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Christmas Schedule Just Part of the Game
Friday, 19th Dec 2014 06:00

Town winger Paul Anderson knew the likely repercussions of becoming a footballer — a more lucrative career than most of his contemporaries but an end to the traditional Christmas celebrations of his childhood.

Anderson and his colleagues will be focused on festive football fare until the Boxing Day fixture at Brentford is fulfilled but he said: “It’s just part and parcel of the game and you know that as soon as you sign as a young player there is never going to be the sort of Christmas that most other people have.

“The gaffer’s very good here. We’ll come in early on Christmas Day to train and then we’ll have time to go home. We’ll probably meet up at six or seven at night to travel down to our hotel near Brentford.

“It can be disappointing for certain people not to see families but it’s just the way it is. We’ll have the game on Boxing Day, get home and have the next day off to see our families.”

The Town squad had their Christmas party last weekend when they flew to Dublin after the goalless draw at Bolton and Anderson added: “It was nice to get away with all the boys and it was a massive team effort that everyone was there for the whole time.

Normally in groups you get people shooting off on the Sunday and going their separate ways but that didn’t happen.

“There was plenty of banter and we let our hair down a little bit. We got back to training on Monday after we flew in so we were straight back on it. We flew over from Manchester and a couple of the Irish lads had sorted out a couple of bars.

“The original idea was to have it in Manchester or Liverpool, which made sense with us playing at Bolton, but a couple of weeks beforehand I found out we were flying to Ireland. I don’t know where that decision came from but it went really well and was brilliant, very well organised by the lads who sorted it.”

The much talked about team spirit at Portman Road was much in evidence in Dublin and Anderson touched on some of the ways in which the Town players spend time in each other’s company away from their club duties.

He said: “A lot of the lads buy monthly passes at the cinema. They can watch as many films as they want and there’s usually a bite to eat beforehand. The majority of the lads are really good mates so you’ll get groups of five or six that will go out for a meal together and then two or three of them will go out with another three or four for a meal.

“It’s not just one specific group that stays together all the time. A few of the lads got together to head down to London and do some Christmas shopping — it’s little things like that. But it’s mainly going out for meals and there are so many nice places in and around Ipswich to go out to eat.”

Meanwhile, back to football business and Anderson admits he is still learning a lot under manager Mick McCarthy and his assistant, Terry Connor, adding: “I play a narrower role. It’s two banks of four when the gaffer plays 4-4-2 but with three in midfield he wants you to track back and that’s my game.

“I think I’m very good at that and I know I’m a good defensive winger. There are times when we are going forward that I have more time than I realise and it’s something that even at my age, 26 coming up to 27, I’m still learning. I’m trying to become a better player for myself and for the team.

“I want more goals, more assists, to create more opportunities for the team and I’m working hard on it. I’m giving everything I’ve got and hopefully it shows.

"I want people to appreciate that in every single game, even if I don’t look at my very best, I am always giving 100 per cent.”


Photo: Action Images



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shoopdelang added 08:55 - Dec 19
Repercussions of being a footballer?
Many people have to work at Christmas... That's life!
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Terry_Nutkins added 09:40 - Dec 19
Shoopdelang - not sure how you've managed to find a negative angle on a really positive and interesting article. Nowhere in this article is there a football moaning about having to work it.

So refreshing to hear how well the boys get on and socialise. Mick has to take so much Credit. It's not so long ago Shane Supple left football as he was so disillusioned by a squad that weren't committed. He'd probably still been in football now in this squad.
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JoeDickerson420 added 10:20 - Dec 19
Terry Nutkins. name is priceless
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Terry_Nutkins added 10:27 - Dec 19
*i meant footballer obviously. I wasn't trying to get inside the mind of an actual football. I can't imagine what there feelings are about the festive period.
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