Pride of Anglia - Ipswich Town Football Club
since 1878
That was the week that was
A selection of the media's coverage from one of the most momentous weeks in the history of Ipswich Town Football Club. Seven days that started with a 2-1 victory in the East Anglian derby (leaving the Canaries hovering ominously over the Championship trapdoor), saw the appointment of former British Olympic Association chief executive Simon Clegg as Town's new CEO, the (not entirely unexpected) sacking of manager Jim Magilton, the (entirely unexpected) appointment of Roy Keane as his successor, and ended with a 3-0 win in the final league match ever to be played at Cardiff City's Ninian Park...
Sunday April 19, 2009
Penalty pain leaves Canaries teetering on the brink
If Bryan Gunn had hair he would have been tearing it out by the handful as his Norwich side were nailed to the relegation places by a controversial penalty.
In a rousing East Anglian derby watched by 28,274, Ipswich were awarded a spot kick on the hour, despite Kevin Lisbie appearing to use his hand before minimal contact from Norwich keeper David Marshall sent him tumbling.
Referee Neil Swarbrick took an age before pointing to the spot and Giovani dos Santos, on loan from Tottenham, slotted the kick home to make the score 2-1.
Although Ipswich substitute Jon Stead galloped away to slide in a 90th-minute clincher, Sammy Clingan still had time to convert a Norwich penalty in added time after Alan Quinn's foul on Alan Lee.
Gunn said of Ipswich's vital goal: 'I don't want to talk about referees or Ipswich manager Jim Magilton saying even he didn't think it was a penalty.
'Kevin Lisbie wasn't even facing towards the goal.
'Minimal contact and the referee decided to give it from near the halfway line.'
Norwich know they could be down by next Monday if Barnsley win at Coventry tomorrow, Forest take anything on Saturday and they lose to Reading a week today.
It had looked like being a bad day for Ipswich boss Magilton when Norwich's Dave Mooney sent a long-range header into the right corner of the net from Clingan's 15th-minute freekick.
But Ipswich equalised soon after with a fine move when Pablo Counago gave Giovani the chance to slip Quinn in to score.
Daily Mail
Monday April 20, 2009
Jim: Thanks very much
JIM Magilton said how pleased he was to ram the chants of Norwich City fans who sang 'You'll be sacked in the morning' back down their throats at Portman Road yesterday afternoon.
Magilton's Ipswich Town beat the Canaries 3-2 in a rip-roaring Coca-Cola Championship derby to send the Norfolk side to the precipice of the drop down to the third tier of English football.
With the Canaries leading 1-0 after a 16th-minute David Mooney goal, it was a rather uncomfortable few minutes for the under-pressure Magilton, with City fans making hay in the sunshine.
In the end, he came out with flying colours to send his own fans into raptures with a thoroughly convincing victory.
Magilton talked up his players' efforts, and he said: “Fans were singing 'You'll be sacked in the morning' and it was great to ram that down people's throats.
“My players showed integrity to gain this result.
“I looked them all in the eye and have always been honest with them. They all came through the other side.
“And our fans were great as well.
“There has been a mass media frenzy and massive negativity.
“We have needed help at home after failing to win enough matches, with opponents coming to Portman Road to frustrate us early on.
“We had that help yesterday - and with the help of the character shown by my team - we gave our supporters something to cheer.”
Green'Un 24
Tuesday April 21, 2009
Ipswich unveil former British Olympic head as new chief executive
Former Team GB chef de mission Simon Clegg is to take over as chief executive of Ipswich.
Simon Clegg, the leader of Britain's record-breaking Olympic team in Beijing last summer, has been announced as the new chief executive of Ipswich Town.
Clegg, 49, was chief executive of the British Olympic Association for 12 years and chef de mission of Team GB. He left in December following a restructuring of the organisation and has now accepted an offer from Ipswich owner Marcus Evans.
Clegg, who was previously an army officer in the Paras, said: "I am hugely flattered and excited about taking on this role at such a prestigious football club. Marcus Evans and I are absolutely aligned about our aspirations for the club both on and off the pitch.
"I have joined Ipswich Town because I am absolutely convinced that working together with the fans, sponsors, community and staff we can once again put the club back in its rightful place in the Premiership."
He takes over at Portman Road from Derek Bowden, who is leaving the Championship side at the end of the season.
Evans said: "Simon has built up an extensive knowledge of the sporting world through his role with the British Olympic Association and I'm delighted that he has agreed to join the club. Not only does he have a wealth of experience in the world of sport, but he has proved to be a highly successful businessman and team leader and will have a key role in moving Ipswich Town forward."
The Guardian
Wednesday April 22, 2009
Ipswich Town sack Jim Magilton
Simon Clegg, the new Ipswich Town chief executive, has pledged to bring a "100 per cent professional and passionate" manager to the Championship club as the search for Jim Magilton's replacement gathers pace.
Magilton was sacked this morning after a season of disappointment on the field and less than 24 hours after Clegg arrived at Portman Road to replace Derek Bowden in the boardroom.
Ipswich defeated rivals Norwich City 3-2 on Sunday, but the club's fans had been calling for Magilton's head since Christmas when the expected promotion challenge failed to materialise.
Magilton was handed £12million to spend by owner Marcus Evans when the businessman bought the club at the end of 2007 but despite bringing in the likes of Jon Stead, Veliche Shumulikoski and David Norris only managed to steer the club to a mid-table position.
Clegg wants a new man in place as soon as possible and believes the club are close to naming the successor. "The process to find a replacement is under way and we are closing in on making an appointment," he said. "We hope to make an announcement in the near future but I can offer no timescale at this time.
"We are now starting to speak to other people and we are close to making an appointment. If we can get someone in before the end of the season that would have its benefits.
"We want a winner. Someone who is 100 per cent professional and passionate who can take this club to where it aspires to be."
Neil Warnock, the Crystal Palace manager, had been named as a potential candidate before Magilton was even sacked and Clegg insists that the criteria for a replacement are very clear. "We are not a club which hires and fires managers easily but it is important that we aspire to success at this club," he said. "We need to make sure that we have the right man in charge who can deliver that success.
"Hopefully they will have a track record of delivering that. We are very clear of the criteria for the sort of person we want to attract."
John Gorman, who arrived as Magilton's assistant manager at the end of January, has also left Portman Road leaving Bryan Klug, the club's head of football development, in charge of the first team.
Town's remaining fixtures see them travel to Cardiff City for the last league game at Ninian Park on Saturday before hosting Coventry City on the final day of the season.
Portman Road was packed with over 28,000 fans for the East Anglian derby last Sunday and with 13 players out of contract in the summer and the promise of additional funds from Evans to bolster the ranks, the new manager could be walking into one of the most attractive jobs outside the Premier League.
The Times
Thursday April 23, 2009
Roy Keane takes over at Ipswich Town
Roy Keane has this morning been handed a two-year contract at Ipswich Town. He takes over from Jim Magilton, who was sacked yesterday.
Keane will be unveiled at a press conference at 4pm today. He returns to management four months after he walked out on Sunderland. The Irishman’s controversial two years on Wearside ended with the team third from bottom of the Barclays Premier League and with his character being questioned, but he stepped in at Portman Road after Magilton was dismissed by telephone.
Keane takes charge of the Coca-Cola Championship match against Cardiff City on Saturday, before the Suffolk club play Coventry City on the final day of the season. Ipswich, who are ninth and unable to reach the play-offs, beat Norwich City 3-2 on Sunday to send their rivals a step closer to relegation, but the fans had been calling for Magilton’s dismissal since Christmas, when the expected promotion challenge failed to materialise.
"I truly believe that I am joining a club that has the potential, ambition and infrastructure to once again be a Premier League side," the Irishman said.
"The club's owner and chief executive impressed upon me their total focus on achieving this quest at the earliest opportunity and I can't wait to get started."
Having stayed out of the limelight in recent months, Keane is charged with delivering promotion back to the top flight after a seven-year absence. Ipswich were keen to make the change with 15 players out of contract this summer, believing that a new manager must decide on future playing staff.
Keane inherits a similar situation, but without the large transfer funds, that he took on at Sunderland three years ago, when the club were bottom of the Championship. Keane persuaded a club bereft of hope and optimism to believe in themselves again. Sunderland were only 12th in the table at the start of 2007, but they then won 16, drew three and lost one of the next 20 games to finish top.
He ensured that the club stayed up in their first season back in the top flight, but this season was about kicking on, helped by attracting experienced, established players. They were unable to do and his faith in himself and the team unravelled rapidly. In his time in the North East, Keane spent some £80 million on players.
Simon Clegg, the Ipswich chief executive, said he was delighted to have brought Keane to the club. "The appointment of Roy Keane further demonstrates our commitment to help Ipswich Town Football Club achieve our aim of returning to the Premier League at the earliest possible opportunity," he said.
"Roy has experienced promotion as Championship winners as a manager and, importantly, then kept his side in English football's top flight, and I am looking forward to working with him.
"It is a massive coup for Ipswich Town and I think it demonstrates a sign of ambition and statement of the intent of the owner of this club, Marcus Evans. It will lead to what we believe and hope will be a new dawn in the era of this club.
"He has a fantastic track record in achieving just what we aspire to at this club, when he was at Sunderland, taking them from fourth from bottom in the Championship to being champions in the same season, taking them up into the Premiership then retaining their position in the Premiership the following season."
Clegg insists Keane is not under pressure to gain immediate promotion next season. "We're not going to put any timescales on how or when we are going to reach our aspirations but the entire resources of this club will befocused on delivering that aim," he said.
"I'm not going to go into details regarding the finances of this club and how much money is available but it goes without saying, having made the statement of intent that we have, that the owner will support both the manager and myself in terms of giving us the resources we need to achieve that goal."
Matt Holland, the former Ipswich midfielder, who played alongside Keane for the Republic of Ireland, believes the new manager will command instant respect in the Portman Road dressing room.
"Everyone must have huge respect for him, for what he's done as a player and manager," Holland said. "He'll have that fear factor and sometimes I think you need that.
"Roy was probably desperate to get back into management and it's a good club with huge ambition."
Evans said Keane had been chosen because of his record of getting results with Sunderland while playing an attractive passing game, in the Ipswich tradition.
"He has extensive contacts in the game and is a proven winner who encourages his team to play the attractive football that Ipswich Town fans have come to expect.
"I believe he is the right man to take this club where we want to be - the Premier League."
Magilton, who was a player at Portman Road for seven years, was given £12 million when he took charge three years ago, buying Jon Stead, Veliche Shumulikoski and David Norris, among others. The club had finished fourteenth and eighth in their previous two campaigns. John Gorman, who arrived as Magilton’s assistant manager at the end of January, has also departed Portman Road, leaving Bryan Klug, the head of football development, in charge of the first team.
Evans said: “Jim has passion for the club but we have not made the progress both he and I expected this season.” Ipswich’s shortlist for Magilton’s replacement had included Alan Pardew, who has been out of work since he was dismissed by Charlton Athletic in November, Neil Warnock, the Crystal Palace manager who is wanted by Queens Park Rangers, and Owen Coyle, of Burnley.
Cautionary tales
Among clubs ever present in the league since the Second World War, only Manchester United have had fewer managers (7) during that period than Ipswich Town (who have had 11).
If they appoint Roy Keane, Ipswich will hope that it does not lead to a repeat of instances when a stable club took on a volatile manager.
Brian Clough, Leeds United, 1974 Leeds had been led by Don Revie for the previous 13 years but Clough lasted only 44 days after upsetting the players with provocative comments.
Graeme Souness, Southampton, 1996 The volatile Scot managed only a season at Southampton, who had changed managers twice between 1955 and 1991.
Iain Dowie, Charlton Athletic, 2006 Replaced Alan Curbishley, who had been with the club since 1991. He was dismissed after only 15 games amid reports that he had overworked the players in training.
The Times
Roy Keane tempted to Ipswich Town by Marcus Evans's Premier League ambitions
A tax exile who began his business career in sports hospitality and whose interests now stretch from mining to the arms trade, Evans is highly secretive. No photograph of him has rarely been published, he has never given an interview, he rarely if ever attends games, he has not joined the Ipswich board and his infrequent brushes with publicity have generally come as a consequence of legal action.
By appointing Keane, however, Evans has demonstrated that while he may abhor the spotlight he is no longer content for Ipswich to wait in the wings. In his desire for a rapid return to football’s elite, Evans has thrown in his lot with one of the most combustible figures in the game and brought an unexpected dash of stardust to one of the most fondly-regarded clubs.
Under the stewardship of the Cobbold family, Portman Road was the proving ground for the two most successful England managers, Sir Alf Ramsey and Sir Bobby Robson. The latter put together a dazzling side in the 1980s who won the FA Cup, the Uefa Cup and came as close as any to breaking Liverpool’s hegemony of the First Division.
Now, after nearly two decades yo-yoing between the Premier League and the Championship, Ipswich have an owner determined to restore the club to the top.
Evans’s fortune sprang from the sports hospitality market. In the 1980s he was among the first to spot the corporate potential of events such as Wimbledon, and his appreciation of the value of desirable tickets set him on his way.
It is an approach that has brought him into regular conflict with sports authorities. He is said to have annoyed Wimbledon by running hospitality from a marquee in the garden of his home near the club, and in 2003 his eponymous company was involved in a protracted and ultimately successful legal battle with the International Rugby Board over hospitality at the World Cup in France.
Evans’s empire now stretches well beyond sport, offering conferencing, business information and training services across sectors including defence and mining. In 2005 he tried and failed to buy the Trinity-Mirror media group for £800 million.
Evans, whose Suffolk connections are unclear, bought Ipswich in 2007 after contacting David Sheepshanks, the then chairman, out of the blue. He took an 87.5 per cent stake at an undisclosed sum, assumed the club’s £32 million debts and put up a transfer budget of £12 million.
This week his actions have revealed a hitherto concealed ambition. With Ipswich able to finish ninth at best, one place lower than last season, on Tuesday he sacked manager Jim Magilton, who was in Ireland, by telephone and prepared to reveal a major managerial surprise.
With hindsight, the first sign that Evans was changing his approach came last month with the appointment of Simon Clegg, former chief executive of the British Olympic Association, to the same post at Portman Road. An ex-Army officer who served in Ulster during the Troubles, Clegg was at the helm of the BOA for almost 20 years, culminating in the triumphant Beijing Olympics last summer. With little or no background in football, Clegg is understood to be a friend of Evans, and he had been busy for the last week sounding out candidates to succeed Magilton.
On Wednesday Clegg had dinner with Keane, and having relayed a promise of ample transfer funds, the contract was signed with the coffee. The fact that the contract is for only two years speaks volumes about the pressure on Keane to deliver. Progress is a minimum requirement for an owner whose desire for anonymity will be severely tested should his new man do the job.
Daily Telegraph
Friday April 24, 2009
Magilton thanks Town fans
JIM Magilton believes he will return to management after his 10 year association with Ipswich Town came to an end.
The Irishman - who served the club as player for seven years before taking over as manager in 2006 - was dismissed by owner Marcus Evans over the phone on Wednesday morning.
Currently back in his home town of Belfast in order to look after his sick mother, Magilton said: “I now look forward to the next chapter in my life, football is in my blood and I know the calibre of managers out of work, but I firmly believe that the education I have received at Portman Road will stand me in good stead for the future.”
The 39-year-old - who had to endure 'Magilton Out' banners and chants of 'you don't know what you're doing' from his own fans following poor results in recent months - also thanked Ipswich Town's supporters.
He said: “I have spent the last 10 years at a fantastic football club. I would like to thank all those players and staff for their support throughout my time at the club and especially the fans.
“I would also like to thank the board and David Sheepshanks for showing the courage in appointing me as manager. In those three years it has been a such a steep learning curve.
“My drive, passion and ambition for Ipswich Town will never diminish. I have striven as a player and as a manager to get the club back to the division I believe they belong but unfortunately that hasn't happened.
“I would also like to thank Marcus Evans for his support not only on a personal level but also on a financial level. I believe that the new manager will have the nucleus of a squad that can take Ipswich Town forward. It has been my great privilege to have played a part in the history of such a wonderful club.”
Green'Un 24
Saturday April 25, 2009
Back in the old Roy-tine as Tractor Boys spoil the Ninian Park send-off
Roy Keane could not have wished for a more positive start to his Ipswich reign than the clinical victory which ensured regular football at Ninian Park ended with a whimper.
As well as denting Cardiff’s play-off ambitions, Keane discovered he had inherited his own dogs of war.
‘I knew they had quality but I questioned if they could do the other stuff, the dirty stuff I used to do. They can, they did it well and they’ll need to do it well again because it’s the start of a long, long, road.’
A penalty save by Richard Wright was the prelude to purposeful play on the break which saw substitute Jonathan Stead set up Pablo Counago then David Norris, before tapping home the third himself.
Stead, who played under Keane at Sunderland, fielded questions from his teammates when news of the appointment broke. The striker said: ‘He’s a very clever man. He’s the sort who judges you over five or six years, not two or three weeks. You always know he’s watching.
‘He’s hard, but he’s fair. A lot of managers beat around the bush and you don’t really know where you stand. With him, you know exactly. He told us if we weren’t on time, the bus would leave.
'Everybody has to work hard and he has told us that.’
Judgment awaits but all is serene on the Keane front for now. Time for a walk . . .
Daily Mail
Sunday April 26, 2009
The Last Word: Tradition is cast aside in Ipswich's Titanic struggle
So Roy Keane is "box office"? You can say that again. For those of us who grew up watching Ipswich Town from the old Churchman's terrace, the brooding idol of football noir at least guarantees the return of the reviewers to Portman Road for the first time since that last, bewildering sojourn in the top division – fifth in 2000-01, relegated in 2001-02. The question is: which of the two highest-grossing films in history are on the spool? Lord of The Rings: The Return of the King? Or Titanic?
Keane is the second Irishman to manage Ipswich since the club turned professional in 1936. The other was Mick O'Brien, who won the Southern League that same season and promptly resigned – so reconciling the contradictory prophecies now being made for Keane.
Excluding caretakers, Ipswich have had just 11 managers since O'Brien. Two only left to manage England. Ipswich have long been admired by neutrals as one of the last redoubts against the tides of avarice and impet-uosity eroding many other clubs. Committed to the long game off the pitch, and the short one on it, Ipswich represented stability and patience in an increasingly capricious world.
The contrast in Keane himself has proved irresistible to the various seers and amateur psychologists who have splashed into this footballing backwater since Thursday. His appointment is depicted as only the latest paradox in a career that leaves perhaps only one word applicable to both his ferocious fidelity to the team cause, at Manchester United, and the corrosive self-absorption disclosed by his perceived betrayals of Ireland, at the World Cup, and Sunderland, barely four months ago. That word is "uncompromising". Others may prefer "reckless". But the latter adjective would, perhaps, be better used in turn of all those passing dogmatic judgement over Keane's worth as a manager. As the man himself observes, he can still only be measured by his potential. His record in the transfer market at Sunderland was neither good nor bad, but the one thing nobody can abide over Keane is indifference. Every perfectionist, of course, is doomed to disappoint himself. The suspicion persists that Keane must temper the exorbitant standards he sets himself, and others, with a more humane approach. Otherwise the excoriating fortunes of his calling will again disclose pathos and doubt within. If Keane walks away from difficulties at Ipswich he will be considered about as emotionally robust as Kevin Keegan. Perhaps only Cobh Ramblers would still take him back.
To a small minority of those engrossed by what happens next, however, the stakes are far higher than the career graph of one young manager. And just as the fans of many other clubs have been edified by the example set by Ipswich as recently as 2001 – when Keane saw his own gaffer, Alex Ferguson, beaten to manager of the year by George Burley – so they should share new anxiety.
Undeniably, Keane introduces a refreshing sense of adventure to the club. Most of the appointments made since Bobby Robson have been highly conservative. But the sacking of Jim Magilton also marked the moment when the traditions that long fortified the estuary club were formally cast adrift – along with any pretence that they hold the remotest interest for Marcus Evans, the reclusive tycoon who bought Ipswich Town in 2007. Evans is a man in a hurry. And there can no longer be any doubt that Ipswich is now a club in a tearing rush.
Evans might well argue that generations of patrician stoicism under the Cobbold family had marooned the club in the financial tempest of the modern game. That it was time to dismantle the decorous mystique, time to get real. Every time he reads the old line about the definition of a crisis in the Cobbolds' boardroom – when the white wine runs out – Evans must groan aloud. (He need not worry. Now all he will ever read is how Keane ended up working for a man who made his fortune in prawn sandwiches).
But perhaps the ethos of the old regime was not so terribly anachronistic. For which is the more truly ingenuous approach? To try to build a dynasty, year by year, building up from the academy, and persevering with your manager during the inevitable lean spells? Or to join the headlong rush for overnight dividends, to invest big and, as soon as possible, sell bigger?
Keane's predecessor Magilton is another fiery Celt. Funnily enough, they say that some of the players resented his style. Keane will no doubt discover their names soon enough. But Magilton had been a classic Ipswich appointment, a true zealot to the principles that defined the club he served with all the commitment of Keane as a player. "There are going to be a lot of knocks," he said last year. "But it's about the getting up. Instant success: everybody wants it. But what we're trying to build here is something that will not only give us that success, but a structure to keep it in place for years."
Perhaps Magilton simply wasn't up to the standards set at Ipswich in years past. But the possibility that the same may be true of his boardroom makes it hard to know. In his first two seasons, Robson finished in 18th and 19th place in the old First Division. The Cobbolds knew that a good wine needs time to mature.
Admittedly, you can't have it both ways. Evans gave Magilton money to spend, and was thereafter entitled to short cuts of his own. But Magilton was fired, by telephone, as he sat by his mother's bed in a Belfast hospital. He was on "compassionate leave". Whatever else might be gained under Keane, something precious has already been lost forever.
The Independent