Pride of Anglia - Ipswich Town Football Club
since 1878
Do You Remember ... January 1969
...when Bobby Robson arrived at Portman Road?
John Cobbold greets Bobby Robson at Ipswich Station
Bobby Robson was a young and largely untried manager when he was offered the job at Portman Road in January 1969. Only 35 years old, he impressed then Chairman John Cobbold enough to be offered the position, although not a contract. Cobbold described the situation thus, "we have not given him a contract but no manager can be judged in less than two years. I sincerely hope that Bobby stays with us considerably longer than that."
Even in 1969, with only ten months managerial experience in the English game - Fulham terminated his contract after less than a year in charge - Robson was known as a knowledgeable tactician and as a "track suit manager". Whilst still a player he had obtained his FA coaching badges and at Ipswich was going to be able to fully exploit his talents.
After their meteoric rise at the start of the decade, Ipswich had spent four seasons in the Second Division during the mid-1960s before manager Bill McGarry fashioned the team which won the Second Division Championship in 1968, taking Blues back into the top flight. Starting well against the best teams in the country - with Ray Crawford showing he'd lost none of his prowess in front of goal by scoring in ten out of eleven games between August and October - Town nonetheless began to struggle as the winter nights drew in. Crawford's goals dried up, and with it Blues' form, and the team embarked on a run of nine games with just one win which saw them drop to the brink of the relegation places. Worse was to come with a request from McGarry that he be released from his contract, signed only a few months earlier, to allow him to move to Wolves.
Ipswich have never been a Club to stand in the way of players - or managers - wishing to leave, and in late November the Board reluctantly agreed to release McGarry, realising that to refuse might cause even more problems and be ultimately counter-productive.
The Board immediately announced that they hoped to appoint a successor to McGarry within a few days but in the event it took a little longer than that. In the interim, first team trainer Cyril Lea took care of team selection and the team responded by winning his first two games in charge. If things had worked out differently, Blues' next manager could have been Frank O'Farrell, then manager of Torquay United, but O'Farrell felt that Ipswich had little potential for improvement on their current position. Blues looked to another West Country team - Plymouth Argyle - but Billy Bingham also chose to turn down a move to East Anglia.
Those decisions paved the way for a Sunday lunchtime meeting at the Great Eastern Hotel in London between John Cobbold and two of his fellow directors, and Bobby Robson, at which Robson made such a favourable impression on the Ipswich men that they decided to offer him the position there and then. Mr Cobbold said, "there was no doubt in our minds that he was the man for the job. He is obviously pretty tough, but most pleasant and his whole life is bound up with football." A day later, on January 13th, 1969, Bobby Robson arrived on a train from Liverpool Street to be met at Ipswich station by John Cobbold and so begin his long and successful association with the Suffolk Club. Rather embarrassingly for Robson, his train was delayed which meant he arrived too late to supervise training on that first morning!
In what was to be an indication of his style of management, Robson turned down a television request that first day, saying, "I must see my youngsters playing at Millwall tonight. I think that is more important than appearing on television." He added, "it is a bit of luck that the reserves are also playing tomorrow" and so, within 48 hours of his apppointment, he had watched two games and had had the opportunity to see all of the players at his disposal.
Bobby Robson wasted no time in assembling his coaching staff around him and one of his first actions was to persuade Cyril Lea to remain at the Club as his right-hand man. This continuity was important, especially as the Club had lost not only McGarry but also his assistant Sammy Chung who followed his manager to Wolves. Soon afterwards Robson also appointed Roy McCrohan, with whom he had worked at Fulham, as reserve team coach.
Robson and team ready to board the team bus for the
game at Everton (his first as manager)
Town's first game with Robson in charge was a visit to Goodison Park where Everton had knocked Blues out of the FA Cup only two weeks earlier. The Toffees were riding high in the First Division and this was a tough prospect for a first match in charge but despite the home side taking an early lead, Ray Crawford scored a fine equaliser and then had a hand - literally, it is alleged - in Blues' second goal. Frank Brogan centred the ball and Crawford jumped with the Everton 'keeper Gordon West. Moments later the ball was in the back of the Everton net and despite protestations that Crawford had punched the ball into the net the referee pointed to the centre spot and Blues were 2-1 ahead. Everton pushed hard and equalised and the game finished with another moment of controversy when an Alan Ball penalty hit the post and the young midfielder hit home the rebound, which was correctly disallowed.
With no game for Blues the following weekend - while the 4th Round of the FA Cup was taking place - Robson had two weeks to prepare for his first home game, the small matter of the European Champions, Manchester United. Perhaps it was to welcome their new manager or perhaps it was for the first visit to Portman Road of European Footballer of the Year George Best, but the Suffolk public turned out in numbers never seen before and a record 30,837 packed into the ground to see Blues emerge 1-0 winners and send Best, Law, Charlton and Kidd home empty-handed! Wins in the capital at Arsenal and West Ham soon followed and helped to ensure that Robson's first season at Ipswich would end in a respectable 12th place as he began to lay the foundations for the decade ahead.
Ian Hunneybell