Former Town boss George Burley last night paid tribute to his assistant Dale Roberts at a tesimonial dinner at the County Hotel in Copdock.
Burley is part of the committee organising the various events which make up Roberts's testimonial year and was pleased that the dinner was a 300-seat sell-out: "This was the first event as far as fund-raising for his family is concerned and it went very well. It was a sell-out, the Premier League clubs have all been very generous in their donations and it was a lovely evening.
"Dale came to Ipswich as a 15-year-old with myself and was involved in the FA Youth Cup in 1972 and 1974 and later was my assistant as manager for seven years and took the club into the Premiership and Europe.
"Sometimes the assistant manager doesn't get the credit he deserves and that was the case with Dale. But he played a major part into taking the club into Europe.
"It was no coincidence that when he was not by my side the club's fortunes did not go as well.
"Dale was my best man, my best friend. I was godfather to his children and he mine and we could not have been much closer."
Present at the dinner were ex-Town men James Scowcroft, Wayne Brown, Darren Ambrose, Matt Bloomfield, Neil Midgeley, Leon Bell and David Theobald, as well as players from the current squad.
Town will face Newcastle United in a pre-season testimonial match, pencilled in for Wednesday, July 28th.