The Long And Winding Road

Well, that was quite an eventful season! We sacked manager Paul Jewell, then appointed Mick McCarthy a week later, chairman Simon Clegg "left" soon afterwards, coincidence? We scrapped with relegation for forty-five games and ended up in fourteenth position with sixty points. We also had three players making the headlines for the wrong reasons, Michael Chopra for race fixing. Paul Taylor for ABH and Guirane N'daw for assault still have court cases ongoing.

After a hand full of games I was getting very despondent, thinking that I might not have another season ticket, we were getting beat easily and the atmosphere at Portman Road was so negative. It was not the best place to spend your leisure time and quite depressing, but by the time the renewals dropped through he letter box I didn't give it a second thought, that's the impact made by McCarthy and Terry Connor!

I managed to get to thirty-five league games, twenty-two at home (I missed the Barnsley game in January), thirteen away, plus the Capital One Cup game versus Bristol Rovers at Portman Road and the FA Cup tie at Villa Park.

My most memorable games at home were the 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest and the 3-0 win against Crystal Palace, both of them midweek matches played under the floodlights. Away from home the 1-0 victory at Birmingham (McCarthy's first game in charge) was a key moment in the season, but I loved the "return of the Mac" to Molineux in December where we beat Wolves 2-0.

Goal of the season was Aaron Cresswell's half volley versus Palace, although Carlos Edwards had a couple of contenders, the injury time winner at Derby and his superb strike versus Birmingham in the final home game of the season.

At the time of writing we will have Doncaster, Bournemouth and either Brentford or Yeovil joining us from League One. QPR, Reading and probably Wigan dropping down from the Premier League. They'll be replacing promoted Cardiff, Hull and either Watford, Brighton, Crystal Palace or Leicester from the playoff's, alongside relegated Bristol City, Wolves and Peterborough.

Both dad (bluetipp 196th with 30 points) and I (jewellsrimet 168th with 34 points) were beaten by Sharon (paulslittlejewell 137th with 38 points) on the TWTD's prediction league! A very disappointing return especially from dad who came 13th last season.

Former striker Ian Marshall acknowledging a bit of humour!

The complete playlist:-

1 Uptown Top Ranking by Althea &Donna

2 My Way by Frank Sinatra

3 Flowers by The Psychedelic Furs 

4 Beautiful Day by U2

5 Superstition by Stevie Wonder

6 Cocaine In My Brain by Dillinger

7 Starman by David Bowie

8 I'm Not Down by The Clash

9 Hurry Up Harry by Sham 69

10 Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day

11 Empty Sky by Bruce Springsteen

12 Skyfall by Adele

13 The Magnificent Seven

14 Countin On A Miracle by Bruce Springsteen

15 You've Got A Friend In Me by Randy Newman

16 Feeling Good by Nina Simone

17 Two Princes by Spin Doctors

18 The Keeper by Chris Cornell

19 Born For A Purpose by Dr Alimantado & The Rebels

20 Locked Out Of Heaven by Bruno Mars

21 D.J. By David Bowie

22 Living For The Weekend by Hard Fi

23 He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother by The Justice Collective

24 Joe Le Taxi by Vanessa Paradis

25 Don't Look Back in Anger by Oasis

26 Don't Leave Me Leave Me This Way by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes

27 So You Win Again by Hot Chocolate

28 Night Nurse by Gregory Isaacs

29 You Can Do Magic by America

30 Say My Name by Destiny's Child

31 Sit Down by James

32 Seven Nation Army by Whitestripes

33 Sign Your Name by Terence Trent D'Arby

34 Clocks by Coldplay

35 What A Fool Believes by The Doobie Brothers

36 Scooby Snacks by The Fun Loving Criminals

37 Ships In The Night by Be Bop Deluxe

38 Reasons To Be Cheerful To Be Cheerful, Part 3 by Ian Dury & The Blockheads

39 F.e.e.l.i.n.g C.a.l.l.e.d L.o.v.e by Pulp

40 Us & Them by Pink Floyd

41 Talk To Me by Southside Johnny & The Asbury Dukes

42 The Long And Winding Road by The Beatles

Talk To Me

Burnley 2-0 ITFC May 4th 2013

Once I had found a cheap hotel that looked reasonable, we made the decision to go to the final game of the season - £65 including breakfast at The Rosehill House Hotel seemed to good to miss! We both took Friday off work and took a leisurely drive up to Lancashire via Worksop, Sheffield and across the Snake Pass, which was bleak and not very scenic. We were planning to have a picnic there but ended up having it in Accrington where we also had an improvised tour of the Crown Ground, home of Accrington Stanley!

A real football ground

The Rosehill Hotel

After checking in, we took a walk into Burnley town centre which was about half a mile down hill from the hotel. I have to say it was fairly uninspiring and after a drink we had to trek back up.  

The lady at the hotel reception booked us a table at Ninos, an Italian pub/restaurant in nearby Cliviger, after informing us of the lack of decent places to eat in Burnley. It was only a fifteen minute taxi ride there and it was well worth the £7 fare.

Turf Moor from one side of town

Ninos

Turf Moor from the other side of town at Cliviger

My Saturday morning was kicked off with a full English breakfast which was excellent. After packing, we checked out of the Rosehill and headed to Turf Moor for the 12.45pm kickoff.

With the luxury of knowing that we were safe in the Championship Mick McCarthy chose to make four changes from last weeks game, including giving Tyrone Mings his Ipswich debut.

Motorcycle emptiness

The game was pretty uneventful, especially the first half where the two teams just seemed to be playing out the time. It took a superb strike from Burnley substitute Junior Stanislas to break the deadlock and bring a very quiet home support to life after sixty minutes. McCarthy then gave a debut to academy player of the season Jack Marriott before the game restarted. Both sides then had chances to score before Martin Paterson doubled the Clarets lead with just three minutes left of the season, heading a corner past Scott Loach. 

This meant that I needed Town to score two quick goals so that I could finish above Sharon in the TWTD's prediction league. 

Burnley swapped keepers in the final minute, Lee Grant making way for the veteran Brian Jenson. "The Beast" clearly a fans favourite and wasn't going to concede two late goals so I, like Ipswich, was beaten!

The playlist
Talk To Me by Southside Johnny And The Asbury Dukes - unknown to us until we arrived in Lancashire it was the weekend of “The 25th Burnley International Rock and Blues Festival”, with Southside Johnny And The Asbury Dukes headlining on the Saturday night. We saw Southside Johnny perform Talk To Me with Bruce Springsteen in Madrid last year at the Bernabéu. 
Max had requested Motorcycle emptiness by the Manics if we had have won. Max and I both think that Burnley manager Sean Dyche is a secret biker!

Us And Them

ITFC 3-1 Birmingham April 27th 2013

After a comfortable win in the last home game of the season we are now mathematically safe, but it has taken until now and sixty points to achieve it!

There was an upbeat atmosphere at Portman Road and I sense that better times lie ahead for us as long as we keep the main man Mick McCarthy here. Mind you, I'm always optimistic, every season I predict at least the playoffs for us!

I'm not a big lover of Birmingham, but fair play to them the blues brought a large following of 1,977, many of them turning up in fancy dress as it was their last away game. They made plenty of noise and for once they were good humoured. I also have to say that I quite like their pink away strip!

Full time

Carlos Edwards got the end of season party atmosphere going for us after just six minutes with a screamer that would rival Aaron Cresswell's strike, already awarded goal of the season. Six foot and eight inches tall Nikola Zigic thought that he had equalised two minutes later but his header was ruled out for offside.
Town were two nil up after just seventeen minutes when Luke Chambers, unmarked, headed in Cresswell's free kick from six yards out. Frank Nouble then had two goals disallowed before half time, both for offside - harsh decisions from my viewpoint behind the goal!
Daryl Murphy added a third goal for the blues after fifty-seven minutes with a smart left foot shot and substitute Chris Burke scored a consolation goal for the visitors just before the end.
That result put Sharon four points ahead of me in the TWTD prediction league (she predicted the correct score and gained six points). I'll have to pull out all the stops to finish higher than her in the final table next Saturday!
After a short delay, Mick, Terry & the players came out for a lap of appreciation, they were warmly received by the crowd, the majority having stayed behind after the game, unlike last season where hardly anybody hung around and the players couldn't get back to the changing room quick enough.

While we were all celebrating a great escape one hundred and seventy miles up the road the natives were restless. Wolves fans were on the pitch ripping the dugout roof off and demonstrating against owner Steve Morgan following a two-one loss to Burnley which all but confirmed their back to back relegations.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing but if you look at the demise of Wolves since the sacking of McCarthy and what he has achieved at Ipswich in six months then you don't need to be a rocket scientist to see what a big mistake they have made.
As I said on my Facebook check-in at the match "Thank Evans for McCarthy."
The playlist
Us And Them by Pink Floyd - Two contrasting scenes at Portman Road and Molineux, without McCarthy in charge we might have been on the pitch calling for the owner's head and if he was at still at Wolves they probably wouldnt'!

Feeling Called Love

Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 ITFC 20th April 2013

I always enjoy a trip up north for football and had been looking forward to visiting Hillsborough all season. Tracey came along with us for her first game of the season, the aim was to leave at eight o' clock, but as often happens we ran a little late but we still made it to the Meadowhall Exchange for eleven where we met up with Paul, who came in by train from Harrogate. We caught the Supertram into the city centre and had a coffee in Starbucks before heading towards the railway station where we met up with Max and his mates nearby in the Howard pub. 

Pacific Gem for me & paul

Peroni for the girls

After a couple of pints and some grub we walked back up to catch the tram to Hillsborough, making it to the ground with just fifteen minutes to spare. 

The match itself was a tale of two halves, we took control of the game from the start and it was no surprise when Jay Tabb gave us the lead after eighteen minutes, although it took a couple of seconds before his near post tap in registered with the Town fans sat high up in the West Stand at the opposite end of the ground.

Not often that we play in all white

It looked like it might be a comfortable afternoon in the sunshine for us, but as has happened a lot this season we failed to take full advantage of our possession and went in just the one nil up.

Wednesday came out for the second half like they needed to get a result, their route one physical stuff payed off with a fifty-eighth minute equaliser from Leroy Lita. With thirteen minutes remaining Lita thought that he had given the Owls the lead only to have his headed goal disallowed for offside. Five minutes later Frank Nouble had an effort from close range cleared off the line.

In the end a draw was a fair result and although we are sitting in fourteenth place, six points clear of the drop we are still not yet mathematically safe!

Morbid I know, but I had to see the tunnel at the Leppings Lane end, the lower tier doesn't get used much nowadays

Sam, Jack & Max 1996, one of my favourite photos

Move forward a few years

Student discount!

The day lived up to all expectations, the weather was sunny and warm, the trip up to Yorkshire and back home was free flowing and we didn’t lose. Paul was very excitable providing us with a few laughs throughout the day, none better than when playing dumb to Max’s mate John at the pub, telling him that Mick McCarthy was going to be in charge of Ireland next season, John responded “He won’t leave, Ipswich are a bigger club.”

The playlist

F.E.E.L.I.N.G. C.A.L.L.E.D. L.O.V.E by Pulp - you can't beat a bit of Pulp in Sheffield, also Jarvis Cocker is a Wednesday fan.  

Reasons To Be Cheerful

ITFC 3-0 Crystal Palace April 16th 2013

There was a knock on the door at around 6pm and when I answered it was Maty Scholar. “Oh no” I thought. “He’s coming to football with us again!” I had only just about recovered from Saturday’s session with him. I didn’t fancy a drink anyway and besides I had to get those Sheffield Wednesday tickets. Sharon very kindly gave her ticket to Max again but in doing so missed a cracking game, you can’t beat football under floodlights.

Crystal Palace have been on an indifferent run lately and with automatic promotion now out of the window came to Portman Road trying to cement their place in the playoff’s. Ex Blue Damien Delaney was captain on the night and won the toss, he chose to make us kick towards the SBR stand in the first half which pissed me off at the time, but turned out to be very noble of him as we got to see all of the goals and celebrations up close!

Palace started the match on the front foot, they came at us with pace and good movement off the ball. In truth we didn’t look up to it until Richard Stearman's superb tackle on Jonathan Parr which changed the complexion of the half. Whilst Parr (who later had to be substituted) was receiving treatment Mick McCarthy was able to reorganise his side. Things really looked up in the thirty-seventh minute when Eagle’s keeper Julian Speroni made a hash of clearing Guirane N’Daws ball over the top, dwelling on it rather clear it up the pitch. He had failed to take into account Frank Nouble’s blistering pace and was shocked to see the Ipswich forward nick the ball off him, Nouble took a touch, readjusted his posistion and neatly passed the ball into an empty net with his favoured right foot. We’ve become use to that type of goal being scored against us over the past few seasons which made the goal even sweeter. 

Nouble was swamped by his teammates as he celebrated his first Town goal, even sub Antony Wordsworth who had been stretching out by the corner flag sprinted over to join in.

The place was buzzing after that and as the game went into five minutes of stoppage time the noise levels and excitement were about to go up a further notch or two. Firstly Aaron Creswell scored what will surely be the goal of the season, an unstoppable half volley from twenty five yards into the top corner of Speroni's net. Then from the restart Nouble dispossessed Peter Ramage midway in his own half and calmly slotted the ball under Speroni to end an unbelievable few minutes.

Shell shocked, Palace brought on veteran Kevin Phillips for the second half and quickly got at the Blues. Scott Loach made an excellent save from André Moritz's free kick after fifty five minutes, he got across to punch the goal bound ball out wide for a throw-in. We had to dig in and really defend as a team, nobody illustrated this more than Daryl Murphy who really put in a good shift. Palace came close to scoring towards the end of the game when Phillips saw his shot hit the post after he had picked up a rebound from another excellent Loach block.

I had said at halftime as bizarre as it may sound that I thought that we might need a fourth goal to win the match, how wrong was I? It was obviously to be our night, somehow we kept yet another clean sheet, the tenth in fourteen games. Now incredibly we are up to thirteenth in the league with three games left to play and five points clear of the drop zone. Although we are not mathematically safe yet, we're not going down!

Let the banter begin, JET & Frank Nouble commiserate with Palace's Yannick Bolasie after winning the bragging rights. Is Richard Stearman about to put him in his pocket? If you don't understand watch their keeks! 

The Luke Chambers fist pump

The playlist 

Reasons To Be Cheerful (Part Three) by Ian Dury And The Blockheads -  how many more do you need?