Ipswich Town give under-23s coach John McGreal temporary charge as managerial search continues
The ex-Colchester United manager will lead the Blues in their game against Charlton on Tuesday
Last updated 6th Dec 2021
Former Ipswich Town defender John McGreal has been appointed as the club's interim manager ahead of the game against Charlton Athletic on Tuesday.
The 49-year old ,who made 150 appearances for the club during his playing career, was only appointed under-23s coach four days ago. He will be supported by Rene Gilmartin, Town U23s coach Kieron Dyer and head of academy goalkeeping Carl Pentney at The Valley, for their Papa John's Trophy game against the Addicks.
In an interview with the club's media, CEO Mark Ashton said, " He's an Ipswich man, his reaction to us was the club need me and I will step forward and help and support the club I love.
"Why John? He's got experience in management and has a large number of games under his belt. We felt he was the most experiences option in the door at this point in time."
Following the announcement, we caught up with Craig Finbow of Blue Monday Ipswich Town FC podcast. He says that like many other fans, they too were shocked at the news that Paul Cook was sacked and welcomes the temporary appointment of John McGreal.
"He's an experienced manager so the club is in safe hands. I would have thought they wouldn't want to let it go on for too long. It may just be the case that he'll be in charge until such time that the club can convince someone to join us" he says.
Mark Ashton, in his interview with iFollow Ipswich said that they have been in touch with managers across the country who are both in and out of jobs. "Yesterday, the phone was red hot, the emails were hot. We have a number of managers are contacting us about what is an attractive position.
"We'll run that process, we'll be communicating consistently with the US owners and we're onto it right now."
Former Premier League managers Frank Lampard, Neil Warnock and ex-player Frank Yallop are among the names touted as possible replacements for Paul Cook.
Mr Finbow says the club can attract championship quality managers should they choose to. "They've certainly managed to persuade some championship calibre players to drop down a division and join the club so there's no real reason to suspect that they can't potentially do the same with their with the calibre of manager they're looking to appoint."
He believes the club should look for an up-and-coming manager, like current MK Dons boss Liam Manning.
"He looks an attractive and an interesting proposition. He's obviously got links with Ipswich and his backroom staff have all got links with Ipswich as well, so it might be a case of trying to persuade him to to come along. It depends how brave the owners are going to be really."
So ultimately what would fans like to see between now and the end of the season? Mr Finbow says. "I think if we can see any sort of progression from game to game, from week to week, from month to month or if we can see some sort of upward trajectory in that time, it would be welcome.
"Having had the start that we've had, and finding ourselves securely in in mid table, it's going to take a hell of a run for us to make it into the playoffs. But with a with a fair wind behind us and maybe one or two changes in January in terms of personnel and a bit of coaching maybe, who knows? We may just creep into those playoffs."