Ipswich Town v Preston North End 
Saturday 3rd November 2018 – 15:00
Portman Road
Pre-Match Thoughts - Mike
The Season Starts Here
So here we go again, the start of a new era take Two. I have to say the way in which the majority of Town fans have received the arrival of Paul Lambert has pleased me no end, it would have been all to easy for the masses to object to a former Norwich manager crossing the great divide but quite the opposite seems to be the case, yes you will always get a few, dare I say it, "Numbskulls" that will give it large about every little thing that Lambert gets wrong but I think the severity of the situation is not lost on most of a Blue persuasion and therefore they see the arrival of Lambert as something of a coup and the answer to our prayers at this difficult time.
The opening press conference came across very positive and bullish to the task ahead and while the size of the job is not lost on the new manager he has a calming assurance and confidence about him that can only instill belief that he has what it takes to get us out of the mire, I have to put my hands up and say had I made a list of potential replacements for Paul Hurst, Paul Lambert would most definitely not have been on it, probably due to the rivalry thing, you tend to not even let your mind go there but listening to him speak of making the club a happy place to be again and playing football the right way you cannot help but be sucked into it.
Things do not change overnight though and these next Ten games that take us to the end of the year and the transfer window opening are massive, it is these games that will determine our fate, I truly believe that and if we can stay in touch I think we will claw our way out of trouble with the aid of some team strengthening in January, however the players have to play their part, the new boss can only do so much, it is down to the players to step up and perform which if we are honest they just haven't done consistently enough, cutting out the calamitous individual errors would be a major plus and give us a chance, I don't think too many of the squad can look at themselves and say with any conviction that our plight is not down to them, in fact I cannot think of anyone that comes into that category. We ALL have to stand together and in that scenario we gain strength from a togetherness which at times, especially at home is sadly lacking, if we can bring some of that spirit that we have within the away support we would have an even better chance of survival, turn on the manager because he wasn't your choice and be prepared for the potential consequences, it would be grim.
Bring Back The Kids
Having read captain Luke Chambers comments in the recent interview he gave I think we can safely say one big error on the part of Paul Hurst was the way in which he shipped out several of the up and coming youngsters who were then starting to look the part, it surprised us all at the time and the answers Chambo gave to the questions put to him make it abundantly clear that it wasn't just us fans who were perplexed by it and who think it was wrong. I am not One Hundred percent sure but I believe they can all be brought back at the end of the year and seeing as none of them are getting much game time I would think that is what will happen. Seeing Woolfenden at Reading at the end of last season and Nydam in pre season really does have you scratching your head at Hurst's actions but for now we are where we are with it and again we need to see through these next Ten games.
The Next Ten
Speaking of the next Ten games, what do most people see as an acceptable haul of points ? Given our position in the league it really has to be a few or we are stuffed, looking at the games in depth I think we have a chance in a few of them, in order they are :- PNE (H), Reading (A), WBA (H), Bristol City (H), Forest (A), Stoke (A), Wigan (H), Sheffield Utd (H), QPR (A) and Middlesbrough (A). So thats Thirty points on offer and I have made it we will get around Fourteen, just under half, that would put us on Twenty Three points with Twenty One games to go meaning we would still need another say Twenty Five points from a possible Sixty Three, of course it never pans out the way you think it will but the task in hand looks huge and if I am honest I think it may be a bit too much for us. Then again we have Paul Lambert !!!
This really Is Huge
This game is massive, we have to win it, it's that simple, new manager syndrome and all the expectancy that goes with it should give everyone a lift, hopefully the crowd will be a bit bigger and as vociferous as we were at Millwall despite the performance, I ahve said it many times we have to make Portman Road a cauldron again, I am sick of the whinging comments like "we haven't had anything to shout about for seventeen seasons" get over it FFS and support YOUR TEAM, thick and thin and all that ?? We have something to support now, a new direction with a new man at the helm, togetherness is the key and so very vital, we can make a difference, I am just not totally convinced our fan base want it enough if I am honest. Preston are in a good run of form so it's no walk in the park despite their league position but a win for us sees us a mere Two points behind them, defeat doesn't bare thinking about so let's do this, get behind the boys in Blue.......Ipswich Til I Die.......COYB'S.
The Opposition – Preston North End
Preston North End was originally founded as a cricket club in 1863, by Mr Walter Pomfret of Deepdale Road, who was the first person to rent the field on which North End has always played. The original rent was £8 per year. As Preston already had a strong town's club, they adopted the "North End" suffix because they moved to the North End of the town when Moor Park opened, playing their matches at Moor Park. Prior to that they played at Bow Lane. The club adopted rugby union code in 1877, but one year later they played their first game under the rules of association football, and in May 1880 unanimously passed a resolution to adopt the association code.
Preston North End were famously successful during the early years of professional football in England. In 1887, Preston beat Hyde 26–0 in the First Round of the FA Cup, still a record winning margin in English first-class football. Preston forward Jimmy Ross scored eight goals in the match, going on to score 19 goals in the competition that season, also still a record.
In 1888–89, they became the first league champions and the first winners of "The Double", becoming the only team to date to go throughout an entire season unbeaten in both the league and FA Cup – winning the FA Cup without conceding a goal.
Preston were league champions again the following season, but have not won the title since. The club's last major trophy was an FA Cup triumph in 1938.
Preston were relegated to the Second Division in 1961 and have not played in the top division since. The club did reach the FA Cup final in 1964, but lost to West Ham United. Preston were relegated to the Third Division in the 1969–70 season. The club won the Third Division title at the first attempt and so returned to the Second Division.
Bobby Charlton, an England World Cup winner from 1966, was appointed Preston manager in 1973, but was unable to prevent the club from sliding into the Third Division in his first season and left after two years in charge. A brief respite in 1978 saw Preston win promotion back to the Second Division, but go down after three seasons. In 1985 the club fell into the Fourth Division for the first time in its history.
In 1986, Preston finished second from bottom in the Fourth Division and only avoided dropping into the Football Conference because the other Football League members voted in favour of the division's bottom four teams retaining their senior status.
A year later Preston won promotion to the Third Division and they were still at this level until 1990 when they were relegated from the first season of the new Division Two.
Preston were Division Three title in 1997, and in February 1998, 34-year-old defender David Moyes took over management of the club. Preston quickly developed into Division Two promotion contenders under Moyes, reaching the 1998–99 play-offs but losing out to Gillingham in the semi-finals, before finally being promoted as champions a year later.
Preston began the new millennium by winning promotion from Division 2 in the 1999–2000 season as champions. The club almost made it two promotions in a row in 2001 but lost 3–0 to Bolton Wanderers in the Division One play-off final. Moyes left for Everton in March 2002.
Preston were little more than a mid-table side until the 2004/5 season when Billy Davies took over and guided Preston to the Championship playoff final in his first season as manager, but they lost to West Ham United. The club reached the play-offs again the following year, this time losing out at the semi-final stage.
Preston spent much of the 2006–07 season in the automatic promotion or play-off places. However, from March 2007 the club slid rapidly down the league. On 11 July 2007, Nugent, the first Preston player to win an England cap for 50 years, left the club to join Portsmouth for a reported transfer fee of £6,000,000 and they did not recover from their poor run of form.
After a bad start to the 2007–08 season which saw the club pick up just three wins, Paul Simpson was sacked as manager on 13 November 2007 and Alan Irvine was appointed as Preston's new manager on a three-and-a-half year deal. He achieved his first objective as manager by finishing in 15th place, thus securing Preston's survival in the Championship.
The following season, he led Preston to 6th place in the Championship after a good run of form towards the end of the season, qualifying for the play-offs.
On 29 December 2008, Irvine was sacked after a poor run of results, with the club appointing Darren Ferguson as his successor and he narrowly secured their survival in the Championship.
In the 2009–10 season, Preston finished in 17th place and in the following season they were bottom of the Championship when Ferguson was sacked at Christmas.
Former Hull City manager Phil Brown was appointed as Ferguson's replacement, but could only achieve his first win in his 13th game in charge. This sparked an improved run of form, but could not prevent relegation to League One.
Brown was sacked on 14 December 2011 after less than a year in charge. After four weeks of interviews, Preston approached Stevenage manager Graham Westley and he was appointed manager on Friday 13 January 2012. Following a poor string of results, including a club record run of 12 home games without a win, Westley was sacked as Preston manager on 13 February 2013.
On 18 February 2013, it was confirmed that Simon Grayson had taken charge of Prestonand by the end of the 2012–13 season Preston were safe in 14th place, 11 points clear of relegation.
Preston won promotion to the Championship after beating Swindon Town 4–0 in the League One play-off Final on 24 May 2015, having failed in their previous nine appearances in the play-offs.
Since promotion to the second tier, Preston have achieved two successive top-half finishes despite having the third-lowest budget in the Championship, relying on a shrewd transfer policy and the development of young, relatively inexpensive players.
Last season Preston just missed out on featuring in the playoff’s, finishing in 7th place with 73 points.
The Manager – Alex Neil
Past Match Video - Trev
Media Watch – K L Blue
Lambert on the Jan window
http://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/paul-lamber ... -1-5759154
Lambert on 1st training session
https://www.twtd.co.uk/ipswich-town-new ... n-training
Kem Izzett on Lambert
https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/sport/17 ... feet-tall/
Lambert on Team
http://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/lambert-wan ... -1-5758170
Town Ladies Match Report
http://www.ipswichtownladiesfc.co.uk/si ... ton-Defeat
Form Guide
Ipswich Last 5 Matches – Currently in place with points
2 Oct Ipswich Town 0 - 2 Middlesbrough
6 Oct Swansea City 2 - 3 Ipswich Town
20 Oct Ipswich Town 0 - 2 QP Rangers
24 Oct Leeds United 2 – 0 Ipswich Town
27 Oct Millwall FC 3 – 0 Ipswich Town
Preston Last 5 Matches – Currently in place with points
2 Oct Aston Villa 3 – 3 Preston North End
6 Oct Preston North End 4 – 0 Wigan Athletic
20 Oct Hull City 1 – 1 Preston North End
24 Oct Preston North End 4 – 3 Brentford FC
27 Oct Preston North End 1 – 1 Rotherham United
Marko’s Caption Contest – THE DON CUP
Some proper laugh out louds amongst those Paul Hurst caption efforts. Good to find some humour in the situation otherwise it’d all become a bit intolerable. Good stuff.
Millwall Scores
Nicscreamer 5pts
Ando & Tangfastic (3-0) 4pts
JohnnyB & Aylesbury (prostate) 3pts
Blueblood (Plug) & Tangfastic (eBay) 2pts
LEAGUE TABLE
TANGFASTIC 33
NICSCREAMER 29
FROSTY 29
BLUEMIKE 25
DERICKIPSW 25
IPSWICHTOWNNO1 24
ANDO 22
BLUEBLOOD 19
NUMBER9 16
AYLESBURYBLUE 12
WATERSHIP DOWN 8
PATTHEGIMP 7
BARMY BILLY 6
JOHNNYB 3
SHED ON TOUR 3
MARVINBAY1973 1
CHARNWOOD 1
KL BLUE 1
OHIOTRACTORBOY 1
PNE CAPTION PIC:
Match Referee – Andy Woolmer
IPSWICH TOWN 2 PRESTON NORTH END 2
