TWTD.co.uk Blogs

Time's Up Mark
Trust is a funny thing, it takes years to develop and in extreme circumstances, minutes to end. Whether that's in a relationship, a friendship or in a commercial setting, when it breaks down it is simply time to move on.

Between The Lines, The Irreverent Poetry Of Ipswich Town. No.39 - Pains In The Neck
At the end of my last intro I said, “See you again for more of the same next week”.

Faragegate
"Is that Chelsea?" "How did that happen?" "Massive own goal"

The Evolution of Referees
The quality of officials - or lack of it - has taken up a lot of space in Town discussions in the last two weeks or so. Personally, I have been appalled at the penalty decisions which have cost us four points - assuming we had scored the spot-kicks we should have had. And you could extend that to six, if you include the Preston game.

Between The Lines, The Irreverent Poetry Of Ipswich Town. No.38 - Shockaholics
It’s been an interesting week or so, to say the least.

Between The Lines, The Irreverent Poetry Of Ipswich Town. No.37 - I Don’t Want To Write This Poem
Well I was angry. And speechless. And then I calmed down. Terrible defending at the end of the first half saw two conceded. Then a stirring second-half comeback to go 3-2 up - were we finally to get that ‘win from behind’?

Between The Lines, The Irreverent Poetry Of Ipswich Town. No.36 - Bogies
My last poem involving this ref (v Preston), you might recall was less than flattering. Once again he dominates the match and the poem, nothing any ref should ever do.

Between The Lines, The Irreverent Poetry Of Ipswich Town. No.35 - A Matusiwa Smile
This was tense. Hull came to battle hard, defend deep, and hit us on the break if they could. And they did a pretty decent job of it, despite, bizarrely, not actually fashioning an effort on target. So why did it feel so tense then?!

Between The Lines, The Irreverent Poetry Of Ipswich Town. No.34 - A Variety Of Jams
I think you, the reader of these poems, needs to feel my pain. This weekend it wasn’t with the football, which was excellent. Instead it was a traffic jam on the A12 heading back to my mum’s in Essex, which I was in, and not moving, for three hours. I managed to weave that into this poem, so it wasn’t a total waste.

Between The Lines, The Irreverent Poetry Of Ipswich Town. No.33 - Unconventions
Well this was much better, unconventionally so. A solid, largely untroubled away win, with a couple of unconventional goals. And even - unconventionally by Town’s standards - a penalty save. Suddenly we’re all unconventionally happy again!

Between The Lines, The Irreverent Poetry Of Ipswich Town. No.32 - Disney Princesses
I started writing this one before the game even finished, so prepare yourselves for a curled out stream of spit-filled consciousness.

Between The Lines, The Irreverent Poetry Of Ipswich Town. No.31 - Heads Tales
A much better away performance than we’ve come to expect, albeit with the usual not-taken-chances that would’ve made this early kick-off more relaxing.

Between The Lines, The Irreverent Poetry Of Ipswich Town. No.30 - Writ Chefs
Well I know we weren’t good enough. And we can’t blame the ref, John Busby, for everything. But he was terrible, and this poem is mostly blaming him. So sue me.

McKenna's Men Part Three: A Bridge Too Far?
The final (for now) part of a look at Kieran McKenna's (and let's be honest, many others') incomings during the season just gone.

Between The Lines, The Irreverent Poetry Of Ipswich Town. No.29 - Soft Balls In A Steel City
One of those days when everything goes wrong, but my overall feeling was of being dragged down to the Blades’ level and bullied into submission. Not helped by the ref. Or his watch in the first half. Or missing gilt-edged chances. Or luck. Or a quiet crowd getting fired up. Or Wilder’s antics. Just an absolute mess in every sense.

Between The Lines, The Irreverent Poetry Of Ipswich Town. No.28 - Iván Azón, Cursed
Poor old Iván. You’ve got to feel for the guy, haven’t you? He doesn’t seem to be doing a lot wrong, in fact this was probably his best game. But he just gets no luck in front of goal. Quite the opposite in fact. This time it was an almost unexplainable save that denied the Spaniard.

Between The Lines, The Irreverent Poetry Of Ipswich Town. No.27 - More Pitch Problems For Rovers
I was surprised at how many times Blackburn players kicked the ball into touch in this game. A different kind of pitch problem to the rained off game at their place…

McKenna's Men Part Two: The Championship of Dreams
Following on from Part One: League One Days, I'm continuing my look at the signings made under Kieran McKenna's stewardship. This time we look back on the signings that took us from League One runners-up to the Premier League.

Between The Lines, The Irreverent Poetry Of Ipswich Town. No.26 - Two One And Tickled Pink
Poems, like matches, come thick and fast this time of year! I felt the amazing pink sky that appeared just before the start of the second half was quite poetic, more so than the game itself, so I focused on that. The result, and other results, left us sitting in the pink in second.

Between The Lines, The Irreverent Poetry Of Ipswich Town. No.25 - Ruff Justice
I started writing this one in an NHS walk-in centre, having been bitten by a dog in Nottingham. Up until then I was, despite the fantastic performance and result, struggling to find a theme to pull it all together. So every cloud, and all that.