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Ando Out to Avoid the Bib of Shame - Ipswich Town News

It’s the prize that no Town player wants to win but someone is forced to wear — a bib emblazoned with the message ‘I’ve had a Beesley’.

This is no yellow jersey but rather a wooden spoon accolade awarded to the player voted the worst of the lot in the regular old versus young training games.

Midfielder Paul Anderson explained: "It’s all a bit of a laugh and a joke as you get a bit into your legs the day before a game. The message on the bib is our way of taking the mickey out of our kit man, Paul Beesley.

"Basically, it’s the dunce’s outfit. It goes to the player in the losing side who is voted worst of the lot and he has to wear it next time around. It’s another bit of banter and the same thing probably goes on at most other clubs.”

Anderson is 26, which means he is classed as a veteran on the days the games take place — but he has no complaints as he invariably finishes on the winning side.

He added: "I now qualify to play for the old boys against the young lads. The old against young games have been held at all my former clubs — and anywhere I’ve been the older team tends to win. We’ve only lost to the young guys once this season.

"It doesn’t matter so much about ability, it’s how you play the game. It’s amazing that if you have a manager who plays a tactical way you don’t necessarily need to have the best players to be the best team.

"But we have such a good dressing room at the club that any of the lads would be there for our younger colleagues if they needed us to talk to them or give them a bit of guidance.”

Anderson was at Liverpool, where he won an FA Youth Cup medal in 2006, when defender Sami Hyypia, now the boss of Brighton, who visit Portman Road this evening, was one of their star turns.

He said: "I was fortunate to train with the first team a few times and was involved in a couple of matches but whether or not he remembers me I don’t know. I obviously remember him — he is a true legend at Liverpool and such a nice guy as well.

"He was a good guy when I was at Anfield and it’s nice to be able to remember that I was fortunate enough to be able to work with guys like that.

"I wasn’t ever close enough to the first team to be able to turn to any of them now for advice or guidance. There were others, later on in my career, that I could probably turn to but if I asked Sami he’d probably say ‘Who are you?’”

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