It has been a busy week at Ipswich with the club receiving bad news as well as some good news.
The bad news is obviously the story about Micheal Chopra being accused of offering bribes to a jockey however, the former Newcastle striker’s involvement is not fully known and of course he has not been found guilty of anything as of yet.
It seems to be that most Ipswich fans are furious with Chopra but I am about to make myself very unpopular and stick up for the 28-year-old frontman.
The key factor to remember with this story is that it happened well before Chopra was signed by Ipswich and the club was well aware of his troubled past. When the club signed him they were probably aware that a story like this could come out because of the players past but they obviously accepted the fact that they would just have to deal with it at the time.
The question I would put to those who have grown to dislike the forward is; has Chopra had any gambling problems since joining Ipswich?
As far as we are aware Chopra has beaten off his addiction and only ever been thankful for the clubs support with his personal problems.
Chopra has had many personal problems to overcome since joining Ipswich and it will have no doubt effected his performances. He may not have lived up to the hype on the pitch and if fans don’t like him because of his performances on the pitch then that is a completely different matter. It has to be said that if Chopra was scoring every game then everybody would have supported him through this case.
The bottom line is whatever happened is just an addition to the player’s troubled past and whatever he has done outside of football years ago should just be dealt with outside of football. After all, if Chopra is found guilty he will be banned from any horse racing event but outside of horse racing the verdict should have no effect on him, especially not at Ipswich Town.
The club have supported Chopra through all of the problems that haunt his past and this is no different. If both the fans and the club get behind him every game regardless of whether he is innocent or guilty that could well bring the striker back in form.
Personally, I like having Chopra at the club as he is a character who has over come his problems and is just trying to get back to his best. When you think about it isn’t Chopra a lot like Ipswich? He used to have a good reputation in the distant past, had a few bad years where he didn’t perform, had some money troubles and is now struggling to get back to his best. Maybe if the club treat him well and he does the same back then the two struggling parties can get achieve something great together.
The fans need to take a realistic outlook and see that when the club isn’t doing well, you can’t get the players you want and you have to take a gamble on players like Chopra. As a result you have to take the bad times with the good, stick with the players through the bad times and hope that they come out of it positively.
The prime example is Lee Martin whose Ipswich career started awfully and he looked like he wasn’t good enough for League One. Everyone gave him a break and eventually he has worked his way back into a starting role within the team. Chopra’s situation is very different but the principle is still the same in that the club need to stick by him and hope that he regains his best form.
On positive note, it is great to see the club have secured some decent loan signings. Although I am not sure about Richie Wellens the capture of Bilel Mohsni and DJ Campbell could at least turn things around in the short-term. Hopefully they will impress on their loan spells and the club can then look at signing Mohsni and Campbell in January.
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