Pride of Anglia - Ipswich Town Football Club

Tuesday, September 30

Ipswich Town 3 Barnsley 0

Match statistics from this evenings 3-0 defeat of Barnsley at Portman Road can be found here.

Monday, September 29

Ballboys through the Ages

In our quest for the most obscure (and frankly, irrelevant) information about ITFC, we present to you: Ballboys through the Ages. Our favourite picture is from 1951-52 which features the ball boys and their reserves!! Yes, reserve ball boys!! More

Ipswich Town v Barnsley

A preview of Tuesday's Coca-Cola Championship fixture between Ipswich Town and Barnsley at Portman Road can be found here.

Saturday, September 27

Ipswich Town 1 Crystal Palace 1

Match statistics from this evenings 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace at Portman Road can be found here.

Friday, September 26

Ipswich Town v Crystal Palace

A preview of Saturday's Coca-Cola Championship fixture between Town and Crystal Palace at Portman Road can be found here.

Ipswich Town 1 Wigan Athletic 4

Match statistics from Wednesday evenings 4-1 loss to Wigan Athletic in the Carling Cup can be found here.

Sunday, September 21

Squad Numbering 1993-95 and 1999-date

Shirt numbering was first used in Association Football back in 1928 and identified the position a player occupied on the field rather than the identity of the player himself. So the 'keeper was number 1, the centre-half number 5, the centre-forward number 9, and so on. The move to a fixed number for each player first saw light at the 1954 World Cup but in this country wasn't introduced for another thirty-nine years when the Premier League switched to persistent squad numbers for the 1993-94 season. Town, then in the top flight of course, followed suit, at least for the next two seasons. Relegation in 1995 saw the club change back to the 1-11 system until the Football League fell into line with the Premiership in 1999. Here is a record of numbers used from 1993 to 1995 and from 1999 up to the present day [many thanks to Ian Hunneybell and David Bull for the info]. More

Saturday, September 20

Sheffield Wednesday 0 Ipswich Town 0

Match statistics from this afternoons scoreless draw with Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough can be found here.

Friday, September 12

Ipswich Town v Reading

A preview of Saturday afternoons Championship clash between Ipswich and Reading at Portman Road can be found here.

George Perrett and the A-Z

One of the more popular areas of Pride of Anglia is the player A-Z. Over the years we've invested a not inconsiderable amount of time pulling together the stats and biographical data that can be found there. This is all kept up-to-date with the much welcome help of a band of regular contributors (Alasdair Ross, James Ager, Tim Hodge and Andy Button to name a few) and also from friends and relatives of the players themselves. For example the niece of former Town half-back George Perrett kindly sent in the picture you see above which shows her uncle in his Portman Road days. Perrett made 206 appearances for the Blue's between 1936 and 1949 (hitting the net on 19 occasions) and was one of Town's very first professionals. A special thanks also to Mike Davage - official historian of Norwich City - for the player information he has been able to provide. Mike is one of a number of Canary fans to have contributed to the site over the years.

Saturday, September 6

Ipswich Town - you lucky people!

Four years after taking the helm at Ipswich Bobby Robson really had things on a roll at Portman Road. In the 1972-73 campaign Town had won the Texaco Cup, defeating Norwich in the final, but more importantly they had secured a berth in the UEFA Cup after a fourth place finish in the League. Not unsurprisingly clubs from around the country, and from overseas, came knocking at the Ipswich manager's door. Everton made one of their first attempts to prise him away from Suffolk to replace the retiring Harry Catterick, and Derby County did likewise following Brian Clough and Peter Taylor's departure for Nottingham Forest. Chairman John Cobbold, however, stepped in with an offer of a 10-year contract to help end the speculation.

From that period we've two articles of interest. In the first, from October 1973, Ipswich Town - you lucky people!, Robson talks to the London Evening Standard about that 10-year deal and the defeat of Real Madrid in the opening round of the UEFA Cup. In the second, from the same month, Robson, the man they all envy, the Daily Express suggest that Robson has all the qualities to take over the (not yet vacant) England managers chair from Alf Ramsey. Fortunately for Town Robson stuck with Town for another nine years. Sadly for Alf Ramsey he was sacked the following year.

Friday, September 5

Internationalists

Jim has a quiet word with Andreas Moller

This weekend Chris Casement and Owen Garvan will be hoping to add to their collection of U-21 Caps (with Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland respectively), while Velice Sumulikoski (Macedonia), Alex Bruce (Republic of Ireland) and Gareth McAuley (Northern Ireland) will all be hoping to do so at senior level. And in Belfast Jim Magilton - himself capped 52 times by Northern Ireland - will be helping the BBC out with coverage of the Ulstermen's World Qualifier in Slovakia. To date Town player's have won a staggering 570 full international caps. Winger Bill Reed was the first Ipswich player to do so in 1954, when he played for Wales in a friendly against Yugoslavia in Cardiff, and Reggie Lambe the most recent when he celebrated his eight international cap with four goals in Bermuda's 7-0 demolition of St Martin last weekend. Full details of all honours won from U-16 through to senior level can be found in our international appearance section, while a few pictures of our boys in national costume can be found here.