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Feeling the tension as tomorrows derby game is almost upon us but it's a day of great other significance besides whatever occurs in Norfolk.

Yes it's the 35th anniversary of the 6 - 0 victory over Manchester United.

This game really needs no elaboration and can't remember how to put videos on these pages but then again we've all seen it at one time or another.

One more time here are the relevant details :

1st March 1980
Portman Road Stadium, Ipswich

Attendance : 30,229

Ipswich Town 6
Manchester United 0

scorers (in order) : Alan Brazil, Paul Mariner, Paul Mariner, Alan Brazil, Frans Thijssen, Paul Mariner

we also missed penalties from Thijssen and Kevin Beattie (in between the third and fourth goals)


Line-ups

Ipswich : Cooper P, Burley G, Beattie K, Thijssen F, Osman R, Butcher T, Mills M, Muhren A, Mariner P, Brazil A, Gates E, O'Callaghan K

Manchester United : Bailey G, Nicholl J, Houston S, McQueen G, Buchan M, Coppell S, Sloan T, Grimes A, McIlroy S, Macari L, Jordan J


Strange looking back how they beat us to 2nd place in that years league but credit to the opposition they did have some good players and one season isn't judged on one game alone.

So, whatever may come to pass in Sundays game, take a moment to think back 35 years and if you're of an age (like me) to be able to remember, take a moment to recall what not only was a great game, but how good a team we really had at the time.

I was at that game and what a joy it was to see us thrash them.

Me too Mike, I think that was probably my second or third year as a season ticket holder in the West Stand and was probably my favourite era of being a Town fan.

bluemike wrote:I was at that game and what a joy it was to see us thrash them.

If those penalties has counted it would have been eight or nine, incredible in retrospect.

It's game like this that makes today a bit easier to take. (We) Put together a side that was on the verge of greatness with flair and exciting players that could compete with Europe's best albeit for a short time - that's one thing Norwich can never match.

Yes by 1982 when Robson left for the national job it slowly fell away, but for a time, we provided the crowd with something that may never be seen again in our lifetimes.

I was there too beattie took his twice as the ref said the goalie moved and he put the 2nd in the same spot and was saved again.

The one thing I remember from that game is there were United fans on the lower terrace of the Cobbold Stand.

They were trying to get up to the Town fans sitting above and were putting their hands on the wall to climb up to them and there was this old boy (Town fan) using his walking stick to hit them on their fingers.

They just dropped like flies!!!

Why didn't the Town fans just do what Rangers fans used to do at Ibrox? Throw pies and hot coffee down on them? You could eat a three course meal off my clothes after leaving Ibrox in the 80's.

marko69 wrote:Why didn't the Town fans just do what Rangers fans used to do at Ibrox? Throw pies and hot coffee down on them? You could eat a three course meal off my clothes after leaving Ibrox in the 80's.

Pies and hot coffee. Sounds like a treat to what I will probably get thrown over me in Turin at the end of the month when England play Italy.

It looks like they have put us England fans in the corner of the ground with the Italians above us. If past experience is anything to go by that means we will have coins and bottles of p*ss thrown down on us.

Sounds like it'll be well worth the trip, Shed!

Speaking of bottles though......., plastic bottles weren't really around that much back in the mid 80's ....., was more the glass variety. Many a burst head or two amongst fans after a trip to Ibrox. Was only Ibrox though....., everywhere else was ok. I've never understood that thinking in some grounds; opposing fans above and below each other. Was only ever going to lead to unsavoury incidents. I have a vision locked in my head of an elderly lady, easily in her late 70's, doused in Rangers attire, face scrunched up in anger, and chucking meat pies down on us. Thankfully that old cnt will be dead now.

Incidentally, it is now the 20th anniversary of that game at Manchester United. The opposition got some revenge for that game in 1980 and then some :

March 5th 1995
Old Trafford Stadium
Manchester

Manchester United - 9

Ipswich Town - 0


Manchester : Schmeichel, Bruce, Pallister, Irwin, McClair, Keane, Ince, Kanchelskis, Giggs, Cole, Hughes
subs used : Butt, Sharpe


Ipswich Town : Forrest, Linighan, Thompson, Yallop, Wark, Sedgley, Williams, Palmer, Slater, Mathie, Chapman
subs used : Marshall

Scorers : Keane, Andrew Cole (5), Hughes (2), Ince
attendance : 43, 804


Strange game in retrospect as we beat them at home only a few months earlier, and had won at Anfield a week or two before this game if memory serves. Say again they caught us on a bad day and simply played to the best of their abillity. The Cantona ban was soon forgotten - we were soon relegated also.

I don't remember the Fulham game in 1963, which was by a same loss margin, but this 1995 setback will still be remembered by many. They were however, still unable to win the league championship that year, and perhaps the best form of payback, being a live witness at the FA Cup Final at end of season to see them beaten and finish with nothing. It was a strange season for sure.