Sky Sports has become the buzz word for international sport broadcast live on a global scale and for the second week in a row, the blues will enter the world football stage, when they entertain Middlesborough at Portman Road tomorrow night.
Living here, as I do, in the Netherlands, it is another excellent opportunity to see the blues in action. Last season I went to this game and Town beat The Boro convincingly, with keeper Bartosz Bialkowski hardly having a save to make in our 2-0 home victory.
Some travelling supporters will perhaps bemoan the fact that the blues are featured live on Sky Sports One for the second week in a row and next week once again against MK Dons away but this has never occurred before and is unlikely to ever again.
For those of us who either cannot afford to get to see the blues on a regular basis or simply because we live too far away from the club we love, this is another wonderful opportunity to see how our beloved blues are progressing?
Being a subscriber to the official Ipswich Player Website, I get to see all the interviews and at least ten minutes highlights of every game that the blues are involved in but admittedly this is a much more exciting way of doing things!
Mick McCarthy once again this week suggested that those people that do not go to the games are not in a position to be critical but that is a load of old baloney because you only have to see ten minutes of the highlights to make a considered judgement of how well the team in performing. Basically if the highlights are the lowlights, then we probably already know enough!
I do however have sympathy for the much travelled Ipswich Town supporter – or indeed season ticket holder for that matter who pay good money to see the blues both home and away. It is a very costly affair and the hardcore travelling supporter deserves very special applause.
Making an atmosphere too at a game relies almost entirely on the enthusiasm of both sets of supporters and if grounds are empty because everyone is watching the game on television, then it defeats the whole purpose of the exercise so it is as much about getting the balance right as anything else I think.
Now that we have broken our Sky Sports jinx, I hope the blues can play with a verve and a panache that will delight all our dedicated followers, from as far a field as Pattaya in Thailand to Sydney in Australia! In pubs and bars around the globe world wide attention will be focused on the Town!
The international stage has given us a few living nightmares recently but I think a match on a Friday night under the lights at Portman Road is just what the club doctor ordered!
The latest team news is that striker David McGoldrick will indeed make the bench as anticipated but he will only play a cameo role at best it seems, as his fitness levels are not up to a full game.
As our manager pointed out when quizzed on the subject, “It`s nice to have him back but if it`s 0-0 with 30 minutes to go, don`t all start shouting for David McGoldrick and expect him to get on because he`s not at that level. We`d get 10 or 15 minutes out of him at full tilt and that will be that.’
The only bit of disappointing news on the injury front is the Kevin Bru is still troubled with a slight hamstring strain but will not be risked in this one and after last week’s emphatic win at Charlton when he was also out, let us hope he is not missed?
Frank Weston Editor of Vital Ipswich
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