AMAZING IPSWICH TOWN F.C.

The popular media will never give Ipswich Town the credit their illustrious history deserves, so here it is from me – the FACTS and the FIGURES

Provided by a lifelong fan, who watched his first game back in 1946 at the age of 8.

First of all ITFC have several unique records. That’s right, achievements that are un-matched by any other Club.

  1. We are the only Club since the League’s inaugural season who has ever won the top division Championship in their debut season, 1961-62*.
  2. We hold the shortest time record for any entrant to the League Division 3 (N & S) or Division 4 in achieving the Championship (top level): 17 seasons.
  3. We are the only Club to have directly provided two England Managers.
  4. We hold the only British Club Major European Competitions unbeaten home record [out of all Clubs who have played at least 7 Euro ties].
  5. We are the only entrant from Div 3/4 that has won a major European Cup.
  6. We are the only Club that has played in every round of the FA Cup – from the Extra Preliminary Round to the FA Cup Final
  7. We were the first Club in the World to have a Website in 1990

Another impressive record jointly held with just 3 other Clubs

  1. We are one of only 4 Clubs who have won the top two division            championships in consecutive seasons (and the most recent)

Let us dig a little deeper on some of these fantastic achievements of our Club.

Unique Record No. 1

* In 1888-89 the inaugural season of The Football League, 12 teams competed for The Championship. Of course one club had to win it, and that was Preston North End, so strictly speaking they also achieved this in their debut season. However, we are the only Club since that first season.

Taking the current season for example, Reading are fairly unlikely to win the Premiership in 2006/07, but if they did then they would achieve Town’s record of winning in their debut season in the top flight, and also join Liverpool, Everton, Spurs and Ipswich in doing the ‘consecutive divisions championships’ feat.

Unique Record No. 2

However Reading FC would still not match Ipswich Town’s non-league to top Championship timespan of just 17 seasons – Reading have been in the League 79 seasons already! Wigan with their superb first season at level 1 in 2005/06 (finishing 10th), even had they won the Premiership, had also been in the League 11 seasons longer (28 seasons) than Town had been when we did it.

Looking for any League club who could still theoretically beat Town’s first two records, what chance do you think the only current candidates have?

In order of statistical probability, they are:

Yeovil Town (the most likely candidate with 13 seasons to achieve it and only 2 promotions necessary)
Cheltenham Town (9 seasons left to win 2 promotions and the title)
Boston United (they have 12 years left to win 3 promotions and the title)
Macclesfield Town (7 seasons to win 3 promotions and the title)
Wycombe Wanderers (can still just fit in the 3 promotions and title in next 3 seasons!)

And don’t forget, just getting promotion to the top level and winning the premier title would not be good enough to equal these records. They must be champions of both the top two divisions to claim both records!

Even so, Town’s unique record is only absolutely guaranteed until 2009!

Of course this doesn’t mean Towns feats will never be equalled, maybe a club yet to be elected to the League will do it, at least it is a lot easier to get into the League now than it was back in 1937 when there was no automatic admission. So who knows, if Dagenham, Weymouth or Burton Albion* get promoted this season and they become Champions of England before 2024, then the record will be theirs!

*These are the highest applicable clubs in the Conference as I write (November 2006), the current leader (Oxford United) have already spent 44 years in the League.

How many of us at Portman Road on that day in April 1962 realised we had just achieved a feat that not only was unmatched in the 74 years history of The League at that time, but would remain so for at least another 47 years to come? A record un-equalled in at least 121 years, and perhaps forever.

Only one other Club who joined the League in Divisions 3 or 4 has in fact ever won the League Championship. Portsmouth were the first club to achieve this, in 1948-49. They entered the League in 1920-21, taking 22 seasons to hit the top. Their own impressive record being that they won it the next season too, thus being the only club to date to win it twice after joining the 3rd division, and also in consecutive seasons.

No Club has yet achieved the Championship after joining the 4th division. There is little difference in joining the league in either division 3 (S) or (N) or division 4, because only one team from both division 3 sections were promoted each season. Whilst two promotions were necessary to climb into div 2 from div 4, this was relatively easier with 4 teams being promoted between divs 4 and 3 each season.

Unique Record No. 3

Two England Managers have been selected from serving Ipswich Town managers, and the board has professionally released each without delay to serve the country.

It is no co-incidence that this happened, both Alf Ramsay and Bobby Robson were outstanding managers who left unique legacies in English football, both at the highest club and international levels.

Whilst these legends made Ipswich Town’s modern reputation, many believe Ipswich Town also made each of them famous managers.

Remember also, there was little problem selecting either Alf or Bobby for England. Each were the obvious outstanding candidate, and of course both delivered impressively, Alf Ramsay with England’s only World Cup, and Bobby Robson with our nearest attempt since (semi-final in 1990). Inexplicably, both were ultimately sacked, but no equivalent replacement has yet been found (for Robson anyway).

Contrasting with that today, who stands out as an English top-level manager, who has built a team operating at or near the top of the Premiership and in Europe? Exactly, there isn’t one!

Unique Record No. 4

Ipswich Town enjoy a fabulous European Competition record. Furthermore, my research confirms (as I suspected) that we are the only British Club that remain with an unbeaten home record in all major European competitions. (This does not include Clubs that have played in 6 or less ties overall - QPR is the nearest club, also with an unbeaten home record but having played just 6 ties to date)
.
Indeed Town have qualified to play in all three major competitions – The European Cup (now The Champions League), the UEFA Cup, and the Cup-Winners Cup (now defunct). We have enjoyed 12 seasons of European football including:

The draws have been a little unkind too, in that Town were drawn at home first in 21 of the 31 ties.

Of course many Clubs have played a lot more seasons in Europe than Ipswich, notably Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal, and have had more chances to lose their home records, as indeed they all now have.

 Unique Record No. 5

We are also the only Div 3/4 entrant club that has ever won a major European Cup.

West Ham won the Cup winners Cup in 1965, but were the last club to join the league in the 2nd division in 1919/20, the third division started the following season.

 Unique Record No. 6

We are the only Club ever to have played in every single round of the FA Cup. This includes:
2 Prelim Rounds
4 Qualifying Rounds
6 Rounds ‘Proper’
Semi-Finals
Final
Ipswich Town played in all of these rounds at least once during the seasons from 1930 to 1978 (although obviously never in one single season). We have also won a tie in every single round.

Unique Record No. 7

We were the very first football Club to have a dedicated website anywhere in the world as far as known. This was thanks to dedicated ITFC supporters working at the BT research offices in Martlesham, Ipswich  in the embryonic life of the internet. Phil Clarke was the pioneering webmaster in 1990. In 1993 Paul Felton took over and ran it from the UEA, Martyn Amos took over for a year in 1995, the Paul continued until 2001. Thereafter we got the same bland site that every other Club is stuck with today.

Joint Record No. 8

Ipswich Town won Division 2 in 1960-61, and then the Championship of the top Division (1) in 1961-62 and this feat – winning the second and top divisions in consecutive seasons – has only been achieved by 4 Clubs (number of seasons previously spent in the top division at the time in brackets):

Liverpool 1904/05 and 1905/06 (9 seasons)
Everton 1930/31 and 1931/32 (38 seasons, their only Div 2 season being 1930/31)
Tottenham Hotspur 1949/50 and 1950/51 (17 seasons)
Ipswich Town 1960/61 and 1961/62 (0 seasons)

Note that Town were the last club to achieve this, and no other club has matched it in the 45 years since. For the record, the best promoted (as level 2 champions) club performances in the top-flight the following season since 1962 were:

Leeds United Div 2 champions 1963/64, and runners-up in Div 1 1964/65
Manchester United Div 2 champions 1974/75 and 3rd in Div 1 1975/76
Newcastle United Div 2 champions 1992/93 and 3rd in Div 1 1993/94

Watford did finish Div 1 runners-up in 1982/83 (their debut top-level season) after being promoted, also as runners-up, in Div 2 in 1981/82, an impressive feat but still falling short of the record.

Colin Foster
colin@townfan.me.uk

First Issued March 2006
Updated November 2006
Updated January 2007

Comments are welcome, including any errors or disputes.

My thanks for those pointing out Unique Records 6, and 7

 

Watch out for further facts and tales of my lifetime as an Ipswich Town fan.