Rolling With the Punches is a new podcast series charting the Blues’ renaissance over the last few years as well as its wider effect on the town, and its creator, Town fan Richard Popple, told TWTD how it came about and what to expect.
"What sort of impact is this going to have?”. That’s the question I asked myself following Town’s glorious promotion from League One in May 2023.
Shortly after, I approached a production company and luckily for me, one of the producers was from Suffolk and shared my passion for the area. And so Rolling with the Punches was born; a podcast series, which seeks to highlight, celebrate and challenge the role of football clubs in their local communities.
I grew up in Ipswich in the 90s and have been a Town fan for over 30 years. Like all of the TWTD community, I have been loving what has been happening on the pitch over the last three years but there was another aspect of the club's success that interested me - the potential impact on the town itself.
So I started researching - looking into the background of the town and the recent history of the club. I interviewed a number of people connected with both and some from the outside. We had brilliant insight from Kieran Maguire (The Price of Football podcast), Nick Ames (The Guardian), Max Helm (Blue Action) and, of course, TWTD’s Phil Ham. I spoke to business leaders, the local MP and many residents to piece together the town’s story and the experience of those living here.
The six-episode series begins at the end of the Marcus Evans era in 2021 - one of the lowest points in Ipswich Town's history. I then detail the extraordinary journey the club has been on since the takeover by our American owners - Gamechanger 20, including reliving our spectacular back-to-back promotion seasons.
But I also dip back into the past to highlight the damage poorly run football clubs can have on a local community. We hear the thoughts of former ITFC CEO Simon Clegg, ex-BBC reporter Kate Riley and current head of the Ipswich Town Foundation Dan Palfrey to piece together the club’s stagnation, decline and subsequent rebirth.
My goal was to make an intimate and engaging series to highlight why football clubs matter so much and how the way they operate affects not only fans, but the places they represent.
Hopefully the podcast will resonate with not only Ipswich’s community but a wider football-loving audience as we’re planning for this series to be the first of many with other clubs and towns around the country.
I’ve loved making the podcast and I hope all Town fans will enjoy listening to it. Come on you Blues!
Created by Richard Popple
Produced by 2020 Recordings
Supported by The Blizzard
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