Welcome to Transferland

Transfers were not a big part of my football following life as a kid. Only three really stick in the memory from my teenage years, 2 outgoing and 1 incoming. The sale of Mauricio Taricco to Tottenham in November 1998 (£1.775m - £9.5m in today's money*) was an early trauma, a reflection of Ipswich's rather modest stature in the world. It merely chipped, rather than obliterated, my belief that all our players were fulfilling a lifelong ambition when they pulled on the blue and white, particularly as Mauricio had the decency to look pretty sad about the whole thing. By the time Kieron Dyer left in July 1999 (£6m/£28.5m), I was a bit more accustomed to the five stages of transfer grief. Denial - he'd never leave, anger - how could they sell him, bargaining - maybe he'll stay for just one more year, depression - we're doomed, acceptance - we can strengthen the squad!

On the other side of things - the purchase of Marcus Stewart in February 2000 (£2.5m/£10.6m(!?)) was the big one. Of course, I'd seen plenty of players come in before then, but not with such significant fanfare. Without today's detailed data breakdowns or YouTube showreels, you more or less just had to wait and see whether they were any good. No-one knew what Jim Magilton's progressive passes per ninety stats were and Fabian Wilnis might as well have played his pre-Ipswich career on the moon for all we knew about De Graafschap. But Stewart was more or less the best striker in the division at the time, so he was a huge deal. There was an atmosphere of expectation, which, despite one fairly instant goal, he did take a beat to live up to. Transfers that truly pierced my consciousness like that were still a rarity though.

Things have changed. In the 2020s, for 4+1 months of the year we live in Transferland. Two periods of the year are dominated by who goes, who stays, who comes in. We critically analyse every “body in the building”, we earmark positions to strengthen, we push players towards imaginary exit doors, we list transfer targets, we examine data dashboards and wonder how well this or that player might adapt coming from a team in the Nemzeti Bajnokság. What kind of standard is the Nemzeti Bajnokság anyway?

Football fans talk about "winning the window" and sometimes transfers seem more important than the actual games. This is a context where it is pretty easy to lose perspective. Any squad looked at too intensely is all flaws and limited strengths. Passed too closely under the microscope, cracks are never far from the surface. It is hard to look at the 10 or so guys who aren't close to the first team and not conclude that actually they're nowhere near as good as the ones we have playing every week. The potential for a big drop off is everywhere. Likewise, any prospective incoming, if you squint hard enough, might look like the solution to all your problems.

You look at your own squad with a scrutiny that you'd never apply to your competitors. Any visitors to Portman Road we can probably name the big threats, the scariest names, but we rarely have a clue who would line up for them at left back if they had a couple of injuries. We worry about whether we could adequately replace Cameron Burgess, without really troubling ourselves who actually plays reserve Left Centre Back for Cardiff City. (It turned out to be Jonathan Panzo, apparently a player of some promise, but a bit calamitous every time I see him). Most Championship squads are at least twenty-five percent filler, players we’d not want to touch the padded bucket seats that make up our “sub’s bench” these days, but it seldom feels that way in Transferland.

Freddie Ladapo's weekend performance felt like a landmark in underestimating what we’ve already got. I'd started the Summer telling those who'd listen that Fred was going to be a solid competitor, who'd notched double figures the last time he'd played at this level, even in a Rotherham team that otherwise stunk up the place. But after an indifferent sub appearance at Sunderland and a bad outing in the League Cup game saw him slip behind Kayden Jackson in the pecking order, I'd been ready to call it on his Ipswich career. Fourth choice with Dane Scarlett through the door, why not swap him for a upgrade somewhere else? The logic of Transferland had me in its grasp.

But Freddie came roaring back on Saturday with two poacher's goals and an all-action line-leading performance. Ladapo formed his little protective bubble round the ball, his marker, pinned, desperately tried to flail his way round him, unable to prevent him stuffing the thing past the keeper and into the net. He's look good, he looks fine and he's Ipswich Number Nine.

I was right the first time. Ladapo will prove a lot of people wrong and hold his own in this division. McKenna likes to find the right tool for the job and on Saturday Freddie's hold up play, movement and finishing ability were just the job. Against Stoke, Kayden Jackson was the flathead screwdriver to get right in Ben Wilmot's face and disrupt his passing game, whilst Ladapo was the Phillips screwdriver for a Cardiff who just wanted to sit in their penalty area and throw themselves at shots.

Beyond the usefulness of Jackson and Ladapo, there's a more general point here about "winning the window". There are relatively few genuine game changers in the Championship. Players who routinely win games for you simply by dint of their own individual brilliance are thin on the ground (although I suspect we might have one in Nathan Broadhead). Most teams are a product of collective ability above all. That's about a manager and his players being able to consistently put their individual skills into a collective order that makes sense, in a division where a coach gets sacked every 5 games and all is constantly in flux.

To a significant degree that collective strength is determined by the group of players you are able to put together by mid-July. At the end of August it feels like the absolute end of the world whether you get that extra player or two in, but 90% of where you end up is probably already largely set. I think this is particularly the case for squad players. For a first teamer, you might get that marquee signing that simply makes you a whole different order of threat, like Amad Diallo provided for Sunderland last year. But behind that, you're looking at very fine margins. Whatever fault you find with Freddie Ladapo and Kayden Jackson, for the moment I'd take either over the two strikers who faced us for Sunderland and Stoke, Luis Semedo and Ryan Mmaee, both of whom looked like they were drowning in the choppiest seas they'd yet encountered in their infant EFL careers. There are plenty of forwards new to the division still finding their feet whilst we already have two who know exactly what their manager wants them to do at all times and who know the pace and the rhythm of football in our division.

In "bolstering your options", you'll find yourself recruiting "high ceiling", "raw talent" and "does a job", while the citizens of Transferland (the obsessive fans like us) tell you just how underwhelming it all is. Now, this Summer certainly doesn't look a vintage period for recruitment (not like January, my God!). We took risks. Brandon Williams and, possibly, Axel Tuanzebe, constitute defensive reinforcements at an elite level, who we couldn't possibly afford if they hadn't spent the last twelve months plus kicking their heels in treatment rooms and reserve football. Helping a lost soul find his way is one way to find undiscovered value and lord we’ll need to do that to beat any of the five teams with double/triple/quadruple our budget.

Every first loan or step up loan is a roll of a dice, even if you're likelier to roll a six with Dane Scarlett's and Omari Hutchinson's backgrounds and individual attributes. We have a sounder idea of what we'll get with Jack Taylor and George Hirst, both players signed with our first team in mind, with plentiful senior football to their names. Perhaps the most realistic type of transfer for a club in the middle of the Championship pack, economically speaking. Enough doubt about them at our level that they're achievable targets and might increase in value, but you still know roughly what you're getting.

Ipswich's 2023-24 prospects will not ultimately rest mainly on their shoulders, however. 19 of our 26 first teamers are old hands, accumulated between the disastrous Summer of 2018 and the miraculous perfect window of January 2023. That lot will contribute the vast majority of our minutes this season and if they aren't up to it then we won't be either. If the best of them have long periods out and their replacements aren’t as good, well, we’re just going to be a worse football team, sorry to say. That’s the reality of building a squad on a limited budget.

Ultimately, you don't win or lose a transfer window, you win or lose football matches. Finding a way to put the guys we already have in a system that lets them thrive, even when we’re lacking someone, is the first team coach's main job.

It is the part of the job that Kieran McKenna has aced above all others so far. There is a long list of players who've found another level under his tutelage: Luke Woolfenden, Cameron Burgess, Janoi Donacien, Wes Burns, Conor Chaplin, Freddie Ladapo, Kayden Jackson. As much as any additions over the last two windows, their improvements make us what we are now. It is satisfying to see them all flourish. Transferland makes you want new things. It encourages you to think every flaw is fatal and that every worst scenario can and must be covered. It discourages you from the hard work of making the people you have better and adapting to adversity. But for me there's less pride in that. Being the richest club in League One never sat so well with me. Especially when under Cook the process of building a squad became acquisitive not constructive, avaricious rather than judicious. Sometimes the ability to make more from less is what binds you together as a club.

There will always be turnover. There will always be transfer hype. But alongside it there should also be some appreciation of what we already have in the building, of the qualities as well as the cracks, of the art of repair and improvement, not just the new.

*As a bit of fun, I just worked out what these fees were as a percentage of the British transfer record and scaled them up to match present day transfer inflation.