It’s less than 24 hours before we face Morecambe at Portman Road, but already we cannot wait until our season kick-starts! Today the squad numbers were announced and more about that later.
They say that change for change’s sake is never a good idea but what manager Paul Cook and his team is doing was a necessary evil. We could not go on the way we were. The club was sailing into the very depths of football oblivion, and if we had left things as they were, we would have arrived at our port of call in no time at all.
Now, everything has changed. The dead-wood has been removed, as has the players who were more interested in their salaries than about how they managed to earn it. We are under new ownership with a die-hard Blue in Ed Sheeran sponsoring our shirts and a whole host of new players coming through the door.
This is a very exciting time to be an Ipswich Town fan. I have not known anything quite like this in more than 50 years supporting the Blues. It’s all change wherever you care to look, and nothing seems to stay still very long here anymore. Every day there is something to report and what is refreshingly different is that it is usually good news!
We discovered this afternoon that Ipswich have signed Aston Villa forward Louie Barry on a season-long loan. Now, as you know, I am not a great fan of loan deals – no matter how long their duration, but this could be a little different. The 18-year-old goes straight into the squad for tomorrow’s opening day game at home to Morecambe, and his goals per game ratio are impressive!
Last season, for example, he scored an amazing 20 goals in just 26 matches, and this included the goal against Liverpool in the FA Cup! Barry was a youth player with West Brom for almost a decade, before moving to Barcelona in 2019. That lasted just six months, and then he returned to the Midlands in January of last year, joining Aston Villa for £880,000.
And if all that wasn’t enough, Portsmouth winger Michael Jacobs seems set to become our 12th signing. He is at the club at the moment, and a deal could be done before the end of the day.
The TWTD website is also reporting that Town are close to signing Sone Aluko, who is a free agent, having left Reading at the end of last season. He is 32 and has won England caps at U16, U17, U18 and U19 levels – although these days his allegiances lie with Nigeria, where he has received 7 caps and scored two international goals.
And to put the icing on the cake to another wonderful day for Ipswich Town football club, superstar Ed Sheeran has been given a squad number! He was seen wearing the number 17 in a press photo and was asked by CEO Mike Ashton whether he would like to keep it? His reply was as follows. “This is bonkers really, isn’t it! When Ipswich told me I thought they were joking but I love the idea. I think this is going to be a great season, and I’m honoured to be a part of it. I just hope this squad number is only ceremonial because I want to see us promoted, and that’s not going to happen if I’m playing!”
Here are the Town squad numbers as things stand but of course more will be added shortly.
1. Tomas Holy
3. Matt Penney
4. Rekeem Harper
5. George Edmundson
6. Luke Woolfenden
7. Wes Burns
8. Lee Evans
9. Joe Pigott
10. James Norwood
11. Scott Fraser
12. Louie Barry
14. Armando Dobra
15. Corrie Ndaba
16. Idris El Mizouni
17. Ed Sheeran
18. Macauley Bonne
19. Kayden Jackson
20. Jon Nolan
21. Conor Chaplin
22. Toto Nsiala
24. Kane Vincent-Young
30. Cameron Humphreys
31. Vaclav Hladky
44. Janoi Donacien
