Call Me Ted’s poster for Town’s penultimate home game of the season against Brentford a week on Saturday is an update on a classic TWTD design by Dan Thomas.
In 1998 Dan, who designed TWTD in the days of the fanzine and also our logo, produced a cover for the issue which marked the 20th anniversary of the Blues’ FA Cup victory based on Peter Blake’s sleeve art for The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.
Call Me Ted, the brainchild of brothers Richard and Steve Haugh, and friends Kevin Bennett and Andy Mortimer, has produced unique posters for every Town match this season which have appeared in the programme for the relevant game.
Recalling the 1998 artwork, Dan, who runs Come Hither Design with wife Lisa, said: "It was TWTD’s first full-colour cover, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the FA Cup Final in 1998. ‘It was 20 years ago today’ was the lyric that inspired a Sgt Pepper-style design featuring the team and stars of 1978 (including me, aged six!).
"I was thrilled to be asked by Call Me Ted to re-imagine my Sgt Pepper design as part of their fantastic poster series.
"I felt it was important to celebrate not just our return to the Premier League, but also the two previous seasons’ back-to-back promotions, so I set about selecting players who’ve had key roles this and the past two seasons.
"Who to include (and wearing which kit) caused a few headaches. Don’t complain if you think I’ve missed out anyone who should really have featured — there was only so much room!
"In the ’78 design, the figures in the background were drawn from 1978 popular culture. This time, I decided to feature every inductee of the Ipswich Town Hall of Fame — 72 at the latest count — bringing a sense of history and legacy to the piece: a visual chorus of club legends! Any Town team really does stand on the shoulders of giants!
"There are a few other Easter eggs in there too. Fabio Wardley takes the place of Sonny Liston on the original cover design and, yes, that is a waxwork of Ed Sheeran. The Beatles had waxworks of themselves on their cover, so I thought it was ‘perfect’. There’s also an appearance by the original Bluey. I still miss him!”
High quality prints of the 2025 Pepper poster are available to buy via callmeted.co.uk, while the 1998 version is on sale on Come Hither Design’s website.