Pride of Anglia - Ipswich Town Football Club
since 1878
Do You Remember ... 1961
First Division, here we come!
Having engineered his first promotion, from the Third Division, in 1957, manager Alf Ramsey went about consolidating and building a Blues side that could take the Club higher. In the previous three seasons, Blues had gained 44, 40 and 44 points as they finished in mid-table positions each time. All that was about to change at their fourth attempt to secure another promotion.
During the summer of 1960 Ramsey signed two players who would make a big impact in the coming season, right-winger Roy Stephenson from Leicester and 21-year-old half-back Billy Baxter from Scottish junior side Broxburn Athletic, although the latter began his National Service shortly after joining the Club and wouldn't make his debut until after Christmas. Also signing for Blues, as a squad player, was full back John Compton from Chelsea. Another change was the appointment of a new captain at the Club, Andy Nelson, who had been signed from West Ham the previous summer and become a regular in the side at centre-half. The pieces of the jigsaw were coming together.
August 1960 saw Blues kick off only their 16th season in the Football League and they began with a trip to the capital, winning 3-1 at Leyton Orient. The last time Blues had won their opening day game had been in 1953 when they went on to win their Division. A good omen perhaps? Scoring in the last minute of the game was Ray Crawford, who would add another 39 before the season was over.
By September Blues were in the top four and here they would remain for the rest of the season. At the Goldstone Ground, Brighton found themselves 3-1 behind after only 15 minutes and by the end of the game Crawford had completed the first of his three hat-tricks that season. In the return fixture at Portman Road a week later Blues put another four past the Seagulls with Ted Phillips and Crawford sharing the spoils. This game marked Stephenson's debut - he laid on two of the goals - and saw Blues top the table for the first time, the Club's highest-ever position!
October started with a bang, as Blues recorded their first win at Elland Road courtesy of another hat-trick from Crawford. It was the first time Leeds had conceded five at home since the war. Blues were now undefeated in nine games and extended that run to ten when Ted Phillips scored in the opening minute at Charlton, the eighth game in a row he'd scored and equalling Tom Garneys record from three years earlier. Crawford and Phillips had by now amassed 22 goals in Blues' opening twelve games.
Second-placed Town hosted table-toppers Sheffield United the following weekend, but defeat to a 4th minute goal marked the start of a mini-collapse as Blues lost five out of their next eight games to drop to fourth place (they lost only nine games all season).
It proved to be a Blue and White Christmas in 1960 as Blues played Norwich twice, on 26th & 27th December, winning both games! As he did four seasons earlier Ted Phillips scored in both games; he'd now scored in each of his four appearances against the Canaries, winning every time! Making his debut in the second of these games was Billy Baxter who made such an impression that he became an ever-present for the rest of the season, thanks to special dispensation from his commanding officer at Aldershot.
Blues were now back in the top two and had embarked on a thirteen game unbeaten run which included ten victories, one of which was a famous night at Brammall Lane, when another table-topping clash saw Blues win 3-1 with goals from Crawford and Phillips, and a performance described by Chairman John Cobbold as the best he had ever seen. Not only promotion, but the title, now seemed within reach.
By the time of Blues last home game, on 22nd April against Sunderland, Ramsey's men were on the verge of creating Club history and needed a single point to guarantee promotion. Over 21,000 crammed into Portman Road, many of them waiting outside long before the turnstiles opened. It took only four minutes for John Elsworthy to notch his third goal of the season, looping a header over the Sunderland 'keeper. The lead was doubled shortly before half-time as Crawford headed a second, and with a spectacular third from Eire international Dermot Curtis and a late penalty form Ted Phillips, the fans could celebrate knowing that First Division football was coming to Portman Road! Appeals for the fans to stay off the pitch went unheeded and hundreds of youngsters followed their heroes as they embarked on a lap of honour. Six of the players in the side that day - Roy Bailey, Larry Carberry, Ken Malcolm, John Elsworthy, Ted Phillips and Jimmy Leadbetter - had been at the Club since its Third Division days, and all would go on to grace the First Division the following season.
In the next game, a 4-1 win at Derby, the Championship was secured, and for the final game of the season at Swansea, the home players formed a guard of honour to aplaud Blues onto the pitch. Amazingly, it had been only 25 years since amateur football was the regular fare at Portman Road, and now Suffolk's finest were readying themselves for the nation's best footballing sides to visit. What a way to celebrate a Silver Anniversary!
Ian Hunneybell
Also in 1961...
Sport:
Spurs were winning the double of the League and FA Cup, the first time this had been done since Aston Villa in 1897.
The first-ever League Cup final was played, Aston Villa beating Rotherham over two legs.
General:
The Farthing, after 700 years, ceased to be legal tender.
In January, John F Kennedy is sworn in as US President.
Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space.
Rudolph Nureyev defects to the West.
Berlin is divided into two as border crossings are sealed, and the Berlin Wall is erected.
Entertainment:
Topping the charts in 1961 were Elvis (with Are You Lonesome Tonight, Wooden Heart Surrender, and His Latest Flame), The Everly Bothers (with Walk Right Back and Temptation) Johnny Tillitson with Poetry In Motion, The Marcels' Blue Moon and Danny Williams' Moon River.
The Oscar-winning film of 1961 was West Side Story.