There is no comparison with football then & now let alone managers & owners.

Bobby is a football legend, who succeeded around Europe as well as with us.He was a knight of the realm for his efforts - not many of those in the football world. We should celebrate his life on Monday and not bother with pointless comparisons.

Oh and while I'm here at the risk of upsetting anyone who thinks we have to sit & say nothing when the club is going down hill, we need a new manager, new owner, new players & new direction. I never boo the players but this has been the worst 2 years of football I can remember. They work hard & are honest lads but this team unless changed drastically will be bottom 6 next season.

Do you think Mick will make the changes & lead us forward? I don't and he needs to go & soon. However whoever we get will never replace Bobby as our greatest manager..

COYB!

bbg

Although Bobby had a difficult start to his career at ITFC I don't think that his team served up 18 months of dross, or even he might have lost his job?

For the McCarthy muppets firstly Sir Bobbys teams played football secondly where did Mills,
Beattie, Burley, Talbot, Wark, Osman, Butcher, Brazil to name just a few come from. McCarthy will never be on the level of Sir Bobby end of. So please leave Monday for the fans who want enjoy the Memory of the great man and for a short while forget the current Manager. As for spending large amounts of Money 18 players in 13 years he signed so please drop it.

bbg McCarthy has had his time,as for finding his feet, he is probably still looking at the end his arms for them. Thundercat comparing anything to do with Sir Bobby Robson to Mick ''I'm great i am '' McCarthy, is laughable. Mc Carthy AND Evans are destroying everything the club ever achieved .

If Bobby Robson had a fault it was the fact that he would not spend the money he had available. In the early 80's we could have signed Pat Jennings and Graeme Souness and if we had done I am sure we would have won 2 league titles. Imagine Souness playing behind Murhen and Thyssen and although Paul Cooper was a brilliant keeper Pat Jennings was world class

Phenomenal manager and man, he made a middle sized club massive, his achievement cannot ever be underestimated. Only Sir Alf and George have brought the club to the upper half of the top flight.
Those comparing MM.....Please. yes MM has done well in previous seasons to this compared to the resources at his disposal. Be realistic if you look at our gates, budget and look at those with parachute payments we are around 17-18 in this league. I don't like it but it is fact. We are not financially a big club which makes the achievements all the more remarkable!!

bbg I accidentally pressed down vote with my fat thumb. I was just trying to see who downvoted such a well reasoned comment and inadvertently did it myself.

Sir Bobbys wife was my ex's babysitter on occasion and by all accounts completed an amazing pairing. Should be a great day

"WE NEVER SACKED BOBBY ROBSON "............Great retort by the SBR stand aimed at the Geordie hordes. They were dumb struck and hadn't got an answer for that.

However I'd be very happy if Geordie and Town fans can celebrate the Great Man....and hopefully we can nick a point and if we actually attack - who knows!!

To those who are still in the big Mick camp and somehow are comparing him to Sir Bobby particularly with monies available to spend, let's look at the facts:-
Allan Hunter was signed from Blackburn with Bobby Bell going in exchange, yes + cash but not a fortune.
Paul Mariner was signed from Plymouth with John Peddalty & Terry Austin going in the opposite direction + cash. Again not a fortune.
Brian Talbot was sold to Arsenal and with the money the two Dutchman were bought with money to spare!
Of the 12 players who won the cup in 1978, 9 were home grown. 7 of the 11 who won the EUFA cup in 1981 were also home grown! Please don't let anyone even think of comparing the utter dross served up today to those wonderful glory days!

On topic... why is this game all-ticket? The ground will still be half empty.

There's already 23k tickets sold as of today.....

bobby robsons blue and white army, he was in charge the last game i went to,and the 2 dutch blokes were playing that day as well...

Sir Bobby built two great sides at Ipswich. The first featured Colin Viljoen, Allan Hunter, Bryan Hamilton, Brian Talbot, Mick Mills, Kevin Beattie, Trevor Whymark and the original David Johnson. After four years in the job, SBR's team finished 4th in the old First Division in 1972-73. That would mean Champions League qualification in today's money. So please don't compare this achievement with treading water in the Championship.
When Viljoen, Hamilton, Talbot and Johnson (all internationals by now) left the club, SBR created an even better team that played a more continental style of football. We paid fees for the Dutch maestros and Paul Mariner but the majority of players came through the youth system: Wark, Butcher, Osman, Burley, Gates and Brazil.
A truly great manager and a great ambassador for the game of football.

I still believe in this great Club. yes Sir Bobby was our greatest, which is an even more incredible statement considering we had Sir Alf.

This Club has given England its 2 greatest managers. I believe we may yet give them their 3rd. That obviously tells you what i think about MM and Mr Southgate for that matter, but i can tell you one thing, there will NEVER be a statue of MM behind one of our stands after the disgraceful way he has dealt with us supporters, regardless of how things end on the pitch.

In football terms the man is class i don't doubt, but esp this season some of his comments to us supporters have been beyond insulting and reason enough that he should have been suspended if not sacked without compensation to my mind.

ArnieM, the extra seats sold were probably to Newcastle fans. Very nice of us to roll out the red carpet for them, hand over the three points (and no doubt a few goals too) as they secure their promotion... And all in the name of the great SBR. Not so sure they would do the same for us if the tables were turned?

I was wondering who would attend, RoyalAscot's hypothesis seems tenable.
Not sure I will even bother listening, sadly it's all to dire, dour and downright depressing.
I do hope we stay up and have a manager with a less anti-football approach i.e. focus on ourselves playing well rather than neutralising the opposition and nicking it, it is supposed to be entertainment.

I expect Murphy will score.

Monday should be about paying our respect to a club legend and supporting the team! From now until the end of the season lets just get behind the team in every game, any other time you can vent your fustrations!

Robson in his 5th season at portman road had players coming through like Beattie , whymark and Burley coming into the team. I see youth being given very little game time under mm. We have an international youth player in midfield who is overlooked in favour of players who are way past there best. Whilst another very exciting prospect currently finds himself pushing Aldershot toward promotion. Imo you do this club a diservice by even trying to claim this manager knows his trade.

Thundercat & bbg.PM only cost in region of £225k with £100k being recouped from Terry Austin & John Peddelty who went to Plymouth at the same time.Arnold cost £150k and Frans £200k both from FC Twente Enschede.Wouldn't think in todays terms this equates to £90/100 million as you seem to infer.

Sir Bobby took over the club in the top tier in Feb69,where it remained during his time at Ipswich.Soon after he surprisingly sold Ray Crawford to Charlton for £12k before he brought in Frank Clarke(centre forward)and Jimmy Robertson(winger).However things didn't really take off until he brought in Big Al for a club record £85000 from Blackburn a couple of years later.
After he had been at the club 4 1/2 years (end of 72/73 season)Ipswich Town had already won the FA Youth and Texaco Cups;and in that season finished 4th in Div 1.

Mick McCarthy has never achieved this in 25 years,and never will with his boring negative outlook on the beautiful game.Not to mention his attitude to the Ipswich Town fans.

The man is a disgrace and the sooner he goes the better it will be for all concerned,apart from MM who will have done pretty well financially out of ITFC as compensation!

I think it was either after we'd beaten Barca at home or after the first leg of the UEFA final.

He was still on fire form the game. As if he'd kicked every ball, made every tackle. TV Interview, and he said something like - "That's the cream of Europe out there - and we blitzed 'em".

Mourinho learned from him. Wenger used to come and watch training sessions here apparently.

Robson managed the Champions in three countries. And barring some crucial player failures on the pitch I think he'd have won England a second World Cup.

IMHO. Sir Bobby Robson - The finest manager in the history of Association Football. Period.

The best football manager to have lived in my opinion. And a truly wonderful gentleman. Let's not forget that long after this idiot has left we will always have had the honour of the best manager a team could have

you are rght Ferguson, Mc Carthy is just dour, and dull,lifeless interviews, don't think he is motivated enough to scratch his a#se if it were itching,let alone get a team ''up'' for a game.Ive seen more life in the middle of an apple .

Bobby was totally completely unique one of a kind. Please let our next manager be who tries to emulate his approach to the game and his style of play

Boy oh boy aren't some people going off on a tangent, at no time did I compare Robson against MM or Evans against The Cobbold family. All I was pointing out is the similarity between how MM and Evans are being treated to how the Cobbolds and Sir Bobby was treated by the armchair managers. There is no comparison between the game today to as it was played in the 70s and 80s. Who remember standing and and those at the front getting squashed when town scores, these players coped with a pitch that resembled a muddy field. Today it all about agents and money and players whose ambitions exceeds their capabilities. and yes we have one or two of these players in Towns team now.

Seasider: The current record fee paid by an English club is £89m (and there are a few clubs willing to break that next summer). The record was £350k when Mariner was signed. The £225k paid for him amounted to 64% of the then record. If we were to now pay 64% of the current record on a player we would be spending £57m on one player. The fees for Muhren and Thijssen in today's terms would be £27m and £35m respectively. Most teams in those days were made up of academy players with a sprinkling of signings.

The above is not in any way to diminish Sir Bobby's achievements, of whom I am a huge admirer, but to point out how our ability to financially compete with the top clubs in the land, or even the top Championship clubs, has diminished. He also had his bad runs & struggled at the foot of Div 1 for 2/3 years before climbing the table.

It took a lot for someone of his dignity to describe this clubs supporters as morons, but I am afraid that is a widespread opinion among the professionals of a large % of all clubs fans. He would have no time for someone who in one breath proclaim their respect for him and in another abuse or insult current club servants. Why? Because he and most other professionals were once victims.

You referred to compensation. One of the main reasons that managers are overpaid, is because it is a precarious occupation and fans who want to interfere with the running of clubs and dictate the hiring and firing are often the culprits. We now have a long serving manager in today's terms. For me that leaves us at an advantage compared to other clubs. We can develop a reputation for stability. Let the people who run the club get on with it.

I would like to see a new investor come in who would invest wisely in the club and stay for the long haul. I am sure ME would sell if he had a buyer. This business about tax losses is nonsense. Believe me, there are easier ways of avoiding tax than losing millions owning a football club.