| Academic Study on Ipswich Town 15:16 - Nov 21 with 6305 views | stijnutrecht |
Hi everyone,
I'm studying at the University of Essex and I am going to write an essay on the heritage of Ipswich Town. I've already sent an email to the club asking for help, but I was wondering if people on this forum could help me out with places to look or maybe fan clubs who have their own archive or something like that. Help is much appreciated so thanks in advance! |  | | |  |
| Academic Study on Ipswich Town on 15:40 - Nov 23 with 342 views | stijnutrecht |
| Academic Study on Ipswich Town on 13:35 - Nov 23 by Sharkey |
What's often not noticed is how lucky Colchester were to get into (and stay in) the league and how unlucky Chelmsford were not to: at one time Chelmsford were as big a club as Colchester and Ipswich and for that matter Norwich.
Wikipedia:
"Chelmsford applied for Football League membership in 1947, 1948, 1950 and 1951 and 1956 but were unsuccessful on each occasion; their eight votes in 1950 put them second amongst the unsuccessful clubs, and marked their highest-ever vote total.[9]
They won the Southern League Cup again in 1959–60 and the league title in 1967–68 and 1971–72. They continued to apply to join the Football League, making bids in 1960, 1961, 1962, and every year between 1967 and 1971 and again from 1973 until 1976, but were unsuccessful;[9] In total the club had 17 unsuccessful attempts at election into the Football League between 1947 and 1976.[ |
Thanks for the tip, I will have a look at the history of the Football League as well now! | | | |
| Academic Study on Ipswich Town on 16:55 - Nov 23 with 286 views | Vegtablue |
| Academic Study on Ipswich Town on 09:13 - Nov 22 by ElephantintheRoom |
Dépends what you mean by heritage? The club has been through quite a few stages and is now a completely different animal to what it was in the last century.
To understand what the club once was you’d be well advised to read ‘the men who made the town’ and perhaps more importantly a little paperback ‘John Cobbold the most eccentric man in football’ , ever’ (or words to that effect). Those two tomes should give you an understanding of what the club was once about and the unique identity it once had
Alas just before the turn of the century it was used as a career opportunity by David Sheepshanks who saw nothing wrong in making the club insolvent whilst climbing the greasy pole at the FA. Financial meltdown was, unfortunately, just the first step in a very rapid decline as it was gifted to an unknown and invisible offshore ‘businessman’ , Marcus Evans who was so mysterious it took years for a photo of him to emerge. He managed after a decade of decline to unload it to a gang of opportunists who have, bizarrely, tapped into US pension fund to create a poor man’s Chelsea.
Now the club is the polar opposite of what it was once - like many/most football clubs and the current support base is delighted (until the wheels drop off). A once quaint local football club with its own identity, forged by decades of Cobbold patronage has become yet another US funded franchise.
By way of background to the current heritage of the club you might like to Google Bristol City - whose franchise model has been transferred lock, stock and barrel to Ipswich ( with US money instead of UK money) - and bizarrely perhaps Tucson FC and Rhode Island FC to see what murky waters Town are potentially sailing into with joyous support from money-doped ‘supporters’.
So the true heritage is a non-league team run in a certain Corinthian spirit way by the Cobbold family - a small club that grew organically to win the league in the early 60s and almost did so again in the 70s and 80s. Financial mismanagement and self interest turned it into one of 20 teams that ‘investors’ think belong in the Prem - and a ‘success-starved’ support base desperate to enjoy the good times most never saw , nor understand where it came from.
Now it’s in the hands of carpetbaggers who tried a strategy at Bristol City that didn’t quite work and might in theory at Ipswich. But in terms of heritage Ipswich are no different now to Dozens of other clubs. |
Aspects of that weren't awful to read and I'm sure the OP welcomes alternative appraisals. I'd be interested to know if our alignment with the 'Corinthian spirit' in the early years holds up to scrutiny, and at which point we outgrew it, if indeed such ideals were once present. The non-league description does feel incredibly generic, given how few clubs began as professional entities.
I'm far from an expert on our heritage or even the mismanagement of the Sheepshanks era, but I do know you once disclosed your interests on this forum and it may be worthwhile disclosing them again here. You purported to having been part of a takeover bid that was ultimately overlooked in favour of the Marcus Evans Group. For many such disappointment would sour subsequent opinion of decision makers and the club in general, even more so given Evans' own mismanagement. For some it would inflict a wound that never heals.
*Not that the above invalidates your opinion, obviously. [Post edited 23 Nov 2023 17:02]
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