Ipswich Town v Huddersfield Town 
Saturday 17th October 2015 - 15:00
Portman Road
Opening Thought - Jamma
Well it’s fair to say that we went into this international break in a very different frame of mind from the last one. Although we had lost out to Brighton in a top-of-the-table clash 6 weeks ago, 3rd place in the fledgling table, and progression to the 3rd round of the League Cup, represented a bright start to the campaign. Having picked up 10 points from our opening 4 matches, though, we have subsequently claimed just 5 from a possible 18, with a solitary success at Leeds the only win in 6 games – 7 including the defeat at Old Trafford. Statistics can usually be manipulated to put a particular slant on things, but it’s pretty hard to get away from the reality of the situation as a Town fan however you look at it at the moment. After averaging a goal a game conceded in our first four league outings, we have let in an average of more than two a match in our last six. From being the bedrock upon which Mick McCarthy built his success, our defence has become something of an Achilles heel for us. Rather than providing us with the platform to go on and get a result, we are now more often than not having to score twice to stand a chance of getting anything out of a game.
Everyone has their own theory as to exactly who or what is to blame for our dramatic change in fortunes. Some insist that it’s down to players being played out of position and/or seemingly being guaranteed their place in the team. Others criticise the manager for being reluctant to drop the players who have served him so well, and abandon his tactical instincts. This has given us plenty to talk about during the international break, but there has been a noticeable change in mood amongst supporters, with an increasing number starting to turn against McCarthy. As he himself has pointed out, our impressive start didn’t automatically make us title contenders, just as our recent form hasn’t suddenly transformed us into relegation candidates. The challenge over the next few matches is to find that all-important level of consistency which will allow us to be competitive whoever we come up against. The upcoming run of fixtures has the potential to define our season: if we can record a first home win in four attempts on Saturday, it would give us the confidence to go on and put a string of results together. If, on the other hand, Huddersfield prove to be the latest side to frustrate us on our own patch, the next three clashes will take on a much more daunting look. There are plenty of questions coming out of Portman Road at the moment, but we could have more than our fair share of answers by the time the next international break comes around…
The Opposition – Huddersfield Town
In 1910, just three years after being founded, Huddersfield entered the Football League for the first time. In November 1919 a fund-raising campaign was needed to avoid a move to Leeds. Citizens of Huddersfield were asked to buy shares in the club for £1 each, and the club staved off the proposed merger. The team went on to reach the 1920 FA Cup Final and win promotion to Division One.
In 1926, it became the first English team to win three successive league titles – a feat that only three other clubs have been able to match. Huddersfield Town also won the FA Cup in 1922 and have been runners-up on four other occasions. During the club's heyday, on 27 February 1932 the club achieved a record attendance of 67,037 during their FA Cup 6th round tie against Arsenal at Leeds Road. This attendance has been bettered by only 13 other clubs in the history of the Football League.
After the Second World War, the club began a gradual decline, losing its First Division status in 1952. It returned to the top flight for the last time (so far) in 1970 but was relegated two seasons later and has since meandered through the lower three divisions. Before the start of the 1969/70 season, Huddersfield Town adopted the nickname "The Terriers".
In 1998, the club attracted the attention of local businessman Barry Rubery and, after protracted takeover talks, he took over the running of the club, promising significant investment as the club sought Premiership status. However, the club did not make it back to the top flight and fell two divisions. The club was sold by Rubery to David Taylor and under David Taylors ownership, slipped into administration.
In the summer of 2003, the Terriers came out of administration under the new ownership of Ken Davy.
At the start of the 2004–05 season, the stadium was renamed the Galpharm Stadium, to reflect the sponsorship of this local healthcare company.
On 26 May 2012, following a penalty shoot-out in the 2012 Football League One play-off Final victory over Sheffield United, Huddersfield were promoted to the Championship. The shoot-out was the longest contested in the current League One play-offs format. Eleven rounds took place, the final score was 8–7 to Huddersfield, with the winning goal being scored by goalkeeper Alex Smithies.
During the summer of 2012, the stadium changed its name to the John Smith's Stadium, after the sponsorship rights were bought by Heineken International.
In the 2013/14 season Huddersfield finished the season in 17th place with 53 points and basically repeated the same feat last season although they gained one place on the table and finished up with 55 points.
One To Watch – Emyr Huws
Huddersfield may have struggled to make an impact so far in 2015/16 but they certainly possess the quality in their ranks to be a threat. They complemented their squad in the summer with a number of eye-catching signings, including that of promising Welsh youngster Emyr Huws.
The 22-year-old was originally with Swansea in his homeland but was snapped up by Manchester City’s academy at the age of 15. Having signed professional forms at Eastlands, the midfielder started to build his reputation with some assured performances, also captaining the U21s side. Unsurprisingly, he found First Team opportunities hard to come by, and spent 3 months on loan at Northampton in the 2012/13 season. He made his debut for the Citizens in their FA Cup 3rd round reply against Blackburn in January 2014 but was soon going out on loan again, this time in the Championship with Birmingham. It was at St. Andrews where he really started to make a name for himself, turning in some mature displays in the middle of the park. Huws quickly became one of the Blues’ key performers in their ultimately successful battle against relegation. He was named the club’s Player of the Month for February, and did his growing reputation no harm with this particularly impressive strike at Middlesbrough:
Huws didn’t enjoy such a fruitful time with parent club Wigan last term, as they suffered relegation to League 1. He has been given another chance to show what he can do at this level, with a season-long loan, and has the ability and vision to cause us plenty of problems from midfield.
The Manager – Chris Powell
He began his professional career in December 1987 as a trainee at Crystal Palace with Ian Wright but failed to become a regular with the first team. He spent time on loan at Aldershot, where he made 11 appearances, before moving on a free transfer in August 1990 to Essex club Southend United. In six years at the club Powell made 288 first-team appearances. In November 2004 a BBC poll of Southend United supporters voted Powell their all-time cult hero.
In January 1996 Powell moved to Derby County for a fee of £750,000. He made 99 first-team appearances before being transferred to Charlton Athletic in June 1998 for a fee of £825,000. Powell was a favourite of the Derby fans, and won the Supporters' Player of the Year award for the 1996-97 season.
While at Charlton, he made 200 first-team appearances, and evidently caught the eye of Sven-Göran Eriksson, who picked him for the England team in 2001, at the unusually late age of 31. He was the oldest England debutant since Syd Owen in 1954.
Shortly after the start of the 2004–05 season, Powell was allowed to move to West Ham United, where he played a major part in their successful promotion campaign. However, during the summer of 2005 he and West Ham were unable to agree terms for a further contract and he returned to Charlton on a one-year contract, with a suggestion that he would develop his coaching skills.
Typically consistent performance belying his years throughout 2005–06 saw Powell regain his place as Charlton's first choice left back.
On 1 July 2006 he signed a one-year contract with Premiership newcomers Watford as Aidy Boothroyd looked to add some experience to his youthful squad. He was released by the club after one year. In July 2007, Powell returned to Charlton for a third spell.
Powell joined League Two side Bournemouth on a trial basis in July 2008, the club looking to see if he could bring much needed experience to their defence.
He joined Leicester City on a six-month contract on 23 August 2008.On 6 December 2008 Powell started his 750th career appearance against former club Southend.
In July 2009, Powell signed a contract to be a player-coach at Leicester City, becoming first team development coach, and also re-registering himself as a player. He retired from playing at the end of the 2009–10 season, his final appearance came on 27 March 2010 against his former club Derby County.
Having served as a player coach under Nigel Pearson, Powell was retained by incoming Leicester manager Paulo Sousa in the summer of 2010. In October, Powell was named caretaker manager with Mike Stowell of the Foxes after Sousa was sacked. He remained a coach at the club after Sousa's replacement, Sven-Göran Eriksson, was appointed.
On 14 January 2011 Powell was appointed manager of Charlton Athletic, who were by now languishing in League One. He signed a three and a half year contract following the sacking of Phil Parkinson and finished the season in 13th place.
Powell signed 19 new players in summer 2011, and Charlton finished strongly in the second half of the 2011-12 season and sealed promotion back to the Championship as champions of League One.
The following season now in the in the Championship, Charlton finished the season in 9th place, three points off a play-off position.
On 11 March 2014, Powell was sacked as manager of Charlton Athletic by owner Roland Duchâtelet; this decision came after a poor run of form with the Addicks sitting at the bottom of the Championship table, although media reports have suggested that it was a reluctance to play players Roland Duchâtelet had brought to the club and differences in transfer policy.
On 3 September, 2014 Powell was named the new manager of Huddersfield Town.
Past Match - Video Highlights - Trev
Trev's Trivia
Players to play for both teams
Marcus Stewart ITFC 2000–2002 HTFC 1996–2000
Jon Stead ITFC 2008–2010 HTFC 2013–Present although out on loan
Jordan Rhodes ITFC 2007–2009 HTFC 2009–2012
Media Watch - K L Blue
An interesting little insight into exactly what goes on behind the scenes with the club’s scouting team:
http://www.greenun24.co.uk/ipswich-town ... _1_4268272
A view on a popular source of contention amongst Town fans, and not just on TBs.com…!
http://www.ipswich.vitalfootball.co.uk/ ... p?a=416773
Can it really be 13 years since George Burley left Portman Road’s (increasingly hot) managerial hotseat?
http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/ip ... KdzsiGHw$$
Stat Time
Head to Head
Ipswich Town Wins................20 (50.00%)
Huddersfield Wins.................12 (30.00%)
Draws.................................8 (20.00%)
Ipswich Town Goals...............71 (ave. 1.78 per match)
Huddersfield Goals................51 (ave. 1.28 per match)
Head to Head At Portman Road
Ipswich Town Wins................14 (70.00%)
Huddersfield Wins..................2 (10.00%)
Draws.................................4 (20.00%)
Ipswich Town Goals................47 (ave. 2.35 per match)
Huddersfield Goals.................21 (ave. 1.05 per match)
The Predicted Teams
Ipswich Town
News of Ryan Fraser’s medial ligament injury, which will keep him out for 2 months, has come as a big blow. It will be interesting to see what changes – if any – Mick makes in an attempt to get our challenge back on track…
1 Dean Gerken
29 Josh Emmanuel
4 Luke Chambers
5 Tommy Smith
2 Jonathan Parr
39 Larsen Touré
8 Cole Skuse
17 Kevin Bru
12 Tommy Oar
20 Freddie Sears
10 David McGoldrick
Huddersfield Huddersfield
Chris Powell will have selection decisions of his own to make, after having the last fortnight to stew on the Terriers’ limp 3-0 defeat to Wolves. Nahki Wells in particular will be pushing for a start.
1 Jed Steer
33 Joel Lynch
5 Mark Hudson
12 Elliott Ward
14 Martin Cranie
7 Sean Scannell
4 Dean Whitehead
16 Emyr Huws
8 Jamie Paterson
11 Ishmael Miller
21 Nahki Wells
Marko's Caption Competition
Before I go through the Blackburn preview results with you all, I thought I'd share this:
Spotted this on the Scotland v Poland highlights show last Thursday.. Nice to know there are some Scotland fans travelling up from Ipswich. Were you among them, Charnwood?
Excellent week of captions provided by you lot and Mr Rhodes. Nicscreamer was obviously in a very humorous mood and scores top marks. Liked those captions very much.
Caption 1:
Nics 5
Frosty 4
Hallam 3
Blueblood 2
Caption 2:
Nics 5
No9 4
Ash 3
Blueblood 4
LEAGUE TABLE
Blueblood 20
Number 9 20
DerickIpsw 19
Nicscreamer 17
Barmy Billy 15
Quasar 14
Frosty 13
Floors 12
Ando 11
James Scharmann 10
Charnwood 9
Foxy Lady 8
Ashfordblue 7
IpswichtownNO1 7
Bluemike 7
Hallamblue 6
Shed on Tour 6
Herforder 6
Watership Down 4
Ohiotractorboy 3
LoudNProud 1
Try this, featuring this week’s One to Watch, Emyr Huws:
Match Referee – Andy Davies
Final Thought - Frosty
For some reason, it feels like ages since we played, which may or may not be a blessing as we start a new chapter of the season.
Coming back from the Internationals, a home draw against one of the lower placed sides in the League seems a good fixture to get the season back on track, but as a Town fan one cannot help but be wary of anyone we come up against at the moment after the disappointing performance against Bristol City.
Overall we have a pretty good record against the ‘terriers’ but in recent seasons we seem to have shared the spoils when facing off against each other. Over the past 8 meetings we have won 3, drawn 3 and lost 2.
Huddersfield are currently 18th on the table but this needs to be taken at face value as over their past 4 fixtures they have taken 7 points with wins over Bolton and Charlton and a draw against Forest. Their one blemish was a heavy loss to Wolves just before the International break.
Other interesting fixtures which may determine where we sit on the table after this round are Wednesday’s home tie against Hull, the Brum at home to QPR, Fulham’s vist to Boro and finally Sunday’s fixture, which sees the Rams trying to field off the Wolves at Pride Park.
I have been pondering this fixture for a few days now. For me, I think it’s one of those ‘important’ matches that we will have during the season: if we win, I think we will get back on track fairly quickly, if we lose then there must be some doubts about the ‘regular’ starting XI we have seen to date. Equally, if MM does make some changes to the run on side or tactics that he hinted about last week and the result is not a good one, then we are still clearly some way off being a top side in this season’s league.
Have a great day on Saturday and hopefully we can see a more positive matchday thread this weekend come the end of 90 minutes.
IPSWICH TOWN 2 HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 1
