Sponsor and minority shareholder Ed Sheeran has been speaking about seeing Town shirts at his concerts all over the world and Suffolk’s close-knit community.

Sheeran, 34, spotted regularly at Portman Road and at away games, is in his final season as the club’s shirt sponsor, having taken on the role in 2021, and last year acquired a minority stake in the Blues.

His involvement in the club, as well as Town’s on-field success over the last few years, has led to a surge in shirt sales with the Blues anticipating hitting a record 100,000 mark this season.

Speaking alongside Town chairman and CEO Mark Ashton in the Men in Blazers podcast, Sheeran was asked about wearing a Blues shirt when playing venues in far-flung parts of the globe.

“It’s less about me pulling it on and more looking out,” he said. “When I was playing China, I’d never been to that city before ever and I looked out in the crowd and every single night, I only see probably the first 10 rows with the lights, and there were at least 10 Ipswich shirts worn by people who don’t speak English as their first language.

“There’s the pink shirt, the blue shirt, people have the goalie shirt and wherever you go around the world now there’s always someone in an Ipswich at a gig.

“Because I am a Suffolk boy and Suffolk is not somewhere that is glitz, glam, sexy, it’s not anywhere that anyone really ever talks about, so when you go to places, like when I was playing cities in India where it takes hours and hours and hours to get to even from a main city and you see Ipswich shirts pop up there, it’s nice seeing a glimpse of Suffolk.”

Reflecting on what makes Suffolk so special, Framlingham-raised Sheeran added: “I think if you live here you think it’s the best place on the planet and if you don’t live here, you’re confused why people live here. It’s one of those sorts of places.

“We’re quite a close-knit community. I think this is why I love being an Ipswich fan and why I was drawn back.

“I had a point in my life where I drifted, I was an Ipswich fan up until I was 10 or 11 and then I picked up the guitar and didn’t care about anything else at all, so I was just pure music, music, music, guitar, didn’t even watch movies, TV shows, football, I was just completely centred and focused on music.

“And it wasn’t really until having a great deal of success internationally and moving to Los Angeles, thinking that was the thing I wanted to do and all of that not going that well mentally for me and then moving back to Suffolk and then finding a community, this was probably when I was about 23/24, finding a community where I wasn’t treated as a pop star.

“I’m an Ipswich fan when I’m at the stadium, it’s very much like I am one of the crowd rather than someone that sticks out.

“Suffolk is very much like that as a county for me as well. I went to the Co-op yesterday to pick up food and not a single selfie, you just walk in and go and get the milk and veg and go to the counter and it’s normal because I am part of the furniture here and I feel like that is why Suffolk is special, for me anyway.

“Normal is the wrong word, I feel part of something here rather than apart from it, I guess.”

Earlier in the season, Sheeran was immortalised in mural form in Sir Alf Ramsey Way, which he joked he is amazed still remains intact.

“I’m surprised it hasn’t been defaced by now,” he laughed. “I thought there would be a cock drawn on it at some point!”

Sheeran has also been disappointed by the quality of chants aimed in his direction by opposition fans.

“The one thing I will say, anyone who is watching this who isn’t an Ipswich fan, the chants haven’t been funny enough, I need better chants when we’re going away,” he said.

“I see so much thought and preparation going into some of the rude chants and I just feel like I haven’t got the humour.

“We were at Wolves and there was just a chant saying ‘Ed Sheeran’s a c***’ and I was like, at least have a bit of imagination!”

Photo: REUTERS/Chris Radburn

Gforce added 20:44 - Mar 26 Several Ipswich shirts seen In China,just shows the global reach of being part of the Premier league,and the reason we need to get back there asap.We'll be seen in North Korea next !
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Bramidan added 20:50 - Mar 26 He does sum up our Suffolk mentality, he’s just a bloke shopping, nuttin special. Alright if you like that sort of thing.
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poet added 21:41 - Mar 26 I think those are very honest words from Ed Sheeran. He’s a mega pop star, known world wide, and Suffolk has made him the humble and modest chap he is. That’s what makes him a great ambassador for our beloved club. I was born and bred in Suffolk, and I can relate to the many things he sees in what I believe is a very special county. Over time nothing stays the same, but Suffolk does have a hold on you, no matter where you go, or what experiences you have in your life, you never forget Suffolk, and you never forget your roots. As for the chants from some members of the audience ( I’m loath to call them fans), he sums up their total lack of imagination and intellect very well. All those remarks born out of nothing more than childish ignorance and jealously. Very pleased you are a fan Ed, keep the faith.

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Dizzyhat added 22:00 - Mar 26 I'm waiting to hear how this article is linked to everything being Leif Davis's fault.
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Bazza8564 added 08:15 - Mar 27 Nice one Dizzy. Perhaps we can also have a moment to slaughter muric as well?
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Leejames99 added 09:27 - Mar 27 @dizzyhat Any need, I take it that dig aimed at me, I've never said EVERYTHING is Davis fault, he was immense last year but he doesn't have the pace to play that way in Prem as the wingers are too quick. You can tell, as I've said, by how Sheeran and Ashton talk that they would like to stay up but are fully prepared to go down and the club is in a good place. All I've said is when Davis now plays we concede 3 or 4 goals a game because teams have sussed that there will be a huge gap on one side or the other and the wingers are ready to pounce, and we don't need Davis on left wing we have spent alot on J Clarke and Phillogene to play there, we need a left back to stay back which Townsend does, I assume you have Davis as a starter so with no Muric to blame, instead of sarcasti comments why don't you say who you think plays and who is at fault for us shipping goals galore, not scoring and being only team in all 4 divisions without a win? Bournemouth will have a field day if we play as we have, Kluivert will love the space like Elanga did, Son did, Doku did, Salah did well they all did. On a note on what this post is about I think Sheeran and Ashton spoke really well, it's good they have come out and reassured fans the club is in a good place and ahead of schedule and they are buying talent they have seen with best potential to be big players and want them at Town. Sheeran all but confirmed he be doing gigs at Portman Road with a Wardley fight on cards too. We can still stay up and have to at least 18th in case City get a points deduction so we still have a fighting chance but the Wolves and Leicester games are huge 6 pointers. Thanks for the down marks as per waiting on the regulars, if I say our home kit is blue I'd get down marked who still want league 1 stars on pitch!

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Bluewhiteboy added 11:36 - Mar 27 Very well grounded. Good to see he feels that way at Portman rd, glad he doesn't realise half the crowd seem to spend half the time taking pictures of him (or is that just those near me!) And sky sports zoom into him every 5vminutes. Hopefully next season when there's a bit more entertainment on the pitch there's less need to look for it in the stands.
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bobble added 11:40 - Mar 27 Does leif davis even play guitar ?
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Carberry added 13:03 - Mar 27 You got your wish, Dizzyhat.
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FromIpswichToPhoenix added 14:16 - Mar 27 Oh, don't start on Leif. That just means we'll have to scroll a football pitch length to get to the next post
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Leejames99 added 15:30 - Mar 27 @Fromipswichtophoenix Look like the We love Leif fan club put in force today, who don't mind what league we are in as long as there are no new signings and we stick Chappersy, Morsy, Burnsy, Woolfy, Waltsy, Hirsty, Taylsy and anyone else we bought in League 1, it's pathetic. At least I write my opinion with fact or stats not just 'Boohoo it can't be Hirsty fault he only scored a couple goals all year, its that useless Philogene, it's not walts fault he concedes so many goals it's that Muric, Greaves and O'Shea waste of money, boo hoo we list all our team spirit now Morsy, Tayls and Lonongosy not on pitch that useless Phillips and Cajuste too injury prone, boo hoo no creativity we need Leify and Burnsy and Broady running down the wings supplying Hirsty and our chappers, boohoo if Mckennasy had bought nobody especially the waste of 100 million then we would be top half of the Prem, now he gonna leave us boohoo and all the signings, who we don't like anyway will be sold and we can get back to league one with the our lads, it's pathetic and history. Do any of you down markers watch matches or interviews. Meant to be forum for serious debate or fun debate about the team we support, if you happy with Davis in team then say how we score, how we stop conceding and how that happens with Leify on pitch?

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IpswichT62OldBoy added 15:50 - Mar 27 @FromIpswichToPhoenix. QED
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PhuketPete added 15:55 - Mar 27 @leejames - relax mate.
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Dizzyhat added 17:08 - Mar 27 @leejames - apologies for my sarcasm, and any offense caused. It was merely a satirical observation on my part For what it's worth, I, and maybe many others on here, don't necessarily disagree with what you say, it's more how much you say. Like PhuketPhil says, relax. This forum is all about discussion, not domination.
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Leejames99 added 17:48 - Mar 27 Fair play @Dizzyhat no worries, I work in PR so I just type away, I try to make posts shorter. I don't dislike Davis at all he has been immense and I feel sorry for him as he must be told to play that way but I don't get what Mckenna thinks works by playing him that way when we signed 2 left wingers, I think Davis would be immense in front of Townsend in a 4-3-1-2 but Mckenna won't play it like that it seems. One thing I'm sure we all agree on is that something needs done as we do have the hope of catching Wolves and Man City could go down so we needs points. Time will tell I guess

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