Blackburn Rovers vs Ipswich Town 
Saturday 2nd May 2015 – 12:15
Ewood Park
Opening Thought – Jamma
I think Freddie Sears spoke for us all with his reaction to Saturday’s breathless 90 minutes: ‘What an incredible game’! Arriving into Ipswich Station on the morning of the match, I had commented that it was like the good old days, sensing the buzz of anticipation amongst an inflated Blue Army ahead of a crucial final home game of the season. But, along with the magnified build-up came a heightened sense of expectation, as we went looking for the win which would effectively see us over the line. The draw at Molineux the previous week had seemed bigger than the sole point that it added to our tally. But, as a result, there was a danger – amongst the supporters, at least – of thinking that our work was done. Mick McCarthy was never going to allow that to be the case in the players’ minds, though, and they turned in another sterling performance to wrap up an impressive home record for the campaign only matchable by Middlesbrough. As has been the case in many of our most crucial wins, it would be unfair to single out any one player above the rest. What is incontestable is that Sears must go down as one of the best January signings of the season, with 9 goals to his name, including 5 in the last 4 clashes at Portman Road. It was also nicely apt for Daryl Murphy to claim his 25th of the campaign at the conclusion of the minute’s applause for 21-year-old Town supporter Chris Reynolds.
The atmosphere at Portman Road on Saturday was electric, with the kind of excitement levels arguably not seen since Tamás Priskin’s goal against Arsenal back in 2011. The celebrations when the ball finally hit the back of the net for the winner gave a small taste of what the play-offs could be like, as the tension was released in an outpouring of relief. Freddie, in his post-match interview, was not the only one to liken the feeling to being involved in the play-offs. The additional 2 points claimed with his deflected strike could well end up proving the difference in our fight for the top 6. But, having got this far, we can’t afford to take our eye off the ball: not having the luxury of a 19-goal advantage like Bournemouth, we have to make sure we put in one more professional performance before we can start looking ahead to the play-offs. This comes in the shape of a trip to face Blackburn, another side which, having looked like they would be involved in the end-of season shake-up, will nevertheless be keen to finish 2014/15 on a high. As we saw with Forest, this makes them potentially tricky opposition, especially on their home patch. Town should go into the game full of belief, though, confident in the knowledge that there will be bigger battles to come…
The Opposition – Blackburn Rovers
The club was founded in 1875 and, on 28 September 1878, Blackburn Rovers became one of 23 clubs to form the Lancashire Football Association.
Blackburn were an early F.A. Cup winner, with a 2–1 victory over the Scottish team Queen's Park on 29 March 1884, 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, before a gradual improvement in results began. 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 had 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 in the penultimate game of the season, ending 11 years of being in the English Premier League.
Last season, Blackburn finished in 8th place in the Championship, one place ahead of us in the table.
One To Watch – Rudy Gestede
I think we know just about all there is to know about Jordan Rhodes (‘Who?!’, I hear Marko say) so I will focus on another of Blackburn’s main attacking threats. As Paul Taylor is ineligible to play at the weekend, it will have to be Rudy Gestede!
Although Gestede never really fulfilled his sizeable potential at Cardiff, it was seen as something of a coup when Rovers managed to capture him permanently in January 2014. The Parisian-born Benin international started out in France, playing for the youth teams at FC Metz before taking in a successful loan spell with AS Cannes. He arrived on these shores in the summer of 2011, and was a part of the Cardiff side which won the Championship title in 2012/13. After making just 5 substitute appearances in the Bluebirds’ Premier League season, Gestede initially moved to Ewood Park on loan, before Gary Bowyer signed him on a 3-and-a-half-year deal last January. His form has gone from strength to strength since, as he finished last season with 13 goals, 11 of which – somewhat unsurprisingly, given his aerial ability – were headers. Gestede also achieved the rare feat of a hat-trick of headers – his second in the space of a year! – in Rovers’ recent 3-3 draw with Nottingham Forest. His strike against Millwall last month was the 26-year-old’s 20th of the campaign, moving him one ahead of Rhodes in the battle to be Blackburn’s top scorer in 2014/15. For the record, Paul Taylor is 20 behind…
The Gaffer – Gary Bowyer
After playing non-League football for Westfields, Bowyer, a full back, signed for Football League team Hereford United on non-contract terms, making 14 appearances in the 1989–90 season. After the season ended, Bowyer moved to Nottingham Forest, but he never made a senior Football League appearance for them. Bowyer later signed for Rotherham United, making 38 appearances in the League over the next two seasons, before retiring due to injury.
After retiring as a player, Bowyer began his coaching career working part-time at Ilkeston, before being appointed as Under-17 coach at Derby County, where he spent six years as an academy coach. He then became Under 18's coach for Blackburn Rovers in 2004. He became Reserve Team manager in 2008, and in December 2012 he was appointed as caretaker manager following the dismissal of Henning Berg, steering them to a 3–1 victory over Barnsley in his first game in charge. It was later announced that Bowyer would remain in charge until the end of January.
Bowyer was re-appointed Caretaker Manager on 19 March 2013, following the sacking of Michael Appleton, until the end of the season. However, on 26 March 2013 Bowyer said he was unsure how long he would remain in the position, in case the club hired a new permanent manager, and on 8 April 2013 Bowyer was summoned to India for a meeting with the club's owners.
Bowyer was appointed the permanent manager of Blackburn on 24 May 2013, on a 12-month rolling contract.
In his first full season in charge the club finished 8th in the Championship, narrowly missing out on a play-off position.
Past Match - Video Highlights - Trev
Trev's Trivia
Players to play for both teams
Allan Hunter ITFC 1971-1982 BRFC 1969-1971
Gary Croft ITFC 1999–2002 BRFC 1996–1999
Shefki Kuqi ITFC 2003–2005 BRFC 2005–2006
Jordan Rhodes ITFC 2007–2009 BRFC 2012-present
Media Watch - K L Blue
An absolute 'must read' article when you get a sec
Why painful afternoon in Ipswich should provide hope for Nottingham Forest
This summer, as every fan will now be only too aware, Football League sanctions will ensure Nottingham Forest can only operate in a limited marketplace of free transfers and loan signings.
The club will not be allowed to spend a single penny on transfer fees. That fact, coupled with the recent run of seven games without a win, has seemingly been enough to pr*ck the balloon of optimism for many Reds fans.
The renewed sense of belief that followed the run of seven wins in ten games after Dougie Freedman's return is slowly being eroded, among some.
But, while the most recent defeat, at Ipswich Town, will only have added to the growing gloom, it should also be a source of genuine inspiration.
Because events at Portman Road prove in emphatic fashion that, while Forest's spending will be capped for the foreseeable future, that does not mean their ambitions should be limited too.
Because working on a diet of free transfers and loan signings has been the stark reality for Mick McCarthy from the moment he joined Ipswich in November 2012.
Since his appointment, McCarthy has lavished transfer fees on just two players.
And there are cars in the City Ground car park that would probably have cost more.
Otherwise, every player that featured against Forest was a product of the Ipswich youth academy, had been brought to the club on a free transfer, or in a swap deal or on loan.
In contrast, Forest's squad at Portman Road cost in excess of £5m to assemble, while £5.5m striker Britt Assombalonga was sidelined through injury.
Yet still, despite the frugal approach demanded by owner Marcus Evans, Ipswich stand on the brink of securing a place in the Premier League.
It has taken time and effort. There has been no quick fix solution. This promotion push, in fact, has been almost three years in the making.
There has been impatience and grumbles from the Ipswich fans, along the way, even as the club finished ninth last season (four points off the play-off places) and 14th in McCarthy's first season in charge.
But still, a modest budget has not stymied some grand ambitions at Portman Road. Whether they succeed in the play-offs or not; even if they fall out of the top six on the final day, then few men can be considered to have done a better job than McCarthy.
And, in the process, he has provided a blueprint for success that Forest must now follow, as they find themselves facing a more frugal future that has been enforced upon them as part of the fallout from their previous ambitious spending.
If Ipswich can challenge for a top six finish, so too can Forest, given the same degree of time and patience.
The Suffolk club have proved that even modest investment can bring big success. Just £10k was invested to sign Tyrone Mings from Chippenham.
And that seems to be an outstanding purchase, with the powerful defender attracting many admiring glances from Premier League clubs, following his increasingly high quality performances at left back.
More recently Ipswich paid an undisclosed sum – thought to be less than six-figures – to sign former West Ham man Freddie Sears. With his Colchester contract set to expire this summer, Ipswich are thought to have paid only a small fee for the 25-year-old.
He has already proved to be an astute addition, with his strike against Forest his ninth goal in 13 starts and seven sub appearances for the club.
His capture has been a significant catalyst in Ipswich's push for a play-off place. On that front, their fate remains in their own hands. A point at Blackburn will be enough to secure a play-off place.
"It's always funny when you talk about 'bargains'. People will be saying 'oh, you haven't got any money to spend'. I see people who went out and spent money and didn't get as good players as we got for nothing," said McCarthy recently.
Christophe Berra, despite his unfortunate own goal on Saturday, has largely been a solid presence in the Ipswich defence, following his free transfer from Wolves. Having previously won promotion at Molineux under McCarthy, the Scotsman has a clear grasp of the manager's strengths.
"The club spent a lot of money before on big-name players with big wages but it didn't get results," said Berra. "Now there is a smaller budget but we have a good team spirit and the team's going well.
"As players we know what Mick demands. Everyone knows what is expected and he has brought a real togetherness. He is a nice guy – but not someone you want to get on the wrong side of.
"It is a tough, tough league and I know from experience, having won promotion with him before, that it is the togetherness that gets you through."
It would have been interesting had, back in the summer of 2012, Fawaz Al Hasawi managed to persuade McCarthy to accept the challenge of reviving Forest's fortunes, following talks over the role.
But, nor is this Dougie Freedman's first rodeo. When it comes to working on a budget, Freedman has experience, having led Crystal Palace while the club was in administration and managed Bolton, while trying to trim their excesses of their previous spending.
His free transfer signings at Palace included Glenn Murray and Mile Jedinak, who are both leading players for the Eagles in the top flight now, as well as Jonathan Parr, who is now a solid performer at Ipswich.
At Bolton, Freedman got Alex Baptiste – who was on Forest's radar at the time – Liam Trotter and Neil Danns, all on frees.
Nor is the manager's challenge to completely rebuild the Forest squad, as McCarthy had to at Ipswich. Freedman must add to what he has got; seek out four or five quality signings to bolster what he already has.
It will not be an easy challenge. Freedman must tread carefully; act astutely, with Fawaz Al Hasawi now prevented from investing any more of his cash in new signings.
But, if Ipswich can build an entire team for around £100k, then, as they look to next season and beyond, the outlook does not need to be bleak at Forest.
The transfer embargo may limit Forest's spending, but it need not limit their ambition.
Stat Time
Head to Head
Blackburn Wins....................12 (27.91%)
Ipswich Town Wins................15 (34.88%)
Draws................................16 (37.21%)
Blackburn Goals...................52 (ave. 1.21)
Ipswich Town Goals...............51 (ave. 1.19)
Head To Head At Blackburn
Blackburn Wins.....................10 (47.62%)
Ipswich Town Wins..................5 (23.81%)
Draws.................................6 (28.57%)
Blackburn Goals....................30 (ave. 1.43)[/color]
Ipswich Town Goals................19 (ave. 0.90)
The Predicted Teams
Blackburn
13 Eastwood
02 Henley
26 Lenihan
03 Spurr
14 Olsson
21 Taylor
17 Williamson
29 Evans
32 Conway
39 Gestede
11 Rhodes
Ipswich Town
For some reason I get the feeling that Mick wont be 'tinkering' around too much with the line-up from last week
33 Bialkowski
04 Chambers
05 Smith
06 Berra
03 Mings
02 Parr
08 Skuse
27 Bishop
12 Hunt
09 Murphy
20 Sears
Marko's Caption Contest
Few good captions this week. Points as follows;
Nicscreamer 4pts
FrostyNZ 3 pts
Blueblood 2pts
This is the final week for the Caption competition. There are 3 pictures there, 4pts available for each picture. If ITFC manage to make it to a play off game, I'll have final table and winner listed in there. If they don't make it, then no one will give a toss!
TABLE
Blueblood 46
Herforder 44
Quasar 43
FrostyNZ 42
James Scharmann 40
DerickIpsw 36
Barmy Billy 24
Bluemike 21
Nicsreamer 20
IpswichtownNO1 15
Ashfordblue 15
Supershred 13
Number9 9
Jamma123 7
Loudnproud 7
Floors 7
Ohiotractorboy 7
AndyM 5
Charnwood 4
Mr Punch 4
JimmyT 3
Morph 3
Hallamblue 2
Collins 1
PICTURE 1:
PICTURE 2:
PICTURE 3:
Match Referee – Graham Scott
Final Thought - Frosty
Well in true Ipswich style we take it to the wire as the regular season draws to a close, although this season it’s for all the right reasons.
I want to start (although you may see another few Previews before this season is out
) to thank my fantastic assistants who have given their time freely over the season to bring you these excellent previews. It is not easy to come up with fresh ideas each week, particularly after a disappointing defeat or when they come in quick succession, but James, Colin, Trev and Marko have done their bits unfailingly week after week and for this I am very grateful. Cheers Guys!So it’s off to Blackburn we go for the last game of the regular season, a former milling town and of course home to that famous landmark we call Jordan Rhodes. Out of interest, he has become the first person to score 20 goals a season for three seasons in a row since Alan Shearer. I put this paragraph in just to p*ss Marko off by the way.
Rovers currently sit in 9th position on the table (and will stay in 9th regardless of Saturdays result) and as Hallam I think alluded to in another thread have been in reasonable form over recent weeks with one win and four draws over their preceding 5 fixtures.
We probably face the toughest fixture this weekend among the playoff chasing teams. In other match ups, Boro host the Seagulls, the Budgies receive a visit from Fulham, Derby have the Royals coming to Town and Wigan travel to London to face Brentford. The remaining fixture of interest is Wolves at home to Millwall, but like Brentford they are going to need Derby and to a lesser degree Town to lose before their own wins assume any relevance.
I would like to think that our fixture merely determines who we will face in the playoffs, in my heart I would love to see us face up to Norwich, but in my head (and most importantly based on results over the past few years) I think Middlesbrough would be my preferred option. In saying that finals football always resets the counter to zero.
If you get a sec, you must read ‘K L Blue’s’ excellent media piece in this preview. It’s an article written by Paul Taylor (not the clown we loaned them either) from the ‘Nottingham Post’ which I think really captures the progress of our club under it’s current management.
Six odd weeks ago, I truly thought this season was buggered as we staggered from fixture to fixture, but it’s amazing that the tightness of this season’s Championship gives you a chance to stay in touch, particularly if you can find that ‘second wind’ when you need it.
Can I finish by saying thank you to everyone that supports this forum, it’s slowly revitalising after a few quiet years and in many respects probably ‘mirrors’ the clubs result to some degree.
For those of you travelling to Blackburn, safe journeys and remember we are Ipswich so fully expect a last ditch goal as we draw level with Rovers in the 93rd minute thus ensuring a place in the finals as well as you requiring urgent medical assistance after the match for Chest Pains and other nervous ailments.
COYB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cheers Dave
BLACKBURN ROVERS 1 IPSWICH TOWN 1
