Pride of Anglia - Ipswich Town Football Club
since 1878
Do You Remember ... 2001/2002
...Blues' recent European Tours?
When David Sheepshanks became Chairman in 1995, Blues having been relegated to the second tier earlier that year, he boldly stated that his aim was to bring Premier League and European football back to Portman Road. After the repeated play-off heartbreaks of the late 1990s it seemed as though Burley's Boys would fall short of the Chairman's goals but, having won promotion in 2000, Blues shocked the establishment by winning a UEFA Cup place with three games to spare and even threatening to take one of the coveted Champions League positions on the final day of the season!
The 2001/02 season began with great optimism fuelled by seven pre-season wins. The First round draw for the UEFA Cup paired Blues with Torpedo Moscow. Such distant opposition disappointed many fans looking forward to renewing their European Tours after an absence of 19 years, but excited a small number of intrepid adventurers who saw a trip to Moscow as a challenge rather than a barrier. Before the first leg could take place, however, the atrocities of 9/11 took place and the first leg at Portman Road was postponed, as were all European games that week. This postponement threw travel plans into disarray - would Russian visas, not easy to come by, have to be re-applied for? When would the games actually take place? In the event, the first leg was delayed by one week, with the return match taking place a week later, on the scheduled date.
With the North stand having been torn down during the close season, the 2001/02 season was played in an oddly-three-sided Portman Road and the home game against Torpedo saw Town's jealously-guarded unbeaten home European record under threat as the Russians took an early lead from a misplaced Titus Bramble pass. A penalty gave Blues the chance to level the scores but Marcus Stewart put the spot-kick wide. In the second half a disallowed goal prevented Torpedo from taking a two-goal lead and with only five minutes left on the clock Titus Bramble turned from villain to hero by scoring an equaliser.
Two days later Blues were soundly beaten 4-0 at Old Trafford, hardly ideal preparation for the trip to Moscow. After the obligatory day spent visiting Red Square and having their photographs taken in bearskin hats, Blues took the the field at the impressive Luzhniki Stadium, venue of the 1980 Olympic Games. The previous night, Swan Lake had been playing at the Bolshoi Theatre. Now Blues needed to turn in a star performance of their own. Needing an away goal to continue in the tournament, Blues had plenty of possession but were making little headway and had a huge slice of good fortune when Torpedo broke and Matteo Sereni found himself facing two attackers with no defenders in sight! When it seemed easier to score Viasmikin, the Russians' goalscorer from the first leg, crashed his shot against the bar. The first half was only seconds old when Finidi George fired home from close range to tip the tie in Blues' favour. Ten minutes later he was impeded in the penalty area and this time Marcus Stewart made no mistake from the spot. Needing three goals to win the tie, Torpedo pulled one back but on a famous night Blues progressed 3-2 on aggregate and the 200 fans who made the trip celebrated long into the night.
The second round saw Town drawn against Swedish opposition in the form of Helsingborgs. Following another home draw in the first leg, Blues again gave themselves an uphill task in the second leg. With strong ties to Scandinavia from previous competitive ties and pre-season tours, Blues were warmly welcomed by whole town, situated just across the straits of Öresund from the Danish town of Helsingør, Elsinore of Shakespearean Hamlet fame, and via which many fans arrived in Helsingborg and made their way to Harry's Bar, which became an honorary English bar for the day, frequented by Blues' Chairman amongst others! The game was only eight minutes old when a speculative shot from Eklund beat Sereni to give the home side the lead, which they retained until half time. Something was needed to change Blues' fortunes, and attacking towards the travelling fans, of which there were thousands, first a goal from Hermann Hreidarsson, and then a late pair from Marcus Stewart gave Blues an unassailable 3-1 lead and a ticket to the third round. Once more Blues had won on foreign soil, a feat they had managed only six times in their first twenty-five attempts.
Drawn first out of the hat again in the third round, Blues faced the considerable might of Inter Milan. A famous win in the first leg thanks to a late header from Alun Armstrong gave Blues supporters hope that an impossible victory might be achieved, and an estimated 10,000 travelled to Milan. Blues had played at the San Siro before, of course, in 1963 when as English Champions they played AC Milan, whose side included current Republic of Ireland coach Giovanni Trapattoni. The San Siro stadium was rebuilt for the 1990 World Cup, and provided a wonderful backdrop to another European adventure. An early goal by Christian Viera levelled the tie, and after half an hour Richard Naylor was through for a one-on-one with the Italian keeper. Hesitation meant that the chance was lost, and four minutes later Vieri added a second to put Inter ahead on aggregate. Second half goals from Kallon and another from Vieri to complete his hat-trick brought the curtain down on a creditable return to Europe for Blues, but not before Brazilian star Ronaldo had been introduced as a substitute, very nearly scoring himself.
With the League programme going disastrously wrong - some blamed the European campaign for the poor run of results - a fifth-placed finish in 2001 was turned into relegation 12 months later, and most thought it was the end of Blues' European adventures. However, fate intervened at a UEFA meeting in Switzerland that summer when England's name was drawn out of the hat for an extra UEFA Cup place. This place was one of several allocated for "fair play" and since - despite relegation - Blues were the top team in the English Fair Play table who had not already qualified for Europe, the place was ours! In the days that followed there was doubt expressed as to whether a second tier team would be allowed to represent the country. Common sense prevailed and Blues once more embarked on their 12th European campaign. A new country provided the opposition, and Blues travelled to Luxembourg to face the amateurs Avenir Beggen. The game was transferred to the national stadium to cope with the influx and once again Blues fans blazed their trail of impeccable behaviour across the continent, often to the pleasant surprise of their hosts, who expected different from travelling England supporters. In a lack-lustre performance, Town struggled to create chances against the part-timers and even the second half introduction of Matt Holland, fresh from his World Cup exploits, failed to ignite the team. The game was drifting into injury time when a pass from Jim Magilton found Marcus Stewart and the striker drove home to break Luxembourg hearts. A rather more convincing scoreline in the second leg - 8-1 - saw Blues through to the next round, where they faced new opposition, the Serbian team Sartid Smederevo, and a chance for the fans to brush up on their Cyrillic again!
As against Torpedo the previous year, Blues fell behind at home, again needing a second half equaliser to take a level scoreline into the second leg. Leicester City had been drawn against Red Star Belgrade two years earlier, but under acrimonious circumstances had played the away leg in Austria rather than travel to Serbia. Blues had no such fears about travelling to remote lands and were fortunate to have a Serb-speaking employee at the time, who helped to make arrangements for the team and the supporters. Located on the Danube south of Belgrade, Smederevo was a former capital of Serbia and possessed an impressive fortress, so unsurprisingly their ground was called Fortress Stadium. having to win on foreign soil held no fears for Ipswich and so it was that a ninth-minute penalty from Marcus Bent gave Blues a lead they never surrendered, and for the third time in little over a year, the travelling fans were able to celebrate another victory.
By the time of the next round, against the Czech Champions Slovan Liberec, George Burley had departed and a new manager took to the touchline, his first task being to defend Blues' 40-year unbeaten European record! A second half goal from Darren Bent was enough to ensure victory and Town went to the Czech Republic hopeful of progressing further. Situated close to the German border, many of Blues' fans made their way to Liberec via beautiful Prague, another city to experience the peaceful side of English football. Tactics were to play a large part in the outcome, and Joe Royle decided to defend the first leg lead, hoping his side would keep a clean sheet. This they did, for 87 minutes, but then Ghanaian stiker Gyan headed Liberec level on aggregate, to the heartache of the visitors. Extra-time was the result, and with the team geared for rearguard action, it was not easy to try and score a goal, and so despite continuing to defend well the tie drifted towards the dreaded penalty shootout, with the usual outcome. For the third time in the UEFA Cup, Blues went out on penalties, to bring to a close another exciting European adventure.
Ian Hunneybell