Having supported Town since I was knee high to a grasshopper, I thought I would let you see my list of all-time Town favourites!
Almost forty five years of supporting Ipswich Town football club, entitles me I think to give you my personal assessment of the best players I have witnessed wearing a Town shirt!
1. Paul Cooper: Penalty saving specialist who was unlucky not to be capped for England. He was a truly superb keeper who rarely made big errors. He once saved eight out of ten penalties in one season in the top flight of English football.
2. George Burley: A wing back before wing backs became fashionable this kid could cross the ball too and marked George best out of the game on his debut at just 17 years of age. A wonderful performer both for Ipswich and Scotland and of course went on to take Town back to the Premiership too as our manager!
3. Mick Mills: He not only captained Ipswich to glory in 1978 and 1981 but also represented his country 42 times too. He played with guile and cool head and because he was also a very intelligent player, always looked to find a telling pass. He made a staggering 591 appearances in a Town Shirt scoring 22 goals.
4. Frans Thijssen: Sir Bobby signed him in 1973 and he became player of the year, when he scored goals in both legs of Town`s triumphant 1981 UEFA cup final win against Dutch side AZ Alkmaar. He was a wonderful exponent of the art of ball possession and tricky individual skills.
5.Terry Butcher: A local lad who broke into the team at the ripe old age of 17 when he came on as a substitute for Town against Everton at Goodison Park in April 1978 and I was there to witness it! I recall the home crowd gasping in amazement, as this giant of a boy entered the fray at 6 foot 4 inches inches tall! He was as solid as a rock and was capped by England 77 times and made almost 300 appearances for Town.
6. Kevin Beattie: Without a doubt my all-time favourite player. Beat was a hero almost from day one at Town with his solid as a rock defending and Sir Bobby Robson described as the best player he has ever seen. Sadly through injury he was restricted to just 9 appearances for his country but he did play for Town on 228 occasions scoring 24 goals in the process. What a player and what a man!
7. John Wark: He signed for Town as an apprentice and made his debut for the Tractor Boys at just 17 years of age against Leeds United in the 1975 third replay of the 6th round of the F.A. Cup. That day he played at centre half but went on to make 509 appearances for Town in three spells at the club, mainly in midfield. He won four player of the year awards and scored in total 135 times for Town; including a staggering 14 times in the 1981 season in Europe in the UEFA Cup. He went on to play for Liverpool and made 29 appearances for Scotland in his 22 years in the game.
8. Arnold Muhren: Another Dutch import when Town was the first club to acquire players from the Netherlands in English football. Muhren was a football artisan and his close control and vision led Manchester United to come in for his services later in his career. I had the pleasure of watching him on a number of occasions but perhaps the best was when he destroyed Norwich almost singlehandedly, in a local derby.
9. Paul Mariner: I am afraid I really am living in the past with my favourites but these were the glory years of Town football and perhaps this is why? Mariner was a super striker who was as good in the air as he was on the ground and his hold up play was immense. Robson bought him from Plymouth and within weeks he was showing his true worth with some sensational goals. One which springs to mind was a bullet header against Liverpool which almost broke the net! He went on to play for England 35 times and made 260 scoring 96 fabulous goals for Town!
10. Alan Brazil: I once saw him destroy Everton at Goodison Park, when Gordon Lee was their manager. That day Town won 4-0 away and Brazil scored two of them – although it should have been three! He was sent clear with only the keeper to beat but because he was in so much space he assumed he was off-side and pulled up. He wasn’t and he held his head in his hands in disbelief. He also hit the post that day. He played 154 times for Town scoring 70 times and played for Scotland too.
11. Eric Gates: Gates was the endless enigma at Town and probably one of the most difficult players Robson ever had to manage. He was, on his day though, a wonderfully gifted talent with an eye for goal. He played 296 times for Town scoring a very respectable 73 times for someone who played off the front two.
My Sub: George Best: Played the second half of the Sir Bobby Robson testimonial in a 2-2 draw against an England eleven that had Russell Osman and Terry Butcher in their team.
Although he had lost a bit of pace at 36, his vision was extraordinary and his precision passing set up two goals for Alan Brazil in the second half. It was watched by over 23,000 people at Portman Road and still ranks as one of the most memorable games I have ever had the pleasure of witnessing.
Seeing Best in an Ipswich shirt was something else! There was even talk that Town might take him on loan from Hibernian but nothing developed.
Now then, I want to hear from you! What is your all-time favourite Town eleven and do you go back even further into the annals of football history than me?
We are a broad church of football opinions here at Town so I am quite sure that some of you have a different view when it comes to selecting the best players to have ever worn an Ipswich Town shirt.
Who knows in the future we may be adding Tyrone Mings and Daryl Murphy to the selection?!
Frank Weston – Editor Vital Ipswich
