Blues legend John Wark officially opened the Ipswich Town in Europe exhibition at the Town Hall last night, 30 years to the day since he helped the club to the lift the UEFA Cup in Amsterdam after defeating AZ 67 Alkmaar over two legs. The exhibition covers all of Town’s forays into Europe, from Sir Alf Ramsey’s side’s European Cup campaign in 1962 to the more recent trips to the likes of Torpedo Moscow and Inter Milan a decade ago under George Burley.
After speeches by chief executive Simon Clegg and Ipswich mayor John Le Grys, Wark opened the exhibition, which is being staged by Town, Colchester and Ipswich Museums and Ipswich Borough Council, by converting a ‘penalty’ between the doors of the room housing the exhibition, unusually requiring two attempts to do so, the first having hit the post.
"I was put off by there not being a keeper!” explained the man who scored a then-record 14 goals — including two hat-tricks - as the Blues won the trophy.
For Wark, the exhibition — and most particularly film of his side in action - brought the memories flooding back: "When you see all the footage it shows what an incredible thing we did, you don’t realise it at the time.
"I was looking through the 1981 book the other day and thinking about it — 27 clean sheets and four players scored 94 goals between them. It’s scary! "We were so close to doing the treble. We had 21 players but eight of them only played a handful of games. We actually did the majority of 66 games between 15 or 16 of us. Incredible.” The former Scotland international believes that no team of Town’s size will ever repeat their achievements under Sir Bobby Robson: "It will never happen to a club like Ipswich again and football is the worse for it, without a shadow of a doubt. The big clubs have bigger squads and bigger money now.” Wark says the strength of that side isn’t always appreciated and is still frustrated that they didn’t win the league that season: "A lot of people don’t realise what a great team this was. "For me it was fabulous to win the UEFA Cup but we were gutted we didn’t win the league. If we hadn’t won anything it would have been an injustice. "To win that UEFA Cup playing the teams we played was a major achievement though, and doing so by giving them the beatings that we gave them. "Some of these teams, like Widzew Lodz, they’d beaten Manchester United and Juventus before that. St Etienne hadn’t lost at home for some years, and we did them 4-1. We beat a lot of top teams, not just beat them but turned them over.” The 53-year-old says he can’t wait to be reunited with his team-mates at next Monday’s gala dinner in their honour: "I’m looking forward to seeing the lads next week. It’s like seeing your brothers again. It’s a great thing.” The exhibition runs until Saturday 3rd September. The Town Hall Galleries are open Tuesdays to Saturdays 10am — 5pm and also Bank Holiday Monday 30th May 10am — 8pm. Entry is free.
Wark’s two 1981 UEFA Cup hat-trick balls alongside Town’s replica of the trophy
Eric Gates’s shirt from the following season embroidered to celebrate Town’s only European trophy
Memories of more recent trips
John with a two-dimensional replica of football’s heaviest trophy
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