Ipswich Town sacked long-serving manager George Burley on Friday following their poor start to the season.
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George Burley: It's all over
(MichaelSteele/Allsport) |
The reaction comes after Tuesday's 3-0 defeat against fellow strugglers Grimsby Town left the Tractor Boys lying sixth from bottom in Division One.
Burley, who spent 12 years at Ipswich as a player, had been manager since 1994. After several narrow misses he secured promotion to the Premiership in 2000 and the following season finished an impressive fifth and qualified for Europe.
However, in the following campaign Ipswich struggled and were relegated in May after finishing 18th. This season Burley's side have struggled to come to terms with Nationwide football and have won only three of their ten games.
'It is with great sadness that the board of directors have taken the difficult decision to relieve George Burley from his position as manager,' Ipswich chairman David Sheepshanks said.
'I would like to place on record our immense thanks to George for his outstanding service and many tremendous achievements throughout his tenure - Wembley 2000, finishing fifth in our first season in the Premiership and competing in the UEFA Cup are highlights in our history of which George can be justly proud.
'We took the view that George was the right man to lead us back to the Premiership, but this season - even though retaining a Premiership squad - performances have not improved.'
Ipswich are now on the look out for a new boss but where they right to get rid of their manager in the first place?
Your Verdict
A ridiculous decision and one that - far from proving the board's dedication
to its role as 'custodians' of the club - shows only that it can panic along
with the best of them. The players (many of them outstandingly paid) have
to take more of the blame for last season's failure and this season's
current shambles.
Burley and Sheepshanks rebuilt the club - from youth level through the first
team to finances - after previous relegation and it is therefore doubly sad
that the Chairman seeks a scapegoat so early in a season in which he
personally created almost unbearable pressure on all staff to achieve
immediate promotion.
Nick Fuller
Ipswich were foolish in sacking George Burley. This is a man who raised an average gate from 11,000 to 25,000 in 8 years. He got them promoted from the 1st division to the Premiership on the 3rd attempt in the playoffs. A lesser man would`ve buckled under the pressure but he stuck at it and succeeded.
Then the season after they got promoted he lead them to a 5th place finish in the Premiership. Just missing out on Champions League qualification. He bought players and coached a team who played good passing football, which unlike teams who get promoted was a refreshing change from the norm.
Nasser Adamu
Whilst the time had come to find another manager who could motivate the players in the First Division, it should be remembered that it's the board who sanctioned the high wages that are now making Ipswich's immediate return to the Premiership so desperate - resulting in this sacking.
Nicholas Dawson, Ipswich
First Peter Reid and now George Burley. Two fine managers who took their teams from the depths of Division One and made them Premiership quality. The hierarchy of both Ipswich and Sunderland seem to have short memories and have judged their managers relative to the last 18 months and not what they accomplished for the clubs during their tenure.
When Burley took over at Ipswich they were in debt, had a team of old players and were awful to watch. While the clubs finances are not the best, the team are good to watch and has a number of excellent, home-grown players.
I am a great fan of Sheepshanks, but I think his board has asked him to act irresponsibly. I for one would like to wish George Burley good luck with his next job, probably as the Scotland coach, and to thank him for all of his excellent work at Ipswich.
Rumbles
I must say I have mixed emotions regarding this decision.
When ITFC were relegated, I felt certain promotion awaited at season's end. I may have been overly optimistic, but I am sure I was not alone. The contrast between my lofty expectations and this season's results have been shocking - the humiliation by Grimsby doubly so. The Grimsby match was the proverbial straw that broke the Sheepshanks back. Had Ipswich secured 3 points versus Grimsby this decision would have been avoided, and Burley may have pulled the side back into form.
On the other hand, I don't blame Burley - entirely - for this poor performance, and I don't agree with sacking him this early in the season. He has had many good years at Ipswich; he has done tremendously for the club - both on the pitch and off. The club should have had enough faith in him, after all he's done, to give him a reasonable opportunity to get things right.
Timothy Lund
This is the worst kind of short-term, knee jerk decision making.
Ipswich have not played anywhere near the number of games of other teams
in the division and it is reflected in their position. If they take half the
maximum points from the games in hand the position will improve greatly.
The decision by the board was emotional not factual - in short a frustrated
stupid decision.
Richard Fisk
David Sheepshanks should remember that Ipswich only got into the Premiership in the first place because he cried so much about the away goals rule and cheated Bolton Wanderers out of a chance at promotion. Just because Ipswich got into the Premiership doesn't mean that they have a Premiership squad, that's a ridiculous comment to make!
When teams return to the Premiership other sides have to learn their style of play, so a reasonable team may initially do well for a season or two but if the squad does not evolve then you get hammered. Just look at Sunderland.
This cannot be laid at the door of the manager; he can only manage the resources he has. It is up to Mr Sheepshanks and the Ipswich Board to give the manager the means to invest and evolve the team.
Bob Eaton
Loyalty is a very rare commodity in the modern professional sporting world and it starts at the top. Chairman fire managers during bad spells so no wonder players grab for everything at contract time.
A modern day manager had better employ a top class brief before he puts pen to paper! Chairman have a lot to answer for and I thought before this incident that Sheepshanks was one of the better ones.
Moz
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