Town To Take On The World Once Again.

The likelihood is that there will be more Ipswich Town fans watching this from all corners of the globe, than those attending the game at Portman Road on Saturday evening.

Now it is not entirely their fault that they emigrated to New Zealand or Australia because as we all know, a new beginning can take people literally anywhere but leaving their roots, does not usually dampen their enthusiasm for the club they love.

I reside for example here in the Netherlands, which admittedly is not that far away but there are other Town supporters who live much farther afield.

‘I’m gonna catch this on Sunday morning 1.30 am here in Singapore,’ Sing Town explained on the Those Were The Days website and an ardent Ipswich Town fan told us that he would be taking in the game in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia!

Whatever its shortcomings, it is those live games on Sky that provide supporters around the world with a chance to catch up on their favourite club – even if the results and performances are often quite unfavourable.

A good performance on the other hand can galvanise the mindset of the long distant supporter and perhaps also too, those stay away fans nearer home, who think that watching Town these days is not worth the admission fee and they have a point.

Some Premier League games cost less than a trip to Portman Road so they do have good cause for complaint, when the standard of football on show is so decidedly poor.

I think most of us can agree on one thing though. We can handle a bad result if we play well – or victory is stolen from us by a bad refereeing decision.

Sadly, we have been deprived of both points and entertainment of late and we cannot blame this on officiating.

Let us hope then, that on Saturday evening the blues can do the supporters proud and turn in a really good display because it is the very least we expect and deserve.

The motivation will have to come from the players though because this game will be poorly attended and lack any sort of atmosphere – which may help our visitors much more than us?


Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich