Yes and its not west ham. Good side and will be a nice test.

Hope we buy a couple of their players in the process. COYB

Travelled through Utrecht many times. Nice place. I don't think they have a massive following, but the town is much bigger than Ipswich (400,000+?), so I imagine they might bring a few over. Maybe a Dutch ITFC fan can enlighten us?

a couple of Utrecht treaties eh bluefeast?

They have connections off the pitch with millwall. They are a good side with a good following as my millwall friend keeps in touch with a few of them

Steve, although Utrecht is much bigger than Ipswich (just over 300,000 inhabitants) it is also home to one of the largest (if not the largest) universities in the country. Obviously the students are not all Utrecht fans. I think their following is comparable to ours whilst in the lower half of the table, with their ground, slightly smaller than ours with a capacity of 25,000, generally not quite attracting over 20,000 supporters. The most notable difference between the two clubs is the history. Utrecht have always played in the Eredivisie but have never won it. Nor have they had much success in Europe, although Ricky van Wolfswinkel did score a hat-trick against Celtic in 2010. It was whilst playing for Utrecht that our old friend really broke onto the scene here in the Netherlands.

Should be a nice little test let hope they have a couple of hidden gems we could nick something like our last two most famous Dutchmen would be great !!! "I am dreaming of course ".

DutchTownFan: thanks for the update. Although I've been through Utrecht many times and stayed there on odd occasions, I've never been to the ground. Pity this wasn't an away match (for ITFC). I used to really enjoy those Dutch pre-season friendlies.

Should be a interesting to see... However last season FC Utrecht didn't really meet expectations, a French forward by the name Haller sort of saved the season with 10 goals in 15 games. He joined FC Utrecht on loan during the winter break and signed a permanent contract after the season. Apart from this guy, I'd say only goalkeeper Ruiter is real quality. The rest of the team are capable enough players, but really rely on being a team rather than their individual class.

An interesting fixture and something a bit different. Can't say I know too much about them though.

I agree babyblueboy, we could do with another Gus Uhlenbeek and Pim Balkestein right now.

DutchTractorBoy, maybe MM is interested in their keeper? :-)

DownTownFan, Wolfy Van Winkle is a good player IMO, shame he went to play in yellow & Green though.. But great that he only scored one goal for them!

should be a nice game to watch pre season. As one of oldies on here I was at FC Utrecht the last time town played a pre season game at their place in 1977 where we lost 2-1

Utrecht fans have a pretty heavy reputation here in NL and I think the police may have more on their hands than they expect. Guess the late announcement will deter a lot from travelling though....