| The greatest team in League One history. 12:00 - Mar 17 with 2847 views | TractorFrog |
Not much point to this post other than to brag about how great Ipswich Town are.
Back at the time of that great 3-0 away win against them in April 2023, the Barnsley manager Michael Duff called us 'the greatest team in league one history'.
Obviously this annoyed Plymouth Argyle fans because they had beaten us in the league, and that's fair. However, if we look at the team as specifically the one we had at the end of the season, when we went on a run of 13 wins in 14 games, rather than across the season as a whole, because Broadhead, Luongo, Hirst and Clarke were only signed in January, Duff has a good point.
The team that played against Exeter was our main team in that run:
Christian Walton
Harry Clarke
Luke Woolfenden
Cameron Burgess
Leif Davis
Sam Morsy
Massimo Luongo
Wes Burns
Conor Chaplin
Nathan Broadhead
George Hirst.
That team played together as the starting 11 in that exact combination seven times (Bolton, Shrewsbury, Wycombe, Charlton, Peterborough, Barnsley, Exeter), and won all seven games, (I think this is one short of the football record), by an aggregate of 26-0, probably a record. They were also the main players across our 13 wins in 14 games at the end of that season but it's inevitable that one player was often missing so it was only the full 11 in seven games.
Across the championship season last year, those ten outfield players were the ten outfield players with the most starts over the whole season in our squad, with the only change being Vaclav Hladky replacing Walton, and Hladky was, of course, also in the squad before. And that team won another promotion thanks to 96 points in the championship. That first eleven were the main players particularly at the start of the season, and there was a run between the end of the league one season and the start of the championship season, between the draws at Bristol Rovers away and Birmingham City away, where Ipswich Town won 24 games out of 28.
So that league one team effectively proved to be one of the best in the championship. The likes of Freddie Ladapo, Marcus Harness, George Edmundson, Janoi Donacien and Kayden Jackson who were the main subs at the end of the league one season also played a big role in the championship promotion.
Two years later, all 11 have featured as part of a Premier League victory (Morsy, Davis, Burgess, Hirst, Luongo vs Tottenham), (Morsy, Davis, Burgess, Burns, Chaplin, Clarke vs Wolves), (Morsy, Davis, Burns, Broadhead, Woolfenden, Walton vs Chelsea), albeit with Hirst and Luongo only as a sub.
I think that eight of those eleven have looked totally at home as lower Premier League players, with maybe only Walton, Clarke and Luongo appearing slightly shaky and that feels harsh on Walton. If they had been somehow magically free of injury, I would guess that we would have scored more points in the Premier League had nine of those eleven players started every game, and Clarke and Luongo had come on as first subs each time. The players have improved massively since the league one days, but far more because of the coaching from McKenna than natural improvement with age, with only Davis, Clarke, Woolfenden and Hirst aged 21-23 at the time.
So it was a full team of potential Premier League players in League One. In the modern era, that has to be very special. I doubt if it is the greatest in history, as I checked the 1956/57 squad (third division), and it included Roy Bailey, Larry Carberry, Jimmy Leadbitter, John Elsworthy and Ted Phillips who were all champions of England five years later, but that was a different time. Since it was called League One in 2004, surely it's the greatest. |  |
| They'd all laugh at me if they knew what I was trying to do. To create a new strain of super-wine in half-an-hour with a fraction of nature's resources and a FOOL for an assistant. 'Bernard Black, he's mad,' they'd say, 'he's insane, he's dangerous.' Well I'll show them! I'll show them all! | | Poll: | Who should start in CM with Cajuste? |
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| The greatest team in League One history. on 12:10 - Mar 17 with 2767 views | Marshalls_Mullet |
It was a fantastic team, but I guess you would expect it to be up there.
We werent an organic team of lower league players, we were a team of players with vast Championship experience, and players signed from Premier League or Championship clubs.
Christian Walton - Signed from Premier League club.
Harry Clarke - Signed from Premier League club.
Luke Woolfenden - Came through with is in the Championship.
Cameron Burgess - Signed from League One.
Leif Davis- Signed from Premier League club.
Sam Morsy - Signed from Championship club.
Massimo - Signed from Championship club.
Wes Burns - Signed from League One.
Conor Chaplin - Signed from Championship club.
Nathan Broadhead- Signed from Premier League club.
George Hirst.- Signed from Premier League club.
Never the less, what a season, and what a bunch of legends. |  |
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| The greatest team in League One history. on 12:13 - Mar 17 with 2737 views | Blue_In_Boston |
The table says differently. Plymouth were better than us over 46 games.
Let's deal in facts rather than plaudits. |  | | |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 12:17 - Mar 17 with 2694 views | yesjohn99 |
Finished second. | | | |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 12:20 - Mar 17 with 2657 views | pointofblue |
And therefore we reached the minimum expectation in League One considering the outlay and no more than that. | |
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| The greatest team in League One history. on 12:22 - Mar 17 with 2647 views | FoD_Blue |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 12:13 - Mar 17 by Blue_In_Boston |
The table says differently. Plymouth were better than us over 46 games.
Let's deal in facts rather than plaudits. |
For the first half of the season, Sheffield Wednesday were the best team. For the second half, Town were the best team.
Plymouth managed to win the league by being consistently the second best team for the whole season.
The plaudits were based on our late season performance, which was something a bit special.
I'd far rather have finished second and be in our current position, than have won the league and found ourselves where Plymouth are now. | | | |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 12:26 - Mar 17 with 2600 views | TractorFrog |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 12:20 - Mar 17 by pointofblue |
And therefore we reached the minimum expectation in League One considering the outlay and no more than that. |
This doesn't affect the level of the team at the end of the season. Plymouth's promotion was a greater achievement, just like our promotion from the championship was a greater achievement than Leicester's. But the fact that the league one promotion was very much achieved by money and it would have been an embarrassing failure to not have achieved promotion doesn't affect the fact the team we had at the end of that season was such a class above league one level. | |
| They'd all laugh at me if they knew what I was trying to do. To create a new strain of super-wine in half-an-hour with a fraction of nature's resources and a FOOL for an assistant. 'Bernard Black, he's mad,' they'd say, 'he's insane, he's dangerous.' Well I'll show them! I'll show them all! | | Poll: | Who should start in CM with Cajuste? |
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| The greatest team in League One history. on 12:28 - Mar 17 with 2576 views | waveneyblue |
The replies to the OP just about sums up this place now.
Someone tries to post something positive and the responses are all pretty negative.
Far too many are letting this season destroy the brilliance of the previous two.
I get that's its been poor, I get that the transfer strategy probably hasn't worked and overall it's been a rubbish experience.
But for God's sake lighten up some of you, as this lingering negativity will go massively against us next year if we don't hit the ground sprinting. |  | | |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 12:31 - Mar 17 with 2546 views | Marshalls_Mullet |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 12:28 - Mar 17 by waveneyblue |
The replies to the OP just about sums up this place now.
Someone tries to post something positive and the responses are all pretty negative.
Far too many are letting this season destroy the brilliance of the previous two.
I get that's its been poor, I get that the transfer strategy probably hasn't worked and overall it's been a rubbish experience.
But for God's sake lighten up some of you, as this lingering negativity will go massively against us next year if we don't hit the ground sprinting. |
Its just part of the discussion.
I think the Championship promotion season was a great achievement. I just dont put the L1 promotion in the same category. | |
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| The greatest team in League One history. on 12:36 - Mar 17 with 2491 views | TractorFrog |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 12:31 - Mar 17 by Marshalls_Mullet |
Its just part of the discussion.
I think the Championship promotion season was a great achievement. I just dont put the L1 promotion in the same category. |
The championship promotion was an overall far greater achievement because we did it with inferior resources to the other top teams, whereas the league one promotion was with superior resources to Plymouth.
But that's not what this is about, it is about the League One team we had at the end of the year being so far beyond league one level, whereas the Championship team wasn't like that. You can praise two achievements for different reasons. | |
| They'd all laugh at me if they knew what I was trying to do. To create a new strain of super-wine in half-an-hour with a fraction of nature's resources and a FOOL for an assistant. 'Bernard Black, he's mad,' they'd say, 'he's insane, he's dangerous.' Well I'll show them! I'll show them all! | | Poll: | Who should start in CM with Cajuste? |
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| The greatest team in League One history. on 12:55 - Mar 17 with 2397 views | HighgateBlue |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 12:28 - Mar 17 by waveneyblue |
The replies to the OP just about sums up this place now.
Someone tries to post something positive and the responses are all pretty negative.
Far too many are letting this season destroy the brilliance of the previous two.
I get that's its been poor, I get that the transfer strategy probably hasn't worked and overall it's been a rubbish experience.
But for God's sake lighten up some of you, as this lingering negativity will go massively against us next year if we don't hit the ground sprinting. |
The responses are negative in the sense that they negate a proposition with which they disagree. It's fine to disagree.
Saying that a team was the greatest over all previous seasons, when it didn't even come first in the season in question (despite having the biggest budget) is really rather a stretch. |  | | |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 13:14 - Mar 17 with 2326 views | algy |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 12:28 - Mar 17 by waveneyblue |
The replies to the OP just about sums up this place now.
Someone tries to post something positive and the responses are all pretty negative.
Far too many are letting this season destroy the brilliance of the previous two.
I get that's its been poor, I get that the transfer strategy probably hasn't worked and overall it's been a rubbish experience.
But for God's sake lighten up some of you, as this lingering negativity will go massively against us next year if we don't hit the ground sprinting. |
Sprinting is not part of McKenna's game, have you seen us when we get possession at the back and stand around to give the opposition time to get back in formation. | |
| I was there when McKenna's ITFC won in the Premier League at Home. Our only home win in a year. |
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| The greatest team in League One history. on 13:42 - Mar 17 with 2246 views | waveneyblue |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 13:14 - Mar 17 by algy |
Sprinting is not part of McKenna's game, have you seen us when we get possession at the back and stand around to give the opposition time to get back in formation. |
Oh you are hilarious. Have you considered comedy ? | | | |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 13:47 - Mar 17 with 2228 views | algy |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 13:42 - Mar 17 by waveneyblue |
Oh you are hilarious. Have you considered comedy ? |
I saw plenty of comedy in how we defended and lost possession on Saturday. | |
| I was there when McKenna's ITFC won in the Premier League at Home. Our only home win in a year. |
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| The greatest team in League One history. on 13:55 - Mar 17 with 2179 views | Blue_In_Boston |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 12:22 - Mar 17 by FoD_Blue |
For the first half of the season, Sheffield Wednesday were the best team. For the second half, Town were the best team.
Plymouth managed to win the league by being consistently the second best team for the whole season.
The plaudits were based on our late season performance, which was something a bit special.
I'd far rather have finished second and be in our current position, than have won the league and found ourselves where Plymouth are now. |
I agree with all you say, but the best team is judged across a whole season not a purple patch, even if it did run and run and see us over the line. Tables don't lie. | | | |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 20:27 - Mar 17 with 1852 views | SaffronWaldenBlues |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 12:10 - Mar 17 by Marshalls_Mullet |
It was a fantastic team, but I guess you would expect it to be up there.
We werent an organic team of lower league players, we were a team of players with vast Championship experience, and players signed from Premier League or Championship clubs.
Christian Walton - Signed from Premier League club.
Harry Clarke - Signed from Premier League club.
Luke Woolfenden - Came through with is in the Championship.
Cameron Burgess - Signed from League One.
Leif Davis- Signed from Premier League club.
Sam Morsy - Signed from Championship club.
Massimo - Signed from Championship club.
Wes Burns - Signed from League One.
Conor Chaplin - Signed from Championship club.
Nathan Broadhead- Signed from Premier League club.
George Hirst.- Signed from Premier League club.
Never the less, what a season, and what a bunch of legends. |
People forget this when they write off our “League One” players.
Even Ladapo and Aluko have played in the Premier League. |  |
| An East Anglian Town overtaken by Londoners |
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| The greatest team in League One history. on 20:35 - Mar 17 with 1813 views | ITFCSG |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 20:27 - Mar 17 by SaffronWaldenBlues |
People forget this when they write off our “League One” players.
Even Ladapo and Aluko have played in the Premier League. |
Precisely.
We just went from signing cheap PL rejects to getting our pants pulled for overpriced or unfit PL rejects.
At least the former were of some use in League One. | | | |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 22:22 - Mar 17 with 1630 views | NeedhamChris |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 12:20 - Mar 17 by pointofblue |
And therefore we reached the minimum expectation in League One considering the outlay and no more than that. |
What evidence do you have that these were the minimum expectations? | |
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| The greatest team in League One history. on 22:30 - Mar 17 with 1594 views | bournemouthblue |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 12:17 - Mar 17 by yesjohn99 |
Finished second. |
That's the one element that diminishes it
Brum look on course for probably a higher points haul albeit nowhere near the goal difference?
Pompey who were talking of 'doing an Ipswich's
at the start of the season had a similar kind of goal difference to what Brum will end up with although not with the same budget look like they might scrape survival |  |
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| The greatest team in League One history. on 06:40 - Mar 18 with 1388 views | Swansea_Blue |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 12:22 - Mar 17 by FoD_Blue |
For the first half of the season, Sheffield Wednesday were the best team. For the second half, Town were the best team.
Plymouth managed to win the league by being consistently the second best team for the whole season.
The plaudits were based on our late season performance, which was something a bit special.
I'd far rather have finished second and be in our current position, than have won the league and found ourselves where Plymouth are now. |
“Plymouth managed to win the league by being consistently the second best team for the whole season.”
That’s making my head hurt  |  |
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| The greatest team in League One history. on 07:20 - Mar 18 with 1300 views | textbackup |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 12:28 - Mar 17 by waveneyblue |
The replies to the OP just about sums up this place now.
Someone tries to post something positive and the responses are all pretty negative.
Far too many are letting this season destroy the brilliance of the previous two.
I get that's its been poor, I get that the transfer strategy probably hasn't worked and overall it's been a rubbish experience.
But for God's sake lighten up some of you, as this lingering negativity will go massively against us next year if we don't hit the ground sprinting. |
Hold on… Plymouth won the league, so were the best team.
Anyone would/should have said that in real time. This season has nothing to do with it |  |
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| The greatest team in League One history. on 10:28 - Mar 18 with 1151 views | SaffronWaldenBlues |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 07:20 - Mar 18 by textbackup |
Hold on… Plymouth won the league, so were the best team.
Anyone would/should have said that in real time. This season has nothing to do with it |
We were also Ipswich in League One with new owners who spent a fortune already at that level. Not being arrogant but we should have been promoted. | |
| An East Anglian Town overtaken by Londoners |
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| The greatest team in League One history. on 11:45 - Mar 18 with 1085 views | Kievthegreat |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 12:13 - Mar 17 by Blue_In_Boston |
The table says differently. Plymouth were better than us over 46 games.
Let's deal in facts rather than plaudits. |
Town can be the best team in League 1 and Plymouth the best over the course of 46 games. They aren't mutually exclusive.
The key point is we reached our best at the end of the season and finished stronger. The team post Jan window was the best team in the league. We made massive improvements in the team and by the end of the season we were the better team. This is partly why we finished massively ahead of Wednesday and Plymouth the following season as we didn't massively overhaul the team for the Championship, but were already a better team than both.
However it's fair to say that pre January, Plymouth were better and importantly more consistent than us. Hence why the table doesn't lie and they were better over the 46 games. |  | | |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 11:47 - Mar 18 with 1069 views | TractorFrog |
People are missing the point, we were second because over the whole season we were the second best team. But we didn’t have the same team all season, the team improved substantially in the January transfer window, and that team, and specifically those 11 players who started against Exeter and who have all featured in the Premier League, were by far a better team than Plymouth. It’s no coincidence that everyone backed Ipswich to finish highest of the promoted sides in the championship even though we didn’t initially have any new signings in the starting eleven, and that that team won 11 of the first 13 in the league above with the same players and eventually achieved another promotion with Hutchinson, Tuanzebe and Moore the only big additions, while Plymouth and Wednesday were battling relegation. Over the whole season, we came second, but the end-of-year team was the best league one side for a long long time.
And the fact that it was expected because we had the biggest budget affects how impressive an achievement the promotion was, but has no bearing at all on if it was the greatest league one side ever. | |
| They'd all laugh at me if they knew what I was trying to do. To create a new strain of super-wine in half-an-hour with a fraction of nature's resources and a FOOL for an assistant. 'Bernard Black, he's mad,' they'd say, 'he's insane, he's dangerous.' Well I'll show them! I'll show them all! | | Poll: | Who should start in CM with Cajuste? |
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| The greatest team in League One history. on 11:48 - Mar 18 with 1064 views | TractorFrog |
| The greatest team in League One history. on 11:45 - Mar 18 by Kievthegreat |
Town can be the best team in League 1 and Plymouth the best over the course of 46 games. They aren't mutually exclusive.
The key point is we reached our best at the end of the season and finished stronger. The team post Jan window was the best team in the league. We made massive improvements in the team and by the end of the season we were the better team. This is partly why we finished massively ahead of Wednesday and Plymouth the following season as we didn't massively overhaul the team for the Championship, but were already a better team than both.
However it's fair to say that pre January, Plymouth were better and importantly more consistent than us. Hence why the table doesn't lie and they were better over the 46 games. |
Looks like you said effectively the exact same thing two minutes before me. | |
| They'd all laugh at me if they knew what I was trying to do. To create a new strain of super-wine in half-an-hour with a fraction of nature's resources and a FOOL for an assistant. 'Bernard Black, he's mad,' they'd say, 'he's insane, he's dangerous.' Well I'll show them! I'll show them all! | | Poll: | Who should start in CM with Cajuste? |
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| The greatest team in League One history. on 11:53 - Mar 18 with 1050 views | Smoresy |
A few L1 managers and writers claimed we were, which annoyed Plymouth fans no end! Pretty irresistible in the last third of the season, wish we could have played our reverse fixtures against Plymouth & Wednesday in that springtime to showcase the gap. | | | |
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