Town paid £4,500 to secure former full-back John Compton’s 1961/62 Football League championship winners’ medal at an auction at Sotherby’s this morning. TWTD alerted the club to the medal’s availability last month with chief executive Simon Clegg keen to add it to the Blues' collection of memorabilia.
Clegg told TWTD: "I discussed it directly with John but unfortunately it was too late to withdraw it from the auction.
"So, having discussed it with the owner, Marcus Evans, he agreed with me that this was an important part of the club’s history and I was delighted to secure it for the future, to be viewed by current and future Town fans for years to come.
"This would fit in the long-term aspiration we have for creating a club museum within Portman Road.”
The Blues chief executive says he is aware that much of Town’s historical material is currently only available to a few supporters: "I recognise that a lot of the fantastic memorabilia we have at the moment is restricted to those who have access to the boardroom, the boardroom corridor or some of the corporate facilities in the Britannia Stand.
"The long-term aspiration I have is to create a facility where much of our memorabilia will be more readily available to Town fans than is currently the case.”
Clegg says the club has also added some of the material from the recent Ipswich Town in Europe exhibition to its collection: "I’m also delighted that we were able to secure some large photographs which were made for the recent 30th anniversary of us winning the UEFA Cup which were displayed in the exhibition in the Town Hall.
"Those photographs, which were not previously the property of the football club, will now be displayed in the central Britannia Stand stairwell, the entrance way to the Far Post Bar and Centre Spot restaurant and the Sir Bobby Robson Stand ground floor, where I’ll be putting something of Sir Bobby, and in the upper South Stand stairwell.
"All four stands will have benefited from some additional exhibition material which was produced for the 30th anniversary.”
Clegg says Compton, who started 41 of the 42 games as Sir Alf Ramsey’s side carried off the title, played an important role in taking the club to one of its greatest achievements: "John Compton's name is written into this club's history and I'm delighted that we have been able to keep his medal under the name of Ipswich Town.
"The club remains ready where appropriate to secure important elements of our rich sporting heritage.”
Poplar-born Compton was with the Blues between 1960 and 1964, making 131 appearances without scoring a goal. He also played for Chelsea and Bournemouth.
The left-back, now 74, plans to pass the proceeds from the 9ct gold medal on to his grandchildren, who live in Australia.
Town are honouring the 50th anniversary of the title-winning season by inviting the surviving members of Sir Alf's squad to Portman Road for the game against Leicester on Monday 9th April.