Ipswich Town in the Premier League: new manager, big spending, mid-table
Ipswich Town have 11 points from nine under Gary O'Neil after a summer of heavy spending. Form, key players, who owns the club and what is next.
Ipswich Town went back up and then went shopping, and the receipt is getting long.
The season page lists 14 first-team signings whose fees add up to roughly £186m. That is a big bet for a club promoted back to the Premier League, and so far it has bought 11 points from nine games: three wins, two draws, four defeats, 14 scored and 18 conceded.
A new voice in the dugout
Kieran McKenna stepped down as manager on 10 June. Gary O'Neil replaced him on 23 June on a three-year deal, arriving from Strasbourg. He went back to the French club for two of the summer's deals: Julio Enciso (£26.1m) and Abdoul Ouattara (£17.1m). Enciso paid some of that back on Saturday, scoring the 74th-minute equaliser in a 2-2 draw at Hull.
Form
The last five league games: a 1-0 defeat at Everton, a 2-1 home win over Fulham, a 3-2 loss at Manchester City, a 1-1 with Forest, and Saturday's draw at Hull. That is two draws, two defeats and a win, and a goal difference of minus four tells you where the pressure is. Defence is the worry: five goals went in at Old Trafford on 30 August, and Ipswich have conceded in all nine league games.
Key players
- Julio Enciso, the most expensive signing, who has two league goals.
- Emersonn, the £24m arrival from Toulouse, also on two.
- Exequiel Palacios, the £19.2m midfielder from Leverkusen.
- Zian Flemming, signed from Burnley for £17m, with two goals, all from the bench.
Owners and money
The owner listed is Gamechanger 20 Ltd, with Mark Ashton as chairman. The profile of the spending matters more than the name over the door. This is a club buying for the long haul, not a quick fix, and that sort of recruitment only works if the squad stays up for two or three seasons to repay it. A second relegation in three years would leave a lot of expensive players on the books.
The season so far
A 2-1 win over Sunderland on the opening weekend, a surprise 3-2 at Palace in September, and an EFL Cup exit at the third round, 4-2 at home to Arsenal after beating Leicester 3-1. Going into Saturday night's late matches Ipswich are 12th, four points above 18th-placed Crystal Palace, whose match at Tottenham was still to finish.
Next up
Bournemouth at Portman Road on Sunday 8 November. Bournemouth arrive having won their last three league games, so this is the match that tells you what shape O'Neil's side is really in.
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