Who was your all-time favourite player? Let Vital Ipswich into your secrets and tell us who you think was the best player to ever don a Town shirt?
This week the East Anglian Daily Times came up with a very interesting study when it asked, who was the best ever signing for Ipswich Town Football Club?
Now before I get onto that, I must just say that in more than forty years of diligently watching the blues, the best ever player to don an Ipswich shirt was undoubtedly Kevin Beattie in my view.
Now I know that we will all have our favourites and much depends on the time-zone that you have been supporting The Tractor Boys but “The Beat” as he is commonly referred to, was quite simply a class apart in everything he did and yet injury deprived both us and England of some of his finest years.
I had the pleasure of watching him on many occasions and he never failed to impress; either with his tough tackling or superb heading ability when he used to rise like a bird above players who seemed twice his size and direct a header with unparalleled venom either out of the danger zone or conversely into it!
Kevin Beattie was my hero as a kid and if he could only have steered clear of serious injuries then I feel Town would have won the league with him at the helm in the early eighties, when the club finished runners up two years in succession.
As for the question the E.A.D.T.posed, then of all the players Ipswich have signed over the years I would go for Paul Mariner.
He was the complete centre forward in my opinion and was not only good in the air but also very skillful on the ground and his hold up play was immense. He was also a very intelligent footballer I might add.
Of course those of you that were watching Town even before me, might go for Ray Crawford who we acquired from Portsmouth for next to nothing only to strike up a lethal goal scoring partnership with Ted Philips that helped us to win our first and only first Division One title against all the odds in 1962!
I would like to think that one of our current squad might find a place into this prestigious list in the future but it would take an almighty rise in fortunes for this to happen.
Oh well, baby steps is still progress nonetheless and long may it continue.
If we do make it to the Promised Land again then who knows?
F.W.
