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I don't know if anybody else has been reading former EADT & Ipswich Star sports Editor, Tony Garnett, look back at 40 years reporting on Ipswich Town?

I found this latest article a fascinating insight into Bobby Robson, and never realised just how close he came to never managing ITFC! It really opens your eyes when you read John Cobbold's quote "There is no way we will be appointing Bobby Robson." Billy Bingham had been "promised the job" before deciding not to take it.

I was very aware with the Kevin Beattie signing saga, however I didn't realise how close we were to also missing out on one of our best all-round strikers ever, Paul Mariner. Apparently he was a mere 48 hours from joining West Ham! We forget in this day and age how much more drawn out communication processes were back then!

This is the full story;
https://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/23645033.i ... -town-job/

What was it 13 years with us. How many managers today stick with the same club side for that amount of time. Consider that a moment.

Can't recall why predecessor McGarry took off, he won the Second League a year or two before Robson came in and some could question it but fact of the matter being Robson, after a quiet if unsuccessful start, took a small club name to the verge of greatness. Few if nobody seems to mention time circa 1973 - 75 when we built a team capable of winning the League but came up short. Could or should have won a double achievement with the latter.

Beattie and Mariner need no introduction. They could never have joined up but did. Pivotal part of a team we won't see again, does no good to live in the past but they were immense. Times were real good, pity is we could or should have won more than what we did back then.

AzzurroMark wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 10, 2023 2:02 pm

I don't know if anybody else has been reading former EADT & Ipswich Star sports Editor, Tony Garnett, look back at 40 years reporting on Ipswich Town?

I found this latest article a fascinating insight into Bobby Robson, and never realised just how close he came to never managing ITFC! It really opens your eyes when you read John Cobbold's quote "There is no way we will be appointing Bobby Robson." Billy Bingham had been "promised the job" before deciding not to take it.

I was very aware with the Kevin Beattie signing saga, however I didn't realise how close we were to also missing out on one of our best all-round strikers ever, Paul Mariner. Apparently he was a mere 48 hours from joining West Ham! We forget in this day and age how much more drawn out communication processes were back then!

This is the full story;
https://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/23645033.i ... -town-job/

I was at Ipswich Civiv College as it was then, and I can remember almost living in the library scanning the newspapers to see how the deal was going. It was a 3 horse race, us, West Ham, and WBA…. I whooped out loud when I saw we’d got him above those two other clubs. No internet in those days!