Ipswich Town 0 v 1 Huddersfield Town

Sky Bet Championship
Sat 01 Oct 2016 3pm, Portman Road

Full name: Ipswich Town Football Club
Nickname(s): The Blues, The Tractor Boys
Founded: 1878
Ground: Portman Road, Ipswich (capacity: 30,311)
Manager: Mick McCarthy

The Manager
Mick McCarthy has previously managed Millwall, Republic of Ireland, Sunderland and Wolverhampton Wanderers. As they say in his home town of Barnsley, 'the lad 'as sum clout'.

Ipswich were elected to The Football League on 30 May 1938, and played in Division Three (South) until the end of the 1953–54 season, when they won the title and promotion to Division Two. The club were immediately relegated back to Division Three (South) the following year at the end of a poor season, but made better progress after Scott Duncan was replaced as team manager by Alf Ramsey in August 1955. The club won the Division Three (South) title again in 1956–57, and returned to the higher division. This time, Ipswich established themselves in Division Two, and as the division champions, won promotion to the top level of English football, Division One, in 1960–61.

In the top flight for the first time, Ipswich became Champions of the Football League at the first attempt in 1961–62. As English league champions, they qualified for the 1962–63 European Cup, defeating Maltese side Floriana 14–1 on aggregate before losing to Milan. Two years after winning the league title, Ipswich slipped down to the Second Division in 1964, conceding 121 league goals in 42 games. The club remained in the Second Division for four years until they were promoted back to the top division in the 1967–68 season, winning the division by a single point ahead of Queens Park Rangers.

Bobby Robson took the helm at Ipswich in January of 1969 and he led them to two major trophies and several seasons in top flight European football. At their peak in 1980, they beat Manchester United 6–0 at Portman Road, a game where United goalkeeper Gary Bailey also saved three penalties. Major success came in 1978 when Ipswich beat Arsenal at Wembley Stadium to win their only FA Cup trophy, the triumph was followed by a UEFA Cup victory in 1981. The club also finished as league runners-up in 1981 and 1982. Ipswich were finally relegated to the second tier in 1985–86. They did return to the first division, in the 1992–93, the same season when the FA renamed the top division as the Premier League. Unfortunately, Ipswich suffered a Premiership record defeat, 9–0, at Manchester United on their way to relegation, in the 1994-95 season.

Back in the second tier of the league, the club had three consecutive promotion playoffs, but they were to endure defeats in all three semi-finals. Ipswich finally returned to the Premiership in 2000 after coming from behind to beat Barnsley 4–2 in the last Division One playoff final at Wembley Stadium.

In their first season back in the Premiership, Ipswich finished an impressive fifth place, pipped by Liverpool on the last day of the season for a place in the Champions League. The glory days did not last and their spell in the top division ended after two seasons. The loss of income due to relegation led to the club going into financial administration. The 2003–04 season saw the club come out of administration and continue to challenge for promotion back to the Premier League. They finished that season in fifth, but were defeated in the playoff semi-finals by West Ham United. Ipswich narrowly missed out on automatic promotion in 2004–05, but once more they lost to West Ham United in the semi-finals. They have remained in the Championship to this day.

In April 2009, Roy Keane was introduced as manager of Ipswich Town. Keane's spell as manager came to an end after an unsuccessful 18 months, when he was sacked in January 2011, to be replaced briefly by Ian McParland in a caretaker role before Paul Jewell took the reins on a permanent basis.

Ipswich's main local rivals are Norwich City. Locally, much is made of the informal title 'Pride of Anglia'. Fans claim the title for either winning the East Anglian Derby, finishing highest in the league, having the better current league position, having the more successful club history. When the two teams meet it is known as the 'East Anglian derby', or informally, as the 'Old Farm derby', a comic reference to the 'Old Firm Derby' played between Scottish teams Celtic and Rangers.

A recent nickname for Ipswich Town is 'The Tractor Boys', which was coined during the club's brief period in the Premiership (2000–01) when the team regularly competed against more fashionable clubs. The nickname is an example of self-deprecating humour referring to Ipswich's agricultural heritage. The origins of the nickname are not certain, but the first generally accepted use of the nickname appeared at a losing away game at Birmingham City late in the 1998–99 season, with the home fans chanting, "no noise from the Tractor Boys", a name which stuck. Barracking by supporters of more established Premiership clubs during Ipswich's spell in the Premiership lent the ironic chant, "1–0 to the Tractor Boys", increased potency and publicity, and the nickname is commonly used by the media.

The club's widest victory margins in the league have been their 7–0 wins against Portsmouth in the Second Division in 1964, against Southampton in the First Division in 1974 and against West Bromwich Albion in the First Division in 1976. Their heaviest defeats in the league were 10–1 against Fulham in 1963 and the aforementioned 9–0 against Manchester United in 1995. They will also be smarting from their most recent defeat from their last match in the Championship, Blackpool 6-0 Ipswich.

Ipswich's record home attendance is 38,010 for a sixth round FA Cup match against Leeds United on 8 March 1975. With the introduction of regulations enforcing all-seater stadiums, it is unlikely that this record will be beaten in the foreseeable future.

The highest transfer fee received for an Ipswich player is a deal worth in excess of £8 million from Sunderland for Connor Wickham, in June 2011, while the most spent by the club on a player was £4.75 million for Matteo Sereni from Sampdoria in July 2001, following the club's qualification for the UEFA Cup.

Recent Form

Ipswich: LWDLD and Huddersfield: WLWLW

Heading in to tomorrow's game, Ipswich are mid table and Town are, well...top of the league! For the superstitious folk here, look at the form guide again for both towns, maybe a victory for Ipswich?

This will be a low scoring affair, Ipswich don't concede many, they also don't score many either. Town have hardly been scoring goals for fun. Actually, Town are one of the lowest teams attempting shots on goal, a lot of those off target too; Mr Wagner shooting practice please.

I've got a great feeling about this one, 4-1 to Town, Huddersfield that is! Set 'em alight, the blue and white.