It was interesting to read Mr C's comment (late) last night: We have an identity although some don't like it - we're battling Barnsley. I was chatting to an Ipswich-supporting friend of mine about this and his angle was that the constant talk of us punching above our weight comes not so much from disrespect as from a respect that despite having big neighbours and being unfashionable (and let's face it we have and we are) we are still far and away the side that belongs most at this relatively lofty position in the league. It's a reputation and a standing in the game based on years of hard work and the kind of battling that we're going to have to demonstrate now, whoever the new manager is. If anything I wonder if the disillusionment that many fans are feeling now is partly because we seem to have departed so far from that identity - we've underachieved before but maybe it's less painful if we at least do it while staying true to our traditional values. I'm not saying the players aren't working hard - I don't watch anything like enough to comment on that - but maybe the tippy-tappy style just doesn't fit for us and we need to reassert a more combative and engaging identity. I'm gonna spoil the image now by quoting some girly poetry, courtesy of Brian Patten: "And as if linked to some spider thread Made visible only because of rain, You sat and watched the day come light And hope leapt back into your brain, "And suddenly this surprising earth, No longer clouded, was known again, And all you had thought lost you found Was simply for a time mislaid."
Most Barnsley teams I've watched have played good passing football or tried to- the likes of Wilson and Ritchie and others, which is why it irks to be called Battling Barnsley. It's mainly lazy journalism and alliteration
Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting we should bring Kenny Burns out of retirement. Passing football is one thing but good passing football needs to have some penetration and an end product and that means lots of work, largely off the ball. It also requires a lot of work and getting stuck in to get the ball back when you lose it. I don't see a reputation for being a battling team and one that plays good passing football as being mutually exclusive, rather hard work AND skill seem to me to be the ingredients for a winning combination.
Whatever our true identity is, the club needs to identify it, clarify it, quantify it and then leverage it to the fanbase and potential sponsors in order to galvanise and engage the support and interest in the club. Which leads me on once again to my long standing issues with the commercial management of the club.
The players are battling as well as playing some pretty neat passing football, but there simply isn't sufficient quality, or luck perhaps, to stick the ball in the net more often. Can't fault their effort at all this season but these days just 'battling' doesn't cut it in the Championship as it's become a much better league in terms of the standard of football...