The statistics back up what most of us feel instinctively; the past year has indeed been one of the worst ever for home fans at Portman Road...

I don't know when the term "Fortress Portman Road" was coined, but there have certainly been times where few visiting teams seemed to go home from Ipswich with any points. There was a period in 1980-81 where Town seemed to win every game here, and I recall feeling that way in the 1999-2000 promotion season too. And then there was the bizarre season before last, when the team only lost once at Portman Road all year, and actually won a record 12 home league games in a row.

But it doesn't take much intuition to suspect that things are very different at the moment. Not so much of a Fortress, Portman Road seems to be inviting visiting teams to fill their boots. So just how bad is it? This seemed like a job for the Amazing Multicoloured Ipswich Results Spreadsheet.

I decided to look at sequences of 23 home league games throughout the club's history, which represents a season's-worth of matches nowadays, although it's a bit longer in the past. And as I feared, there's a worrying amount of orange and even red starting to appear on the screen.

On a three-points-for-a-win basis, Town have gained 29 points from the last 23 matches at Portman Road. This is the lowest total since Joe Royle was sacked (27 points) and - before that - since George Burley was sacked (26 points), although the bulk of that particular 23-match run was in the Premiership.

Before that, to find an equally poor season at home, you need to go back to the previous Premiership relegation, which marked the end of John Lyall's reign. There, the club had a run of just 16 points from 23 home games, which is the all-time low. Even the Jackie Milburn era never saw fewer than 20 points.

So it's fair to say that opponents are gleefully coming away from Portman Road at the moment with points hauls that have only been seen half a dozen times in the club's history and the other occasions have nearly all been in the top division.

Even more alarming is the lack of goals being scored at home. The current 23-match running total is just 25, the lowest since the end of the John Lyall era, which saw just 22 goals in 23 matches. The driest run before that takes us back to the Bobby Ferguson relegation season, 1985-86, where the total goals at home dropped as low as 20 in 23 games. Things were so bad then that the season's top goalscorer at Portman Road was Terry Butcher, with four. But then again, the top goalscorer in the past 23 matches at Portman Road has been Pablo Counago, with just five.

There might be a crumb of comfort if the defence was making up for the lack of balls hitting the back of the net at the other end. It isn't. The visitors to Portman Road have scored 29 times in the past 23 matches. That's a negative goal difference over the course of a season's-worth of matches; again, something which has only ever occurred half a dozen times in the past.

But is it points gained, or goals scored, which gives fans the impression that the team is doing well? No, it's how often we go home having seen our team win. And here's perhaps the real reason why the home fans seem grumpier than the home-and-away ones at the moment.

Of the past 23 league matches at Portman Road, eight under Roy Keane and 15 under Jim Magilton, Ipswich have won just six. And this is perilously close to the all-time low, for which you'll have to go back to the 1994-95 season, when just four home wins in 23 matches sent Town packing from the Premiership. Meanwhile, in 2009, should the club fail to win the next two home matches, against Derby and Sheffield Wednesday, that figure will be equalled. Should Town then fail to win the other two home games before New Year, it would be down to three wins from 23 home league matches, something which has never happened before.

Town have won just three home league matches in 2009, all by the odd goal. There hasn't been a home win by more than one goal since last December. And there's only been one win by more than two goals since the end of 2007.

A fortress? Sadly, "more like a gift shop", as The Bloke Behind Me once said.

mripswichtown added 10:15 - Oct 26 Sorry i don't believe that it says here! we arnt the worse fans at portman road! We have grate fans here! someone has to much time on there hands! in fact i take this as an insult!
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leagueonescum added 10:27 - Oct 26 Not sure it's an insult, more liekly the views of a bored pesimist playing stats in his bedroom. Not entirely sure why TWTD even posted this one? seems of little benefit. Not exactly going to enthuse the allready withering supporter's moods.
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CherryHintonBlue added 10:28 - Oct 26 Apologies if you're reading the first draft here, which should say the next two home matches are against Derby and Sheffield Wednesday. The stats remain the same though.
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squiz added 10:32 - Oct 26 good post. its making me think twice about the 100 mile journey to portman road i was planning on making this weekend....
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RobbieScarlatti added 10:34 - Oct 26 mripswichtown - Does it actually mention the quality of the fans? Read it again. No. And how can you not believe hard stats? Are you disputing reality? Thats pretty funny if you are. And how come your spelling is so bad? Thats all that i find insulting from this page.
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Surco72 added 10:50 - Oct 26 Good post its a shame after the 2007/2008 season where we had the best home record in the country for a long time . The first two replies are what i am getting used to on here ,the "we are great there is no problem attitude " ,you cannot say you dont believe the facts just because you dont like them !!!!! Its the same as whoever said "i dont count the Barnsley game" !!!! it doesnt make it go away!!!!

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FormerlyCGS added 10:51 - Oct 26 Mripswichtown you are again one of the pro keaners. Do you also think we are not bottom because goals scored after 90 minutes dont count! I think its a good blog that shows us how poor our current manager is! Stats dont lie!
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Greektractor added 11:07 - Oct 26 i think this post underlines problems that have been present at this club for long before Keane arrived. Over half of these stats stem from the Jim era. Fans, lets stick behind keane, he's said himself, in the future we'll look back on this (our darkest hour in recent years) and say we got through this. Next saturday, lets get behind the boys like we did against Watford. With support like that we stand a chance of ending this awful run.

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Plymouthtractorboy added 11:14 - Oct 26 We are poor at the moment and the game on Saturday proved it. I don't get to many Ipswich games but to pay the money and cringe most of the game is not the ITFC of old. We even took a throw-in and the ball didn't even enter the field of play, I can watch that at my local park for free. However when Steady came on we did improve. Derby next, surely we are due a flukey win!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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itfc1981 added 11:32 - Oct 26 great blog truth hurts all the wollys at the top here, stats cant be insulting there what they are, we are bloody awful no creativetity even if we had a 'provin' goalscorer up front it would make no differnce we never create a thing, yes you can name the odd game. we are dire.
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Franzgumm added 13:24 - Oct 26 Why people get so wound up by such a statement of fact is a little beyond me. Good blog post, which certainly underlines why so many fans are so miserable at the moment. I would be interested to see what the overall graph looks like - how many points we were getting on average in the Nineties and early Noughties. My instinct is was probably twice we are getting right now. "A gift shop" is spot on...

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adamisablue added 13:43 - Oct 26 ive just got back from watching a game in newcastle. they didnt have a singing stand, they have a singing STADIUM! great atmosohere, passionate support, loud and sing there hearts out every week, and athey are top of the league i say again ive just got back from watching a game in newcastle. they didnt have a singing stand, they have a singing STADIUM! great atmosohere, passionate support, loud and sing there hearts out every week, and athey are top of the league i say again ive just got back from watching a game in newcastle. they didnt have a singing stand, they have a singing STADIUM! great atmosohere, passionate support, loud and sing there hearts out every week, and athey are top of the league anything sinking in?

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sames1972 added 14:19 - Oct 26 "i think this post underlines problems that have been present at this club for long before Keane arrived. Over half of these stats stem from the Jim era. Fans, lets stick behind keane, he's said himself, in the future we'll look back on this (our darkest hour in recent years) and say we got through this. Next saturday, lets get behind the boys like we did against Watford. With support like that we stand a chance of ending this awful run. " GREEK TRACTOR - surely you can't still be blaming Jim for the current problems on the pitch!!!!

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matt_the_blue added 14:48 - Oct 26 sames1972 - No he's not, he's simply pointing out that half of those stats are from matches when Jim was in charge, I see nothing in his post blaming Jim for the current form, do you?
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Surco72 added 15:08 - Oct 26 adamisblue... is that the same Newcastle fans who booed every week last season had a number of protests and threatened to kill the chairman and dennis wise so they could not even attend the games when they were bottom of the league ? I say again Same fans ?
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leagueonescum added 22:22 - Oct 26 Quality Surco.
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adamisablue added 00:01 - Oct 27 for a start, dont we boo out players off the feild everyweek? didnt we have protests to get jim out? as for the death threats, u get idiots everywhere. i remeber beckham could leave the house for death threats, same as sol campbell. all im saying is we need to start making some noisemor we could be joining the scum in league one (dont think it cant happen to us, charlton nowrich nottimgham forrest leeds spring to mind)

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jayessess added 11:58 - Oct 27 nail on the head this. Ever since Evans´money we´ve been quick to get on players back when we aren´t getting it right at home. Even this year, aside from Watford, all of our encouraging performances were away from home, where the low confidence of the players isn´t exarcebated by high expectations.
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