Ipswich Town boss Mick McCarthy announced he is to leave the club at the end of the season, bringing his six-year reign at Portman Road to an end.
The former Republic of Ireland manager will not be renewing his contract with the Tractor Boys following a meeting with the club’s owner Marcus Evans on Wednesday evening.
Evans told the official website that during the evening, the pair “never got to the point where we actually talked about a new contract.”
“It just felt right that it was time for us both to look at different options,” he continued.
McCarthy took a team falling toward the relegation zone and fashioned a “very competitive club” from his squad, leading them to successive seasons on the fringes of playoff glory.
In 2015, the club suffered its’ most painful defeat when local rivals Norwich City knocked them out of the playoff semi-finals 4 – 2 on aggregate.
That was followed by a seventh-place finish in 2016, but to the bitter disappointment of supporters, slumped to 16th a season later.
Despite sitting 12th now, there is little prospect of a promotion push in the coming seasons and Evans would have it that change is in the best interests of everybody.
As the Championship promotion race becomes more heavily weighted in favour of the wealthier clubs, Evans words that McCarthy was “instrumental in developing our youth policy…nurtured their development in line with the Club’s strategy” will resonate with other aspiring clubs in a similar position to Ipswich.
Despite being popular with players and staff alike, supporters have not been shy of sharing their feelings of disappointment with the manager.
Ipswich Town legend John Wark praised the relationship between the players and staff; “they stick together,” he observed but, “you can tell with the manager and the fans that it wasn’t there.”
Former Scotland international Wark is optimistic for the club’s future, believing that “whoever comes to this club if he gets a bit of money, he’s still got the basis of a good team.”
Then the debt Ipswich Town owes Mick McCarthy will become fully apparent.