Trevor Whymark and Eric Gates were amongst those inducted into the club’s Hall of Fame at Friday night’s ex-players’ dinner. Also added were Sir Alf Ramsey’s coach Jimmy Forsyth and former player Basil Acres, who both picked up posthumous Special Merit Awards.
Whymark, who is currently an Academy coach at Playford Road, was a player with Town between 1969 and 1979, scoring 104 goals in 322 starts and 13 games from the bench. Now 61, Whymark won one full England cap in addition to seven at U23 level.
Gates, a member of Sir Bobby Robson’s UEFA Cup-winning side, joined the Blues in 1972 and went on to make 345 starts and 39 sub appearances, scoring 96 goals before moving on to Sunderland in the summer of 1985. The 56-year-old won two senior England caps.
Forsyth moved to Town from Millwall in 1950 and spent the next two decades at the club, most notably as trainer under Sir Alf Ramsey. He was also caretaker-manager between Jackie Milburn’s exit and Bill McGarry’s appointment in 1964. Forsyth died in 1982.
Brantham-born Basil Acres joined the club in 1951 and made 232 full appearances and scored six goals before retiring in 1960. The full-back subsequently worked in the club’s development office as well as other roles at Portman Road. He died at the age of 73 in 2000.
You can hear Whymark and Gates talking about their induction and time at the club on Saturday’s Life’s a Pitch on BBC Radio Suffolk here. The duo appear at around the 1hr 34min mark.
The likes of Mick Mills, Ray Crawford, Ted Phillips, Andy Nelson, Sir Alf’s secretary Pat Godbold, former club secretary David Rose, who worked at the club during the Blues’ 1961/62 Division One championship season, media men John Motson and Stuart Jarrold - a ballboy at Portman Road back in the early Sixties — and current chief executive Simon Clegg were also on the show.
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