Ipswich Town v Blackburn Rovers 
Saturday 4th August 2018 – 15:00
Portman Road
Hi Everyone, hope you are all having a great Summer.
Welcome back, and as Mike say's, to a new era at Portman Road.
A big thank you to Colin, Trev, Marko, Andy and Mike for continuing to contribute to this forum every week. This site would have been no longer in existence without their input.
This season see's Marko's Caption Contest - The Don Cup returning to being part of the Saturday Preview thread.
The Prediction League which is for me one of the highlights of this forum have a few tweaks this season to further enhance this fantastic competition. Please put your name on the thread or PM Charnwood or Bluemike if you have any questions about joining.
This Preview I have posted a bit early and is not complete yet (and will be added to during the week), but I have decided to put it up anyway as it's always good to talk about the first fixture, seasons expectations, predicted lineups and possible late transfers.
As always, thank you to everyone that supports this forum.
Kind Regards Dave
Pre-Match Thoughts - Mike
A New Chapter
The opening day of any new Football season is always a special occasion filled with hope, anticipation and excitement at the thought that this could just be your teams season, every fan up and down the country will have the same hopes and dreams that the next Nine months can deliver success, of course most will end up disappointed come next May but for a few short weeks at least the dream is alive. Of course the fans of our beloved Ipswich Town have the added excitement of a new man at the helm and everything that goes with that, new ideas, new players, new style of play, new backroom staff, you name it but it is just that freshening up of the whole thing that hopefully rekindles interest for many fans who have fallen out of love with their club over recent months.
The Gaffer
The appointment of Paul Hurst was probably one of the worst kept secrets in Football at the time, while the club tried it's best to convince everyone they were doing things correctly I cannot help but think contact with Paul Hurst was made way before Shrewsbury's play off final defeat at Wembley and I have to say I really couldn't care less, all is fair in love and war and when I heard that we were very keen to appoint the very man I had been shouting for for quite some time I wanted us to get him no matter how we had to go about it. I just feel he is the right fit for this club, working within a budget while trying to play attractive and exciting football is not at all easy as the two do not always go hand in hand but Hurst has promised to try and do just that, we need to give him time, he needs to put his stamp on things where the squad is concerned, I'm sure in time he will get it right. Already he has made it known he will not accept mediocrity, his comments after the Braintree game were pretty near the knuckle and took no prisoners, he expected better and demands it, I think Paul Hurst will not be one to mess with if things are not going how he wants them to.
Transfer Window
So far it has been a bit of a slow burner where new signings are concerned, maybe in part due to the World Cup but most teams seem to be in the same boat, yes there are some exceptions like Derby County who year on year c*ck it up but by and large most teams still have much business to do. To date Town have signed Gwion Edwards from Peterborough, Ellis Harrison from Bristol Rovers, Jordan Roberts from Crawley and have brought in the exciting talent Trevoh Chalobah on a season long loan from Chelsea. Many other names have been mooted with Curtis Tilt looking to be a serious target of ours with the club making Two bids so far, Bradshaw, Stockley, Townsend, Beckles, Nsiala etc etc all being linked. The big news of the Summer is that Bart has finally signed that contract, good news indeed and sees him contracted to ITFC for another 3 years. At the time of writing Martyn Waghorn continues to be at the centre of loads of enquiries from other clubs, although the rumours that he has slapped in a transfer request appear to be wide of the mark, but with Town slapping a massive price tag on his head it is hoped Waggy is still here come August 10th although Derby do appear to be serious in their pursuit and while Eight Million up front looks unlikely a structured deal is on the cards. With little over a week to go before the big kick off be prepared for a few new faces coming through the Portman Roads doors.
This season's targets
Everyone has their own ideas on what they expect from the season, for me I want to see us bettering last season so a Top Ten finish would be good, clearly battling for the play off spots would be fantastic but with so much change needing to happen at the club that may just prove to be a bit beyond us this season, of course you never do know and surprises do happen, naturally a victory over that lot up the road is long overdue so a minimum requirement for me is to see us triumph in at least One of the Derby games, most important though is the desire to see a Town team playing attractive and exciting football again, our past has always been built on it so if PH can bring that back to the club the fans will return, with that comes the feelgood factor which was most definitely not present around Portman Road last season, quite the reverse in fact.
Opening Opponents - My Prediction
First up it is newly promoted Blackburn Rovers and a certain Tony Mowbray, any team coming up is on that wave of momentum and this will be the case here, while I don't see Rovers troubling the top Six nor do I see them as strugglers, they will surprise a few along the way and in Bradley Dack, Charlie Mulgrew, Corry Evans, Craig Conway & Peter Whittingham they have some quality within their team, being at home may just tip it in our favour to get us off to a flyer so I will edge towards a narrow Town win to get Paul Hurst's tenure at the club off to a winning start. COYB'S.
The Opposition – Blackburn Rovers
The club was founded in 1875 and on On 28 September 1878, Blackburn Rovers became one of 23 clubs to form the Lancashire Football Association.
Blackburn was an early F.A. Cup winner when on 29 March 1884 with a 2–1 victory over the Scottish team Queen's Park and then repeated the feat over the next two seasons for 3 consecutive Cup wins. They won the trophy for a fourth & fifth time in 1890 & 1891 respectively.
Blackburn Rovers were founder members of the Football League in 1888.
Blackburn Rovers struggled during the early years of the 20th century, but the results began a gradual improvement. During the first three decades of the 20th century, Blackburn Rovers were still considered a top side in the English league. They were First Division champions in 1911–12 and 1913–14, and F.A Cup winners in 1927–28..
Blackburn Rovers maintained a respectable mid-table position in the First Division until they were finally relegated from the top flight (for the first time since the foundation of the league) in the 1935–36 season.
When the league resumed after the war, Blackburn Rovers were relegated in their second season (1947–48). The club remained in the second division for the following ten years. After promotion in 1958, they again returned to the mid-table position they had occupied in the earlier part of the century.
They were again relegated from the First Division in 1966 and began a 26-year exile from the top division.
During the 1970s, Blackburn Rovers bounced between the Second and Third Divisions, winning the Third Division title in 1975, but never mounted a challenge for promotion to the First Division despite the efforts of successive managers to put the club back on track.
Following the Jack Walker takeover Rovers finished 19th in the Second Division at the end of the 1990–91 season, and the new owner had made millions of pounds available to spend on new players and appointed Kenny Dalglish as manager in October 1991. Blackburn secured promotion to the new FA Premier League at the end of 1991–92 season as play-off winners, ending 26 years outside the top flight.
Rovers made headlines in the summer of 1992 by paying an English record fee of £3.5million for the 22-year-old Southampton and England centre forward Alan Shearer. After finishing fourth in 1992–93 and runners-up in 1993–94, they went on to win the Premier League title in 1994–95.
Kenny Dalglish moved upstairs to the position of Director of Football at the end of the Premier League winning season, and handed over the reins to his assistant Ray Harford. Blackburn Rovers made a poor start to the 1995–96 season, and found themselves in the bottom half for most of the first half of the season. A terrible start to the 1996–97 Premier League campaign saw Harford resign in late October with the club bottom of the division. Relegation looked a real possibility, just two seasons after winning the league. At the end of the 1998/99 season Blackburn were relegated back to Division One.
Jack Walker died just after the start of the 2000–01 season, and the club dedicated its promotion challenge in memory of their benefactor. Fittingly, they returned to the Premier League after a much improved season, finishing second behind Fulham.
In 2001–02, Blackburn won their first-ever League Cup by beating Tottenham Hotspur 2–1 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
In November 2010 the Indian company V H Group bought Blackburn Rovers under the name of Venky's London Limited for £23 million. The new owners sacked manager Sam Allardyce and replaced him with first-team coach Steve Kean, initially on a temporary basis.
In December 2011 it was announced that Blackburn Rovers posted an annual pre-tax loss of £18.6m for the year ending 30 June 2011. Despite this the owners of Blackburn Rovers provided assurances over the continued funding of the club, even if they were relegated.
On 7 May 2012, the club was relegated to the Championship after being defeated at home by Wigan Athletic at home in the penultimate game of the season, ending 11 years of being in the English Premier League.
At the start of the 2012–2013 season, Steve Kean, the manager in charge for the previous relegation season, was given a chance by owners to win promotion and kept his job as the manager. Ultimately though, pressure from the supporters who had been calling for the managers removal for months resulted in his resignation as manager on 29 September 2012.
On 7 May 2017, five years to the day after dropping out of the Premier League, the club saw their second relegation since being taken over by their current owners as they descended into League One–the first Premier League champions to sink into the third tier.
On 24 April 2018, they were promoted back to the second tier with a 0-1 win at Doncaster Rovers.
The Manager – Tony Mowbray
Past Match - Video Highlights - Trev
Media Watch - K L Blue
If Waggy leaves...….
http://the72.co.uk/111601/ipswich-town- ... y-striker/
https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/ipswi ... placement/
Town's midfield youngsters
http://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/ipswich-tow ... -1-5628569
Town's new signings
http://www.ipswichtownladiesfc.co.uk/si ... es-To-Town
http://www.ipswichtownladiesfc.co.uk/si ... Richardson
http://www.ipswichtownladiesfc.co.uk/si ... n-To-Paper
Town's new coach
http://www.ipswichtownladiesfc.co.uk/si ... Head-Coach
Marko’s Caption Contest – The Don Cup
Once again, a huge thanks to Marko for getting this cup engraved each season. It's a fantastic memorial to Rob. cheers Dave
New season of captions ahead, it’s going to be great and very much looking forward to it. New champion Bluemike out to try and be the first to successfully defend the crown. Even the engraver said, “Can you only defend this thing once, mate?”
The more the merrier so please do join in regardless of the league table. Hopefully Frosty has posted the new Cup picture and here is the Blackburn caption pic:
Match Referee –
IPSWICH TOWN 2 BLACKBURN ROVERS 1
