Ipswich Town - Bringing Back The Glory Days

We might be the most useless team in the league. Another bore draw, all the possession, all the chances, no clinical players anyway in this whole squad. Bored.

Still without a home win the season, we host mid table Rotherham looking for our first home league win, and it’s October! In between the Accrington and Rotherham game, we have drawn Solihull Moors at home in the FA Cup 1st round. Should be a comfortable win. Right?

Ipswich are 8 games unbeaten in all competitions, but have drawn their last 4 and are slowly slipping down the table. Once again without Kayden Jackson, they will need to find inspiration from somewhere else.

Rotherham have been blessed with a fully fit and available team for this trip to Portman Road, and will be looking to bounce back from two defeats in a row.

WE’VE WON A HOME GAME! And of course it’s the most unlikely of heroes. In fairness, I do have a corner tactic that aims every cross to the near post, and that’s exactly where Woolfenden was for both goals. Finally a win at Portman Road. So needed.

The last game of October sees us travel away to Southend as we look for revenge as they dumped us out of the Carabao Cup 1st round.

Southend are sat 18th in League One, but have won 4 of their last 5 games so are in a rich vain of form. They will be without Jason Demetriou for this game as he continues his treatment for a damaged foot.

Ipswich are once again without Kayden Jackson, but Teddy Bishop and Freddie Sears are very near returning to full training, which will give Ipswich so many more options for this season.

Two wins in a row to end the month, including another away win which seems to be our trademark this year. Creepily following the trend of real life, winning away and losing/ drawing at home. Still, I’ll take a 1-0 win, although Jon Nolan did pick up an injury and will be out for 4 weeks with a pulled calf muscle.

It’s been a very good month for Luke Woolfenden, picking up 2 goals in that key win over Rotherham cemented his place as our player of the month. His performances have garnered attention from Championship teams, so hopefully we can keep hold of him. His performances won him the League One Young Player of the Month.

Slowly working our way into the top positions. An unbeaten month in the league, 8 points from a possible 12 sees us jump into 6th spot. The games our coming thick and fast so we’ll need to be at our best to keep this run going.

The transfers are coming in thick and fast right now, as 5 of our brightest prospects make their way out of the club on loan deals. I decided to keep Armando Dobra and Ben Morris because they are likely to be in and around the first team.

Idris El Mizouni has gone to Dag & Red on loan till the end of the season, and has already got 2 goals and 1 assist from 3 games. Ryley Scott has joined York and already made 2 appearances in the middle of the park. Highly rated forward Ben Folami has gone to Aldershot and made his debut the same day as the Southend game. 18-year-old Kai Brown has been in scintillating form for our U23s, and has gone to Gateshead to try and prove he has first team quality, and finally Lounes Foudil has gone to Dorking. The young Frenchman should shine in the Vanarama National League South.

MJK46 - Thanks for the follow bud, I’ll try and do you proud!

Jack - I try and write how i’d want to read someone’s story, glad it’s helping you follow it easier.

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Portsmouth are the next team to try and take down Ipswich Town, but it’s not been plain sailing for the south coast side. Kenny Jackett was sacked earlier in the season, and Alan Pardew is the man trusted with steering the ship in the right direction.

Portsmouth will be looking to continue their good recent form as they have currently won their last three games, but will have to overcome Ipswich without Ronan Curtis who is out with a twisted ankle. Alan Pardew’s boys will be looking for a big scalp to climb up the table.

Ipswich are full of confidence, and rightly so with 15 games unbeaten in the league. They will also be excited to hear that Emyr Huws has returned to full training, whilst James Norwood and Teddy Bishop have both got themselves back to full match fitness.

I knew the run was going to end eventually, and to be honest it was a very even game but they were much more clinical than we were. 15 games unbeaten in the league comes to an end, but we are still in a good position in the league with 2 games to go for 2019.

No time to dwell on the past, because the games come thick and fast the League One. Up next is Gillingham at home, and officially the half way stage of the season. To be 5th going into the game considering the start we had is very pleasing, just need to push on into the new year.

Ipswich will be looking to bounce back from their 4th defeat of the season against Gillingham, but will have to so without Emyr Huws who picked up a bruised thigh against Portsmouth. With 3 games in 7 days, maybe this game could be the one that sees some rotation.

Gillingham are still struggling in League One as they sit 20th in the league, but haven’t lost in their last four. They replaced Steve Evans with Stuart McCall, but he won’t be able to rely on Mark Marshall and Alex Jakubiak who are both injured for today’s game.

Not the most comfortable of wins but 3 points non the less. That victory still keeps us in 5th place, because all the teams above us won as well. Glad Will Keane scored because he’d gone a few games without a goal, however he will miss the Lincoln game with a twisted knee.

The final game of 2019 is away against recently promoted Lincoln City, who are currently on the verge of the play offs after an impressive first half of the season. A win for Ipswich here could see them leapfrog everyone into top spot, but a loss could open up a big gap to 1st place.

Lincoln will be looking at Fleetwood and Wycombe to slip up so they can push for that 6th spot, but will have to do so without Jorge Grant who is a doubt with a twisted ankle. They have been fairly inconsistent of late, and will be looking to turn their form into a positive

Ipswich are still without Skuse for this game, and Will Keane is touch-and-go up until kick off to see if he is fit. Andre Dozzell just signed a new 3-year-deal, will he be rewarded with a start this afternoon?

Horrible way to end the year. Played like we did at the beginning of the season. Absence of Will Keane was felt hard as Jackson missed 3 1-on-1s. Need to improve before we travel to Wycombe on New Years Day.

He won the player of the month for League One last month, and he’s been our best player this month. Garbutt has been consistently very good for us this season at an unflavoured left back spot. 10 assists already this season, hopefully he can keep on going for the rest of the campaign.

Still in the same spot after 3 wins and 2 defeats this month. It’s getting really tight at the top of the table, no team is running away with it. Oxford have snatched a 3 point lead from Sunderland, but I wouldn’t count out anyone down to Fleetwood down in 7th.

3 more transfers for us to deal with before the winter window opens up. Full back Tom Scott has joined Boston United till the end of the season, and has already played 2 games for the National League side. Aaron Drinan, fresh off a very good spell in Sweden, has joined Dylan Crowe at Solihull Moors. He’s picked up where he left off in Scandinavia, with 3 goals from his 3 games. Young keeper Tony Egan has joined Kingstonian on loan, and has already played 5 games for the non league side.

Away from loan deals, their may be some alterations to our first team in the next month. I’ve had a 200k bid, 50k up front, accepted for 23-year-old Mohammed Ofkir, but I can’t confirm the deal because it will cost £63k to complete the deal, but the stingy Marcus Evans gave me a ‘boosted’ transfer budget of 50k! There may be some movements out of the first team as well. As I said previously Sean Dyche has been watching Flynn Downes, and may be tempted into a bid. I’ve had Toto Nsiala and Jon Nolan come to moaning about a lack of game time, so they might be profited on in January. Jordan Roberts has been subject to interest from Rochdale, Blackpool, Southend, and MK Dons, and with us only playing 1 striker, I may allow him to leave.

I wanted to take this opportunity to see how our youth teams are doing, as well as our players that have left the club on loan in the last few months. Despite all the loan deals out of the u23s, they are now 1st in their league. Zak Brown has stepped up from the U18s brilliantly and has 9 goals in 14 starts for the academy. Tyrese Simpson and Armando Dobra have also been playing their part. Our U18s are also top of their league, which is a surprise because of the amount of kids moved into the U23s. Michael Bareck, Nyan Mesuria and Zanda Siziba have all got double figures this season, and it’s only December!

Loan wise, a few of our players have been performing quite well away from the club. As mentioned, Aaron Drinan is already scoring in the National League. Idris El Mizouni has been playing really well for Dagenham and Redbridge with 2 goals and 2 assists. Brett McGavin has surprised me the most, with 2 goals and 3 assists from CDM for Dorking. Bartosz Bialkowski is the only senior player out on loan this year; and was playing well for Millwall up until he broke his hand a few weeks before Christmas.

Jack - He really stepped his game up when others were slowly fading, sadly though he wasn’t able to repeat that in December. Yeah the FA Cup stat is horrible, shouldn’t be going that long without winning.

5th game in 15 days sees us host MK Dons in the Leasing.Com Trophy 3rd Round. Both sides will be looking for a route to Wembley, but with both teams performing well in the league, may we see two very much reserve sides take the field. The winner of this tie faces the Chelsea U23s in the Quarter Final.

Ipswich will be hampered by the suspension to Luke Woolfenden. Not particularly for this game, but for the away trip to Tranmere in Saturday. We defeated MK Dons earlier in the season, so let’s see if it can be repeated.

MK Dons will be without George Boateng who is out with broken ribs, but will have a full strength side besides him to choose from. Question is, how will they approach the game? Full swing, or rotate city?




MK Dons took this much more seriously than we did. We made 9 changes from our last league game, they made 0. But we came through it just on penalties, but it’s a very good sign when your reserves can beat another teams first XI. That victory now means we are the side to host Chelsea U23s.



18/01/20

Another day, another game. Three days later we travel up to Tranmere in League One, as we look to keep the pressure on the sides above us, whilst Tranmere look to break into the top 6.

Tranmere are performing very well in the league this season under Micky Mellon, but have been inconsistent of late with 3 wins and 2 defeats in their last 5. For this game, they will have to provide late fitness tests for Jacob Maddox and Kane Wilson, to see if they are fit enough to challenge Ipswich today.

Ipswich are still without Skuse for this game, and will also be missing Luke Woolfenden who is serving the 2nd of his 3 match ban. Will it be Toto Nsiala or James Wilson that fills in for the Wolf against Tranmere.




We were never in the game in all honestly, Keane was lucky to grab a goal from the penalty spot but we were thoroughly and deservedly beaten by Tranmere, but that loss pushes us even further from the top 2 spots.



21/01/20

No time to dwell on that result as another 2 days go by and we are back in action, this time at home to Fleetwood. We desperately need to get ourselves back into promotion contention otherwise George Burley’s position as Ipswich manager could come under threat. Just before the game, we had the 5th round draw for the FA Cup, where we have been drawn away to Millwall if we overcome Charlton

Ipswich will once again be without key defender Luke Woolfenden, who has looked so composed at the back for Ipswich this season. Other than it’s a full squad, but with the amount of fixtures they are being forced to play this month, none of them are 100% fit.

Fleetwood are in a similar boat to Ipswich, as they have 3 players missing for this game. Nathan Sheron, Danny Andrew and Jordan Rossiter are all unavailable through injury, and with them having lost their last 2 games, they will be looking for a victory to stop the rot.




Really worried now. This game is the exact replica of our first month of charge. Absolutely batter them, and still lose. 94th minute goal was a killer, drops us down to 7th. Not sure how much longer Burley has left in the job.



25/01/20

The games are coming thick and fast but the results are not for Ipswich Town. Two defeats in a row sees them slip out of the top 6, and their are fears that George Burley’s job may be in danger if he doesn’t get some victories soon.

Ipswich see the return of Luke Woolfenden for this game, and what a massive miss he has been. They desperately needed him back and he’ll add some much needed stability to that back line.

Lincoln are without Ben Coker for this game with a abdominal strain, but have won their last two whereas Ipswich have lost both theirs. Will the form books tell the tale of the game, or can Ipswich flip it on its head?




A desperately needed win that surprisingly shoots us up to 4th in the league. You knows it’s a mental league when you can got 16 games unbeaten and go from 9th to 5th, lose two, drop to 7th and then win one and go up to 4th. Mad league, but a really good win to get us back on track.



28/01/20

Finally we reach the end of the month. 28 days, 9 games, all players dead. Although, looking into February, our next week long gap is the between the 22nd and the 29th. We haven’t had more than a 4 day gap between games since the 21st of December. Stupid amount of games for us to play. Rotherham is the team we face this afternoon, let’s end January on a high.

Rotherham will be looking at this game with confidence having picked up 3 wins from their last 5 games, but might have to tackle the game without their leading striker Freddie Ladapo who has a tight thigh.

Ipswich can rely on every play bar Cole Skuse and very long term absentee Jack Lancaster, but because of the lack of break they have had all month, their will be a need for slight rotation once again, which could be their downfall.




That is the perfect way for end such a busy month. Massive confidence boost for all the players getting that result. Love seeing Freddie Sears getting on the scoresheet, such a talented Inverted Winger when he is fully fit.



He missed 3 games through suspension in January, but he still notched up 6 appearances. We didn’t lose before he was suspended, we didn’t win when he was suspended, and we didn’t lose when he came back. He is such a rock at the back, and Luke Woolfenden picks up his 2nd Player of the Month Award. He also won the League One Young Player of the Month.




Despite losing two of our 6 league games this month, we have somehow moved up to 4th in the table, and opened up a 5 point gap to 7th place. Considering after the Fleetwood result their were news reports suggesting Burley’s time was up at Ipswich, he’s still kept them within 4 points of automatic promotion, so he’s not done that bad?




Despite it being the transfer window, it was very quiet in East Anglia. As I mentioned in the December update, I couldn’t bring anyone in without letting people go. I’ve listed up Jon Nolan, Danny Rowe and Toto Nsiala, but no teams wanted to take them off my hands. I had a 180k bid accepted from MK Dons for Jordan Roberts, but that fell through so instead he went out on loan to Rochdale. Youth keeper Jake Alley has also moved out on loan to St Albans