Will 2013 be Ipswich Town’s year?

Honestly 2012 was a fairly mediocre year for Ipswich Town Football Club.

For some teams this would not be so painful to see but there have been far too many constitutive ‘mediocre’ years at Portman Road. Attendances have dropped because the fans are starting to get bored of the same problems every year and everyone is crying out for some excitement.

Many fans are thinking that the appointment of Mick McCarthy will change everything, but the jury is very much still out on that one. The new man at the helm has made a great start, so you can understand the optimism surrounding the team.

Just over a week ago I read that if The Championship had started from the day that McCarthy took over then Ipswich would be third in the league. The purpose of that statistic is to suggest that if the former Wolves boss was in charge from the first day of the season then Ipswich would be title contenders.

It is hard to know how much to read into that research because the recent good results could well be down to the infamous honeymoon effect and things could soon turn sour.

Personally I can’t see Ipswich consistently getting results that rival those in the play-off places and I think they will drop off slightly. By no means do I think they will be relegated but I can’t see them getting further than mid-table.

There seems to be a big split between those who think that Ipswich are set for another average year and those who believe 2013 will bring some great results. We always see a lot more optimism around the place when a new manager is appointed but I think that a lot of people are getting ahead of themselves slightly.

Although Mick McCarthy has been highly successful in The Championship he did not take Wolves up straight away. He built a decent side there that narrowly missed out on the play-off places then added enough quality to take them up the season after.

I firmly believe that McCarthy is the man to take Ipswich into the Premier League, but the bad news is I don’t think it will happen until 2015. Two and a half years sounds pretty far away but given the fact that Ipswich have been in a relegation scrap, it is a realistic ambition.

Another two full years without promotion is quite a depressing dream but I think it is the most realistic one to have. Sure, the current Town boss can easily build a solid team in The Championship pretty quickly but it takes a lot of time to construct a top team.

Let’s face it, we aren’t going up this season which means that the next six months or so will be purely about building for the 13/14 season. Over this summer McCarthy will get the chance to make the team his own but it would be unfair to demand promotion in his first full season. Marcus Evans has built himself a reputation for being a patient owner and even those who dislike him have to respect him for that. After all, Blackburn and Wolves are perfect recent examples of how impatience can ruin football clubs.

My realistic dream is to see Ipswich survive this season and then spend a season bringing some good young players through before making a break for the big league. Whilst 2013 might not be ‘Ipswich’s year’ I do think that there glory time will come eventually.