Town boss Kieran McKenna says his thoughts and prayers are with Blues legend Marcus Stewart, who announced that he had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease at the end of last week.

The 49-year-old was with the Blues between 2000 and 2002 and was one of the scorers in the play-off final as George Burley’s Blues reached the Premier League before netting 19 times in the top flight the following season as Town finished fifth to qualify for Europe.

McKenna was asked if the message from the Blues is that the club will help in any way they can.

“Certainly, and I think that message has been relayed by [CEO] Mark [Ashton] to Marcus,” he said. “And from my point of view our thoughts and prayers are massively with him and his family and we’ll offer all the support that we can do.

“He’s a legend of the club, a fantastic man. I did my Pro Licence with Marcus and he’s a really, really good person.

“I grew up as a teenager watching his successes in the Ipswich Town team, somebody I looked up to and had the pleasure to meet doing my Pro Licence, a really good person and a good coach as well in his coaching career.

“Thoughts definitely with him and I think both clubs, Ipswich and Bristol Rovers, will certainly like to show their support tomorrow night and both sets of fans can unite in that and unite in getting behind Marcus.”

Fans on social media have said they will pay tribute to Stewart by singing his Town chant when the clock ticks over the 11-minute mark - the striker wore 11 in the Premier League - during Tuesday’s game against Rovers, his hometown club where he started his career and for whom he coincidentally made a goalscoring debut against the Blues at Twerton Park in August 1991.

The teams will wear warm-up T-shirts showing the clubs' support for Stewart and the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation, Town's bearing the number 11, which the striker wore in the Premier League with the Blues, and Rovers' number 14.

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SpiritOfJohn added 16:03 - Sep 12 Top top player. I never had a high opinion of footballers who wore gloves until Marcus came along. Shortly afterwards I bought some for myself!
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Suffolkboy added 16:34 - Sep 12 Whatever our religion ,whatever our beliefs I'm certain every ITFC supporter will want to be associated with all that Kieron McKenna has to say ! Any with experience or knowledge of this disease will appreciate just how testing and difficult will be the challenges Marcus and his family have to meet face to face : let us give our love and support throughout ! COYB
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algarvefan added 23:40 - Sep 12 His time at Town were during some very good times for the club, he was an intelligent footballer and instinctive goalscorer. Marcus always had time for the fans, it's now our time to try and do what we can for him. Total respect for the guy who loved Town.
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