Ipswich Town Football Club is an English association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, which was formed in 1878. The side played amateur football until 1936 when the club turned professional and was elected to the Southern League. Ipswich Town were elected into the Third Division South of the Football League in place of Gillingham on 30 May 1938.
The club experienced league success during the early 1960s under the guidance of Alf Ramsey, winning the First Division title in 1961–62, one season after winning promotion from the Second Division. Two decades later, under the guidance of Bobby Robson, the club achieved success both in the FA Cup in 1978 and in European competition, winning the UEFA Cup in 1981.
Success at Ipswich for Ramsey and Robson led to both men managing the England national football team. Under Ramsey, England won the World Cup in 1966, and Robson led the team to fourth place at the 1990 World Cup.
Foundation to professionalism: 1878–1936
The club was founded on 16 October 1878 as an amateur side known as Ipswich AFC, under the presidency of local MP Thomas Cobbold who had played football at Charterhouse School. George S Sherrington & J. M. Franks were elected joint Captains.John Eastwood and Tony Moyse, "The Men who made the Town", 1986. Ipswich AFC's first match was a 6–1 home victory over Stoke Wanderers at the Broom Hill ground on 2 November 1878. This was followed by a 2–0 victory over Harwich in the club's first away match. Losing only one game in seventeen in its second season, the club was able to build enough interest to enroll players for a second team. Ipswich recorded their biggest ever victory during the 1880–81 season, a 15–0 defeat of East Stamford with one player, John Knights, registering a treble hat trick; both achievements remain club records. The team moved to Portman Road, the current ground, in 1884, and would share, until 1936, the facilities with the East Suffolk Cricket Club who had played there since 1855. The Cobbold family involvement continued when, in 1885, Nathanael Fromanteel Cobbold was elected as a vice-president of the club. Following his sudden death the following year, the position was then held by his nephew John Dupuis Cobbold.
The club won their first trophy in the 1886–87 season, triumphing 2–1 against a team representing Ipswich School in the final of the Suffolk Challenge Cup. In 1888 the club merged with Ipswich Rugby Club to form Ipswich Town F.C. In 1890, the club entered the qualifying rounds of the FA Cup for the first time and was knocked out in the final qualifying round by the 93rd Highlanders. The club experienced scant success in the Cup during the 1890s but won a number of local cup competitions, including the Suffolk Senior Cup and the Ipswich Charity Cup. Having received invitations to join from both the Southern League and the Norfolk & Suffolk League, Ipswich joined the latter in the 1899–1900 season, finishing fourth in their first league season. They were league runners-up in 1902–03.Norfolk & Suffolk League 1897–1939 Non-League Matters In 1903 they also entered a team into the new South East Anglian League and were its inaugural champions.[ 1903–04[ Pride of Anglia They left the South East Anglian League in 1906, but continued playing in the Norfolk & Suffolk League.
In 1907, Ipswich became founder members of the Southern Amateur League. The club narrowly avoided relegation in many of the following seasons, and suffered a club record 15–1 defeat at the hands of the Corinthians at Portman Road on New Year's Day, 1910. The outbreak of the First World War and the commandeering of Portman Road by the Army curtailed the 1914–15 season and organised football did not return until the 1920–21 season. Just one year later, Ipswich Town became champions of the Southern Amateur League, clinching the title on the last day of the season. The club won the league a further three times, in 1929–30, 1932–33 and 1933–34, before becoming founder members of the Eastern Counties Football League at the end of the 1934–35 season.
Early Football League: 1936–1955
In 1936, local businessman Leonard P. Thompson threatened to lead a breakaway from the amateur club to create an entirely separate professional club, Ipswich United. John Murray Cobbold, the club president, called together rival factions for a meeting at the Town Hall on 1 May 1936, at which it was agreed that Ipswich Town should turn professional. The club was unanimously elected to the Southern League for the 1936–37 season and former Irish international footballer Mick O'Brien was appointed as the club's first professional manager.
The club's first professional game at Portman Road resulted in a 4–1 win against Tunbridge Wells Rangers and the club went on to win the Southern League in their debut season. O'Brien left after just one season following the death of his wife. Ipswich Town were managerless until 10 November 1936 when the club appointed Scott Duncan, who had left recently relegated Manchester United. He led Ipswich to third place in the 1937–38 season.
Ipswich Town were elected to The Football League on 30 May 1938 by a margin of just two votes, at the expense of Gillingham, initially playing in the Third Division South. The club's last competitive match before the league was suspended due to the Second World War was a 1–1 draw with local rivals, Norwich City. Both John Murray Cobbold and director Robert Nevill Cobbold were killed during the war, the position of director being filled by John Cavendish Cobbold in 1948. Despite the interruption due to the war, Duncan managed the club for over 500 games between 1937 and 1955. Following three successive top-eight finishes, the 1949–50 season ended with Ipswich in 17th position in the Third Division South, the club's lowest ever league finish.
During the early 1950s striker Tom Garneys finished as club top-scorer for four seasons in a row, and became the first professional Ipswich player to score four times in a game. During this period, Ipswich won the title and promotion to the Second Division in the 1953–54 season, during which eight consecutive wins were recorded. The club was relegated back to the Third Division South the following year at the end of a poor season, the highlight of which was progress to the fifth round of the FA Cup, a run ended by First Division Preston North End. Ipswich won eight matches in a row from 23 September 1953 to 31 October 1953. Duncan resigned but stayed on at the club in a secretarial role for a further three years. His replacement was a managerial novice, former England international and double Championship winner at Tottenham Hotspur, Alf Ramsey.
Ramsey and champions of England: 1955–69
Alf Ramsey's appointment led Billy Wright to comment, "In appointing Alf to become their manager Ipswich Town paid a tremendous tribute to intelligent football – and footballers who think!" In Ramsey's first season at the club, Ipswich scored 106 goals in 46 games and finished third in Division Three (South). The following season, 1956–57, the club won the Third Division South title for the second time and saw the emergence of local striker Ted Phillips who scored 46 times during the season; this remains the highest number of goals scored by an Ipswich player in a season. During the same season, Ipswich played under floodlights for the first time, at Coventry City in September 1956. At the end of that season that John Cavendish Cobbold was appointed as the club's chairman. Three seasons of mid-table finishes followed as Ipswich established themselves in the Second Division, along with moderate success in the FA Cup, most notably reaching the fifth round in the 1958–59 season.
Ipswich had their most successful season to that point in 1960–61, winning the Second Division and promotion to the top level of English football, ahead of Sheffield United and Liverpool. In the top flight, Ipswich became champions of the Football League at the first attempt in 1961–62, with Ray Crawford joint English and European top scorer with Derek Kevan of West Bromwich Albion. Matt Busby described the title-winners as "... one of the First Division's most attractive sides ...". As English league champions, Ipswich qualified for European football for the first time. They met Maltese side Floriana in the European Cup, defeating them 14–1 on aggregate in the first round before losing to A.C. Milan in the second round; it would be another 11 years before the club would qualify for Europe again. Ramsey quit the club in April 1963 to take charge of the England national football team, and Ipswich finished only four places above relegation in the 1962–63 season. To commemorate Ramsey's success at the club, a statue of him was unveiled outside Portman Road in 2000 by Ray Crawford.
Ramsey was replaced by Jackie Milburn, under whose leadership fortunes on the pitch declined. Two years after winning the league title, Ipswich dropped into the Second Division in 1963–64, conceding 121 league goals in 42 games, still the highest number of goals conceded by Ipswich in a season. Patrick Mark Cobbold, John's brother, joined the board of directors in 1964 and their mother, Lady Blanche Cobbold, became honorary president of the club. Milburn quit after just one full season and was replaced by Bill McGarry early in the 1964–65 season. The club remained in the Second Division for four years until McGarry guided Ipswich to promotion in the 1967–68 season, winning the division by a single point ahead of Queens Park Rangers. McGarry left to manage Wolves and was replaced by Bobby Robson in January 1969.
Robson and Europe: 1969–82
Bobby Robson's appointment followed a chance encounter with Ipswich director Murray Sangster while scouting at Portman Road for Chelsea manager Dave Sexton. Robson had some experience of management from his time at Fulham, although he had been sacked after failing to avoid relegation from the Second Division. Robson's sides finished 18th and 19th in his first two seasons at Ipswich, but he kept the team in the top division, before finding greater success. Robson led the club to fourth place in the First Division and success in the Texaco Cup, beating local rivals Norwich City 4–2, in the 1972–73 season.
The fourth-place finish meant Ipswich qualified for the 1973–74 UEFA Cup. In the first round, they were drawn against six-time European champions Real Madrid. Following a 1–0 victory at Portman Road, Ipswich needed to defend their slim lead. Ipswich captain Mick Mills was reported in the Spanish press suggesting that "El Real no es invincible" ("Real are not invincible") and a 0–0 draw at the Bernabéu secured Ipswich's shock passage into the second round. The club fell at the quarter-final stage but fourth place in the league enabled Ipswich to return to the tournament in the following season.