Jewell looks to youth

Friday, 18/11/2011

by Sam Broadley, Shoot’s Ipswich blogger

Ipswich manager Paul Jewell has spent the international break watching every minute of every Town game this season in a bid to identify where his side’s wild inconsistency has stemmed from.

Currently 15th in the Championship, Town have dished up some high quality and class football with victories such as those at home to Leeds and Brighton and away against Bristol City and West Ham. But heavy defeats to Millwall, Southampton and Peterborough have left the boss scratching his head.

The side in recent weeks has had a distinctly aged look about it with many players the wrong side of 30 and looking to be in the twilight years of their careers. Several of those, the likes of Jimmy Bullard, Keith Andrews, Nathan Ellington and Lee Bowyer were brought in by Jewell for their experience in a bid for a speedy return for the Premier League.

Jewell recognises, however, that the blend between youth and experience needs to be much better. He stated this week that he will be looking to trim the squad in January and is expecting to bring a much more vibrant and youthful look to the side. While the club want to do as well as possible this season, he says, they are also searching for those young gems around which a strong future can be built.

Ipswich fans will be looking for some stability at the club having seen no fewer than 13 new players come in since June. The exception to this may be the ongoing desire to sign Doncaster’s Billy Sharp. The striker, who has scored 33 goals in 70 appearances for the Yorkshire club, was the subject of a rejected £2.3m bid from Town in the summer.

Sharp continues to be linked with the club, though, not least because of the ovation he received from fans from around Portman Road after scoring for Doncaster in a 3-2 victory just days after losing his two-day-old son. Sharp was truly touched by the support of the Blues’ fans, despite scoring against their club, and it’s this warmth that may persuade the 25-year-old to requesting the move down south. There is no doubt at all that Town fans would take him straight to their hearts.

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