley and Luton have more forward-thinking setups than they do (and pretty obviously so do we). Ours was set up in a period of Not Particularly Stellar Success - it's a great example of the need for proper strategic thinking and multi-year planning and a long view (which Webber in particular excels at). What is a football club for and how to measure success; therefore what needs to be in place to feed into that; call that Point B, plan to migrate to that from current Point A with resourcing plans underneath etc etc - strategy 101 anyone who's ever run anything has done; but it shows no signs of having been done at ITFC. Then who are the stakeholders (clue: fans are in there), how to involve them/bring them along with, inspire everyone with Our Vision so they internalise it and it becomes their own vision which they then put effort into achieving. This is utterly basic leadership stuff.

Evans is fairly obviously the root of most of their problems, but if he went tomorrow, any new owner would have a lot of groundwork to lay. It would take several years now to turn them into a successful club and I wonder what kind of patience their fans would have through it all. This is what PR Paul means when he says he doesn't want to carry the can alone and on that at least I agree with him. He's been s**t there but their current state is most definitely not all his fault.

It's a real case study in how to run a club into the ground.

Posted By: Old Man on February 17th 2021 at 13:47:47

Message Thread

If I were an Ipswich fan, it would cut me deep... (Other Football) - SimonOTBC, Feb 17, 12:57:46
- Hope we never play them again (n/m) (Other Football) - Mozzer, Feb 17, 14:10:19
- Lambert is a symptom, not the disease (Other Football) - Old Man, Feb 17, 13:47:47
  - Indeed. How not to do it, in a world where the exact opposite is required to stand still (Other Football) - Tier2canary, Feb 17, 14:10:07
  - Very good post. Thank you (Other Football) - SimonOTBC, Feb 17, 13:57:11
    - his other business ventures seem successul enough, its odd that ITFC isn't better run (n/m) (Other Football) - CWC, Feb 17, 14:12:02
      - Probably because he appoints people to manage those that know what they’re doing (n/m) (Other Football) - SimonOTBC, Feb 17, 14:20:09
        
        that's what makes ITFC odd - why not the same there? (Other Football) - CWC, Feb 17, 14:24:15
        
        Yes, I really can't think of an explanation for it (n/m) (Other Football) - SimonOTBC, Feb 17, 14:50:03
- Yes it would cut me deep. YES I can still delight in their demise. (Other Football) - DH Yellow, Feb 17, 13:39:13
  - My favourite song of recent year, “Going upppp, going down” just brilliant (Other Football) - SimonOTBC, Feb 17, 13:50:57
    - yes, the Yellow Submarine game at Carrow Road was magical (Other Football) - dr fanta, Feb 17, 14:02:21
      - It features on one of their vloggers vids... (Other Football) - SimonOTBC, Feb 17, 14:46:52
- Yeah but no but yeah but (Other Football) - Old Git, Feb 17, 13:15:22
  - i remember it well (Other Football) - ghostof barry butler, Feb 17, 14:36:51
  - Wasn’t born mate, you is well old! (n/m) (Other Football) - SimonOTBC, Feb 17, 13:22:09
    - There you go then! (Other Football) - Old Git, Feb 17, 13:23:35
      - I remember the utter gloom of them winning the FA Cup (Other Football) - jamesward, Feb 17, 14:27:27
- There but for the grace of God... (Other Football) - Cardiff Canary, Feb 17, 13:08:25
  - Geography is on our side (Other Football) - SimonOTBC, Feb 17, 13:12:10
    - and history on theirs (n/m) (Other Football) - dr fanta, Feb 17, 14:06:42
    - you could say that it also works against us (Other Football) - Tombs, Feb 17, 13:19:30
      - That's what those Blue Action yoof were doing, adding to the smoke to attract players (Other Football) - Old Man, Feb 17, 13:51:21
      - Perhaps, but not sure our current model wants those mercenary types anyway (n/m) (Other Football) - SimonOTBC, Feb 17, 13:49:52
        
        This is true (Other Football) - Tombs, Feb 17, 14:22:25
        
        Haha, yes, maybe we do lose out on some players (Other Football) - SimonOTBC, Feb 17, 14:35:47
    - Yep. That does seem to have fucked Brentford (Other Football) - Cardiff Canary, Feb 17, 13:15:29
- Maybe we should send them some flowers...or a card (n/m) (Other Football) - Tier2canary, Feb 17, 13:04:49
- I agree, but it’s still nice to see them lose every week (n/m) (Other Football) - paddonwasjesus, Feb 17, 13:00:55
  - Say what? (n/m) (Other Football) - Pukkipower, Feb 17, 13:19:03
- Same here. (n/m) (Other Football) - protheroe fitzgibbon, Feb 17, 12:59:02

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