Your 8 years old 13:50 - Feb 1 with 2106 views | FrimleyBlue | Your dad has taken you to London and watched a few arsenal games. And a few ipswich games. Throw in a few colchester. Cambridge. Even norwich games. You were born in ipswich. What would make a child nowadays choose to support ipswich? I started due to the football on show. Same league as now i guess but exciting football and a raft of home grown players thrown in amongst some talented individuals. The club had family written all over it. Excitement before during and after games. Yet how on earth do you 'sell' ipswich to a kid nowadays? | |
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Your 8 years old on 13:55 - Feb 1 with 1650 views | factual_blue | At gunpoint? | |
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Your 8 years old on 13:55 - Feb 1 with 1647 views | hype313 | Arsenal is a library, no passion there and if he went last night, I doubt he would want to return. If your Dad is an Ipswich fan and you are born in Ipswich then i very much doubt you would support the Budgies. Colchester are meh, same with Cambridge. You can't sell a club to a young boy, they follow the footsteps of their Mum's and Dad's as a rule. | |
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Your 8 years old on 13:58 - Feb 1 with 1628 views | clive_baker | Fair, but how do you sell Arsenal? You'll be celebrating top 4 like you've won a trophy every season, you'll be spending £100 on ticket and travel to get to a home game in a soulless stadium with terrible atmosphere, you'll never get tickets away, you'll watch a team of over paid mercenaries and your fellow supporters will largely be knuckle dragging pr1cks or prawn sandwich eating bankers. I supported Ipswich because lots of mates and family do, it was accessible (this is becoming less true) and it was local. Those things can all return if we were managed from the top correctly. There's nothing stopping us this time next year being in the top half, with a team consisting of Kenlock, Smith, Emmanuel, Hyam, Dozzell and Bishop and playing nice football under a young and progressive manager. Who and where is our Eddie Howe? There's nothing stopping kids getting in to PR for £10-15 and adults at £25. They're small changes but they require an owner with ambition, balls and the desire and foresight to make it happen. | |
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Your 8 years old on 13:58 - Feb 1 with 1628 views | J2BLUE | Actually I can answer this as my family in Manchester battled for my footballing soul. They sent me loads of United merchadise, I went on a stadium tour of Old Trafford and stood in the dugout and I went to a few United games at Old Trafford including a particularly enjoyable game against Leeds which United won 3-0. I look back on that day as a nice memory even now. I will confess at about the age of 8-10 I did identify as a United fan. 10-11ish I was 50/50 and then from about 12 onwards there was no contest. One was real, local, in my blood and the stadium was within 4 miles of where I lived. The other became distant, meaningless and lacked something. Slowly I started to admit (like it was a bad thing...) that I was an Ipswich fan and didn't care about United. To this day, as crap as it is right now and as many trophies as United have won I regret nothing. I see people at work emailing backwards and forward (to the entire region) about their teams United, Liverpool and Chelsea. I feel a smug sense of superiority that I didn't end up like them. If nothing here ever improves and United go on to be champions of the galaxy I will still regret nothing. One is real. One is fake. | |
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Your 8 years old on 14:01 - Feb 1 with 1587 views | Stenvict | You're* | |
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Your 8 years old on 14:02 - Feb 1 with 1572 views | J2BLUE |
Your 8 years old on 14:01 - Feb 1 by Stenvict | You're* |
I was just thinking if I was 8 the first thing I would do is correct that! | |
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Your 8 years old on 14:02 - Feb 1 with 1570 views | hoppy | Get a map out and plot locations on it of all clubs mentioned and their relative proximity to Ipswich, and then point out to them where Ipswich is, and ask them to find which is the nearest club to that... Oh, right on it... then give them the 'it's best to support your local club, up or down' speech. | |
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Your 8 years old on 14:05 - Feb 1 with 1543 views | brazil1982 | You have to keep taking them. They represent the Town/County and they represent YOU. I live in Yorkshire and if I had a son, I would want them as Town supporters, I'd probably inflict Halifax or Burnley on them as the local club. | | | | Login to get fewer ads
Your 8 years old on 14:21 - Feb 1 with 1465 views | Illinoisblue | what was the excitement after games? | |
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Your 8 years old on 14:24 - Feb 1 with 1448 views | Vaughan8 | I have been saying this is a problem for a number of years, but maybe on a slightly different tangent of ticket prices. There are not going to be many youngsters going to want to watch us at the moment, and their parents can probably not afford it if they are a casual supporter. ST prices aren't too bad but not everyone can do that. Kids probably see Tottenham, Arsenal, Cheslea etc on the TV and want to suppor tthem (especially if their mates do as well!) | | | |
Your 8 years old (n/t) on 14:28 - Feb 1 with 1431 views | King_of_Portman_Rd | The biggest issue is that it is so easy to support ManU, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool. They are on the telly every single week, their team selections, performances, results are discussed in great detail on every sports channel. In fact even I know what is happening at United and who is having a poor season and I hate the club.. You simply cannot avoid them. They are everywhere and that level of exposure has an impact on young kids especially. To follow Ipswich, or anyone outside of the top flight you really have to search for information or engagement and that is where the issues lie. Is it really worth the effort? [Post edited 1 Feb 2017 14:31]
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Your 8 years old on 14:28 - Feb 1 with 1427 views | GrahamHarbey | Straight up, I have a 4 year old and a 7 year old, I took them to ITFC v Rotherham last year, we know what happened, so not the best sales pitch. Since that day, they have become staunch Spurs and Arsenal fans respectively, yes, they know the ITFC players, but I am often told how 'rubbish' we are and they refer to ITFC when addressing me as 'you'. To answer your question, I think initially, it is the fact that when I was growing up, there wasn't these teams on TV every 5 minutes, so when I went to my first game at PR, I was wowed by it and there was never any question of me supporting anyone else. Nowadays, my boys go to a game, then they come home and get to see Spurs and Arsenal twice in a week. Finally, it has to be about what we see there on the pitch and lets be honest, would you choose us over Spurs or Arsenal? I feel your pain mate. | | | |
Your 8 years old on 14:30 - Feb 1 with 1408 views | didsburyblue | The fourth sentence of Sir Bobby's famous quote should be all you need (substituting 'City' for 'Town' of course): What is a club in any case? Not the buildings or the directors or the people who are paid to represent it. It’s not the television contracts, get-out clauses, marketing departments or executive boxes. It’s the noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging, the pride in your city. It’s a small boy clambering up stadium steps for the very first time, gripping his father’s hand, gawping at that hallowed stretch of turf beneath him and, without being able to do a thing about it, falling in love | | | |
Your 8 years old on 14:46 - Feb 1 with 1333 views | christiand | I used to take my two quite often to Portman road over the last few seasons. Neither of them wants to go now. The last time we all went going to McDonalds was the highlight- now that speaks volumes!! | |
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Your 8 years old on 14:47 - Feb 1 with 1328 views | caught-in-limbo |
Your 8 years old on 13:55 - Feb 1 by hype313 | Arsenal is a library, no passion there and if he went last night, I doubt he would want to return. If your Dad is an Ipswich fan and you are born in Ipswich then i very much doubt you would support the Budgies. Colchester are meh, same with Cambridge. You can't sell a club to a young boy, they follow the footsteps of their Mum's and Dad's as a rule. |
To add to that, it's a lot easier convincing your child that your team is the one to support when they score goals and win a few matches. Young fans also need favourite players - but it helps if they're not loanees. I'd take relegation if it meant we'd start winning, but based on our showing over two matches against a non-league side, that's no guarantee either. The atmosphere at PR doesn't seem that attractive for young fans, but I could never allow my daughter to support another English team as I have spent too much of my life hating the others. I think the OP's son should get a Barça or Real Madrid shirt, be allowed to watch the champions league matches on TV, but be dragged along to Portman Road as well. Perhaps throw in a trip to his favourite chip shop on the way home as some sort of reward. Never give up on Town - he was born in Ipswich! | |
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Your 8 years old on 15:35 - Feb 1 with 1251 views | TheBlueBarca | I would wonder what sort of abusive parent would drag their kids to Arsenal, Colchester, Cambridge and ... Norwich games.... if you were from Ipswich... A lot of the kids in the town and surrounding areas no longer support Ipswich anyway, my nephews, one of which has been to a few Ipswich games, barely realise Ipswich even exists because of the Premier League only mindset. They view Ipswich now how we viewed Conference sides 20 years ago. I can't even pay them to come and watch Ipswich with me as "they are just rubbish". Just look at the people wearing Chelsea, Manure, Man City and even Leicester shirts in Ipswich Town centre. | |
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Your 8 years old on 15:40 - Feb 1 with 1230 views | TractorCam | Probably not the same era, but my first years of going were just when we were relegated from the prem in 2002 (sorry), first season ticket in 2003. I was only 6 in 2002 but was already a huge Town fan, one on few in my school. I presumed it was because my family were town fans and I was lucky to get taken to games, but maybe looking at it now perhaps it was the style of football under George and Joe. 'You score 3, we'll score 4' I dread to think what it's like in schools now. | |
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Your 8 years old on 16:02 - Feb 1 with 1162 views | Tollycobbold | As a vital life lesson. Listen kid, it's going to be crap, deal with it | | | |
Your 8 years old on 16:04 - Feb 1 with 1157 views | TheSelkirk |
Your 8 years old on 14:01 - Feb 1 by Stenvict | You're* |
Why is it that some on this sight seem to get so upset with posts that contain grammatical errors! Just because some people use the wrong word/s in there comments it does’nt really effect the crucks of the content does it. Im sure you still understand the basics of the point being made. Really, these miner mistakes could of been ignored and your being unnecessarily harsh by pointing out errors in they’re otherwise well constructed posts. | | | |
Your 8 years old on 16:17 - Feb 1 with 1121 views | badadski |
Your 8 years old on 16:04 - Feb 1 by TheSelkirk | Why is it that some on this sight seem to get so upset with posts that contain grammatical errors! Just because some people use the wrong word/s in there comments it does’nt really effect the crucks of the content does it. Im sure you still understand the basics of the point being made. Really, these miner mistakes could of been ignored and your being unnecessarily harsh by pointing out errors in they’re otherwise well constructed posts. |
My 3 year old already knows the ground and Ipswich Town and everytime he sees somebody wearing blue will shout out Ipswich town, as regardless of how pony we are i will always support the team and get him to follow as much as i can. he hasn't been to a game yet as not sure he could sit through it but i am sure his time is close to witness the pain and sorror of what we currently have to sit through but as they say, thats football for you. | | | |
Your 8 years old on 16:26 - Feb 1 with 1090 views | J2BLUE |
Your 8 years old on 16:04 - Feb 1 by TheSelkirk | Why is it that some on this sight seem to get so upset with posts that contain grammatical errors! Just because some people use the wrong word/s in there comments it does’nt really effect the crucks of the content does it. Im sure you still understand the basics of the point being made. Really, these miner mistakes could of been ignored and your being unnecessarily harsh by pointing out errors in they’re otherwise well constructed posts. |
their comments. doesn't crux no question mark on the end of the question. minor could have their Grade: F | |
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Your 8 years old on 16:27 - Feb 1 with 1076 views | hype313 |
Your 8 years old on 16:26 - Feb 1 by J2BLUE | their comments. doesn't crux no question mark on the end of the question. minor could have their Grade: F |
You forgot the apostrophe in I'm. | |
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Your 8 years old on 16:29 - Feb 1 with 1067 views | J2BLUE |
Your 8 years old on 16:27 - Feb 1 by hype313 | You forgot the apostrophe in I'm. |
I didn't want to come across as a pedant. | |
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Your 8 years old on 16:29 - Feb 1 with 1062 views | yorkshireblue | Sadly, I have come to terms that any child I have won't grow up as Ipswich fan. My wife and her family are all keen supporters of a Yorkshire club, where we live closer to. Luckily that club isn't Leeds! | | | |
Your 8 years old on 16:37 - Feb 1 with 1022 views | Swansea_Blue |
Your 8 years old on 16:29 - Feb 1 by yorkshireblue | Sadly, I have come to terms that any child I have won't grow up as Ipswich fan. My wife and her family are all keen supporters of a Yorkshire club, where we live closer to. Luckily that club isn't Leeds! |
I'm in a similar position here. My kids go to heck of a lot more Swansea games than Ipswich games for obvious reasons and have become Swans fans. But that's fine with me as they were born here, live here and are part of the community that the club represents. Now if they suddenly announced they wanted to be Chelsea fans, I'd give them a good slap (metaphorically speaking, of course). | |
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