BURLEY'S....BARMY ARMY

God I'm so depressed now reading all these happy memories and then comparing then to the circus that we've got now.

Conga'ing around the away end at Swindon 4 up at halftime
Play-off semi final and Magic's injury time equaliser, never heard so much noise in the ground before or since
Wembley
Fab's goal v Man U
Milan at home
Milan away
Calling our ground 'Fortress Portman Road'
Expecting to win games each week rather than expecting to lose them.
The crowd atmosphere was superb week on week - last Saturday I swear I heard Jewell fart and I was in the Cobbold stand!

All distant memories. Thank you GB.
Bring him back, he can only improve this absolute shower eh?

For me one of the stand out games was the First town home game of the 2001/2 season.It was against derby County. i left this particular game feeling we were world beaters, i was on a high.
I worked for the club back then on matchdays.

The game had a strange feel to it, for the first time ever there was no north stand just a building site where the beginnings of my love for ipswich town began. On the pitch though something was happening to make me forget the missing stand. It was of course the debut of Finidi George, burley described it as one of the best debuts he had ever witnesssed, i would agree he was simply superb scored two goals and ran the show( was to be the only time he played like that though). We had another expensive Import in the shape of the imposing Mateo Sereni.

I left that game feeling, football wise, life could not get better, i was paid to watch itfc play beautiful football. We had finished the season previous in 5th position. Norwich were a poor struggling side and the only thing i could see was a rosy future. Left the game a very happy man. Needless to say i spent my town wages in the local pub celebrating my love of ipswich town. I didnt realise at the time, celebrations of an ipswich nature were soon coming to an abrupt end. we went something like 18 games without a victory. there was a mini revival around the new year but it went pear shaped and down we went. Who would have thought it was heading that way?

That match was the beginning of the end. would be nice to have something to smile about regarding ipswich town, dont you think ? not really creating much history worth remembering at the moment are we!

Sometimes i really wish Clegg and Evans read this site, i mean what have they given us to smile about really?
Not much in all honesty eh!

COYB

So many great games that I went to, to chose from! The playoff promotion year games were memorable, hammering Norwich 5-0! Beating Inter Milan.....

Sacking Burley was the biggest mistake this club ever made!

Definitely Martijn Reuser scoring a late goal in his debut against Fulham on march 25th 2000. My first match at FPR and the start of me supporting Town.

i'd swap him for jewell everyday of the week.

passionate about the club, knows the game well and what it takes to get promoted, loved by the fans.

sign him up cleg!

So many to choose from.

Rather than concentrate on individual games I'd rather pay tribute to the type of football we played then, quick, 1 touch, at times we were an absolute joy to watch.

In those days you would go to PR thinking how much we would win by! We would be gutted if we didnt hit the playoffs which we did season in season out.

I think David Johnson, Marcus Stewart, Mat Holland, John McGreal and Tony Mowbray were his best signings.

What a manager, what a legend, what times we had!

Your sorely missed George.

THOSE WERE THE DAYS.

Too many good matches,moments & players to mention...easily my happiest days as a Town fan.

The biggest mistake this club ever made was getting rid of George.

For me the golden years of the Burley era would be from January 16 1996 when we beat Blackburn in the FA Cup at Ewood Park, through to the final whistle of the 2000-01 season. In that period, he was pretty much one of the best managers in the country, building something that looked like it would last for a generation, playing good football, finding talented players both from outside the club and within it. I particularly remember the period from about early 1998 till mid 2001 when we felt like a team who could beat anybody. In apresent time when winning football matches has been like finding hen's teeth, the ITFC of that era made winning look effortless. He also came across as a nice man too, magnaimous in victory, gracious in defeat. His sides gave me the best times I've known as a Town fan.

What went wrong in his last 15 months, I will never be able to fathom, but despite Joe Royle and Jim Magilton's best efforts, we've never recovered from it. Neither has Burley, it's been a crying shame to see what's happened to his career, particularly since his time at Hearts. I read he was sacked at Apollon Limassol after 2 games! It is a huge shame, because at one time, it looked like he would be what David Moyes has become.

Well said patrickswell.

Anyone who referred to Sir Bobby Robson as Mr Robson all the way through his time as Ipswich manager, shows characteristics of a person who totally believed in the methods his mentor and guardian had instilled in him. I bet at this current moment with Ipswich staring a championship relegation battle in the face that Sir Bobby is turning in his grave....
I have nothing against PJ in fact at times I admire his honesty but we are getting well under 20,000 at every match now and there simply is no belief. I remember being at a 1-1 draw against WBA in division one as it was then and in excess of 20,000 went home happy with a point because we footballed West Brom off the park.
I know you cannot live in the past but I would just love to see that style of football again at portman road... The last time I saw it was when Swansea visited under Roberto Martinez.
The man is ITFC through and through like a stick of rock. We allegedly owe him millions after our Administration and the least we could do now is give him a chance.... Could we do any worse? I appreciate also that with Hyam, Murray etc that our academy is not bereft but under who did we develop our most memorable players such as dyer, bramble, etc.... I rest my case.

come back George all is forgiven

so many great times never thought we would see European football again

best moment live on tv at southampton when stewie chipped the keeper for his third

winning at anfield was also special after going so many times when George was a player and never getting a win

on a sad note i don't think George ever recovered from the loss of his mate dale

Mine apart from most that's been said is Tuesday night against the scum a certain taricco running from left back and curling it in the bottom corner his face and passion with the players amazing and in front of the north just made it more special

Forgot to say the hangovers I had in them days don't get many now roll on hangovers again

1-0 to the football team...

The amount of points lost to teams that would park the bus in front of their goal... it was a challenge to break them down... but it was great watching 90 mins of pure ITFC domination.

I once saw a statistic of a 5 year period of Burley's team, contrasted to all teams in all divisions, and we were around 5th for wins, points and goals. regardless of whether it too us 5 years to get out of the division. It was fantastic, and we were treated to some great football over many years

As for my favourite game and player...

My favourite game was more of a favourite run. Everyone talks about the 5 - 0 destruction of Norwich. But most forget that we went on a home run across 3 games that averaged 5-1. We beat Huddersfield 5-1, Norwich 5-0 and Oxford 5-2. This home run was split by a 2-1 away victory to Man City, and was within a 16 match unbeaten league run. Awesome! 83pts saw us finish 5th!

Tony Mowbray - I didn't think I'd pick him... he was slow, he struggled towards the end of the season, but he was sooo good at organising the def. Such a presence. Herman was better, true. But Mowbray was a platform upon what many years of success were built.

The day David Johnson signed

Great times. Remember the first home game in the Premiership v Man United. Wilnis put us in front and then Beckham equalised with a classic freekick in front of the North Stand. That was back before we built up each end and Sir Alex said after the game that 22 thousand sounded like 45 thousand fans that night!

Look at the teams from that night. How much would you love this Town side now!

Richard Wright
Mark Venus
Titus Bramble
Hermann Hreidarsson
Fabian Wilnis
Jamie Clapham
Jermaine Wright
Matt Holland
Jim Magilton
Marcus Stewart
David Johnson



Fabien Barthez
Gary Neville
Phil Nevillesub 63
Roy Keane
Ronnie Wallwork
Jaap Stam
David Beckham
Paul Scholes
Ole Gunnar Solskjaersub 63
Dwight Yorkesub 79
Ryan Giggs

So so many, but the biggest stand out for me was the atmosphere at all the games, PR rocked, the emotions of it all , the hurt of all those play-off heartbreaks and the consoling from the national press each and every time. We felt it and the nation also felt it with us. I think we were everyone's favorite other team.
Players- Stewart coolness in the area was awesome, Jonty's goals and his infectious smile, Matty's all embracing leadership , we played attractive football and looked attractive too. If only we had the new stands built then 28-30,000 every game!!
Matches too many but I loved the 6-0 at Swindon, 3-0 at Southamton and the 1-0 on a Tues night at Pompey that confirmed our play-off place ( Scowy ) electric atmosphere, then the same at home to Man C and Walsall when we just missed out on automatic.
Then the Premier season of 00-01 unforgettable supreme results at and against the games giants, even the relegation season we won 6 out of 7 at Spurs, Everton and the one we didn't 2-0 up at Valley after 10 mins.
Then the last season of GB we started with a 6-1 win home to Leicester from a goal down, alas came that night at Blundell Pk when we appeared to have nothing left of that passion, spirit allied to the skill and talent going down 3-0 to Grimsby, only Marcus Bent showing well, I was there that night amongst the less than 5,000 sitting in the McDs outside the ground after the match and for some reason that still lays heavy in the dark corner of my memory, the day ITFC died singing '' bye-bye with a Grimsby fish-pie''

Definitely best signing was Marcus Stewart combining with David Johnson what a pair up front. God where would we be now with two of that quality.

Best game has to the be play off final as we finally got to the promised land. However, the most nerve racking tense game was the play off semi when Magic Jim popped up with the hatrick goal with last kick of 90 mins. Then watching Bolton disintegrate in extra time was just a joy. OMG at the moment I don't think I'll ever get to relive these types of games again, what a depressing thought.

TWTD changing its site name to these are the days. Mark Venus, Herman Herierdarsson, Matt Holland, Marcus Stewart. Beat Liverpool Uefa cup team 1-0 at Anfield. Beat Inter Milan. Drew with Man U, Arsenal, Chelsea at home. In ten years so much has changed so much has gone wrong. But so much has gone wrong and turned for Man City, Newcastle, Leeds, West Ham. Now Aston Villa and Bolton feel the pain. We need to turn the corner.

...... with memories like these - we have every right to be discontented with the current situation.

Saying nothing - about even earlier great times.

Love the Club (always will) - but hate what it has become.