Ipswich Town v Rotherham United
Saturday 29th October 2016 – 15:00
Portman Road
Opening Thought – Jamma
We will all have been disappointed with Saturday’s result, even if it may not have come as the biggest surprise. However, the Tractor Boys community was recently reminded that some things are much more important than a game of football, with the passing of ‘one of our own’, Rob ‘The Don’ Cook. As has been evident in the many messages of condolence left on the forum, Rob touched the hearts of numerous people through his infectious personality and his love of life. I wasn’t fortunate enough to meet him in person but, like so many on here, I counted him as a friend thanks to the exchanges that I shared with him about all things ITFC. I owe it to Rob for first introducing me to the previews, something which I have thoroughly enjoyed doing ever since. Rob was always a big fan of the by now legendary caption competition, and so we are delighted to be able to unveil The Don Cup in his memory, to be awarded to the highest points scorer at the end of the season. Thanks to Marko for agreeing to engrave the trophy, which will hopefully provide even more incentive to come up with those funny captions:
It’s hard to know exactly what to make of the footballing lesson that Newcastle handed us at the weekend. We all knew that, just because we had won against Burton, we weren’t suddenly world beaters and would go and get a result against the league leaders. But, at the same time, there was justifiably a degree of optimism amongst the Blue Army, who had seen their team turn in an improved performance when the pressure was on. As Mick McCarthy had pointed out in the build-up, having come through a ‘less glamorous’ fixture which we were expected to win, we could afford to go out and enjoy ourselves a bit more in a clash in which there were no such expectations. Well, all that was blown out of the water after about 30 seconds at St. James’ Park! Mick’s mention of ‘enjoying’ the experience must have seemed like some kind of sadistic joke as Ayoze Pérez swept home before Town had so much as touched the ball. Who knows what would have happened had we managed to hold out for 30 minutes as opposed to 30 seconds? As it was, we were left with the seemingly impossible task of keeping out the rampant Magpies while attempting to produce some attacking intent of our own. All that we had to show going forwards was a smart turn and shot from Leon Best which struck the bar. The one positive – if you can call it that – was that the Blues were still in the game with 20 minutes to go, having conceded the quickest goal of the Championship season to date. But even this didn’t last long, as the Tynesiders eased out of first gear to score a quick-fire double and consign us to defeat.
We may not have seen a side of the quality of Newcastle at this level for many a year, but in some ways Town have bigger tests to come. One of those is this weekend, in the form of a visit from Rotherham, stuck at the other end of the table, a whopping 25 points behind the Magpies. While many think that Newcastle are too good to be in the Championship, the Millers will count themselves lucky to still be in the second tier, having looked certainties for relegation in 2015/16 until Neil Warnock came in and turned their fortunes around at the back end of the season. But it is again looking like being an uphill struggle for the South Yorkshire club, after Warnock’s departure in the summer. It didn’t work out for his replacement, Alan Stubbs, who was replaced by Kenny Jackett last week. The former Wolves manager came within a late winner of recording a creditable opening result against Reading, leaving Rotherham 8 points off safety already. If you thought Ipswich’s recent run was bad, it pales into insignificance compared to the Millers’ return of 2 points from their last 10 matches. But their last five outings, including against the Royals, have all been against teams in the top 8, and Jackett has history of keeping an unfancied club at this level against the odds from his successful time at Millwall. They have also just announced the intriguing signing of enigmatic striker Peter Odemwingie, who on his day poses a big threat. So this game has the potential to be an uncomfortable one but, if we show the same levels of commitment and desire as we did against Burton, there should be only one outcome.
The Opposition – Rotherham United
Rotherham United FC (known as the ‘Millers’) was formed in February 1925 after the merger of two clubs, Thornhill United & Rotherham Town, who had been playing in the area since the 1870s.
The club's traditional home was Millmoor in Rotherham, where the team played from 1907 to 2008.
The red and white was adopted around 1928 after they originally played in amber and black, and Rotherham spent their time in Division 3, only just remaining in the Football League in 1931 as they had to apply for re-election.
Immediately after the Second World War, things were looking up. United finished as runners-up three times in succession between 1947 and 1949 and were then champions of Division Three (North) in 1951. Rotherham reached their highest ever league position of third in the Football League Second Division in 1955.
The club held on to its place in Division Two until 1968 and then went into a decline that took them down to Division Four in 1973. In 1975, they were promoted back to the Third Division, finishing in the 3rd promotion spot in the Fourth Division. The Millers won the Division Three title in 1981.
During the 1990s, Rotherham were promoted and relegated between the Football League's lowest two divisions and they slipped into the Fourth Division in 1991, just two years after being promoted, but reclaimed their status in the third tier (renamed Division Two for the 1992–93 season due to the launch of the FA Premier League). They survived at this level for five years, never looking like promotion contenders, before being relegated in 1997.
In 1997, just after relegation to Division Three, Ronnie Moore took charge of Rotherham United. His first season ended in a mid-table finish and then his second in a play-off semi-final defeat on penalties. It was third time lucky in 1999–2000, as Rotherham finished as Division Three runners-up and gained promotion to Division Two. They were favourites to be relegated in the 2000–01 season, but surprised many by finishing runners-up in Division Two and gaining a second successive promotion.
Rotherham managed to remain in Division One for four seasons until relegation to League 1 in 2005.
Early in 2006, it was announced that the club faced an uncertain future unless a funding gap in the region of £140,000 per month could be plugged. An eleventh-hour intervention by a consortium of local businessmen kept them in business, but they suffered relegation to League 2 and entered into administration in 2008, being deducted 10 points.
Local businessman Tony Stewart then took over as Chairman for the 2008–09 season and took the club out of administration via a Creditors Voluntary Agreement, resulting in a further 17-point deduction. The Millers were subsequently forced to leave Millmoor, their home of over 100 years, for the Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield, after disputes with the landlords.
Chairman Stewart appointed Steve Evans as manager on 9 April 2012. Evans got them promoted back to League 1 in the 2012–13 season. The same season also signalled a new era for Rotherham United as the club returned to playing home matches in Rotherham, at the newly-built New York Stadium.
Rotherham gained back-to-back promotions by winning the 2013-2014 League One play-off final. Rotherham beat Leyton Orient 4-3 on penalties after a 2-2 draw, having come back from 2-0 down.
In the 2014/15 season, Rotherham ended up 5 points clear of relegation, finishing with 46 points and in 21st place in the table.
Last season was another 21st place finish, as the Millers avoided relegation by a comfortable 9 points come the end of the season.
The Manager – Kenny Jackett
Past Match - Video Highlights - Trev
Not good memories of the last time the Millers visited Portman Road, when there was a familiar name on the scoresheet:
Media Watch - K L Blue
MM on Newcastle game:
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/fo ... e-12064983
OOPS!!
http://www.thickaccent.com/2016/10/24/v ... ast-night/
3 kids for the future:
http://footballleagueworld.co.uk/these- ... 5-years/4/
What the Town fans said about the Newcastle game:
http://www.themag.co.uk/2016/10/ipswich ... wich-town/
Midfielder's reaction to MM's statement on Newcastle game:
http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2016/10/24/ip ... castle-de/
Sir Bobby's tribute by the fans:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/ ... le-9116570
Form Guide
Ipswich Last 5 Matches – Currently in 17th place with 17 points
Newcastle Utd 3-0 Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town 2-0 Burton Albion
Blackburn Rovers 0-0 Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town 0-1 Huddersfield
Ipswich Town 0-0 Brighton
Rotherham Last 5 Matches – Currently in 24th place with 6 points
Rotherham 0-1 Reading FC
Birmingham City 4-2 Rotherham
Norwich City 3-1 Rotherham
Rotherham 0-1 Newcastle Utd
Huddersfield 2-1 Rotherham
Fixtures of Interest
QPR VS BRENTFORD
BRIGHTON VS NORWICH
BARNSLEY VS BRISTOL CITY
BLACKBURN VS WOLVES
Marko's Caption Contest
Two great weeks of captions....., some genuine Laugh out louds amongst those. And a few draws on the Blackburn caption. Funny stuff.
Blackburn scores
Gold&Black 5pts
Tangfastic 4pts
Herforder & DerickIpsw 3pts
Bluemike & Watership Down 2pts
Newcastle scores
Ando 5pts
Herforder 4pts
Derick 3pts
Blueblood 2pts
LEAGUE TABLE
Herforder 27
DerickIpsw 25
Quasar 21
Gold&Black 20
Ando 19
Nicsreamer 17
Blueblood 17
Bluemike 16
Frosty 13
Watership Down 9
Tangfastic 8
IpswichtownNo1 8
Number 9 6
Patthegimp 5
Ashfordblue 4
LoudNProud 3
Supershred 2
Foxy Lady 1
Barmy Billy 1
ItfcTrev76 1
Shed on Tour 1
Have a go at this:-
Match referee – Darren Bond
Final Thought – Bluemike
The expected outcome at St. James' Park came to pass in what turned out to be a pretty one-sided and comfortable afternoon for our hosts. Losing a goal so early really put us on the back foot from the off and it was a blow from which we were never going to recover. Yes, we had a couple of good chances at 0-1 but Newcastle were without doubt a cut above us all over the pitch.
Two things have come to my attention since the defeat Saturday. First up is the notion that we somehow accepted defeat before the game kicked off. Quite where this ridiculous notion comes from I have no idea. Yes we were well beaten, yes we were outplayed but no way did we roll over – we just weren't good enough. I do not think for one minute that the players crossed the white line believing they had no chance, I just do not accept that at all. I actually think they believe they can get something from every game they play. For me it is a classic case of drama queens fuelling the fire while the heat is undoubtedly on MM and the players to deliver. I find it counter-productive and a tad silly in truth given that pretty much every fan I spoke to expected a hammering.
The second thing that has caught my attention is this sudden "Six-game syndrome". The press have picked up on it and fans are now doing likewise. Suddenly our season is defined by the next six games. Agreed, it is an important spell, what with four games being at home, but I think it is all a little bit melodramatic. Having said that, failure to pick up a decent haul of points from these games could well see any remaining hopes of challenging the higher echelons of the division as likely as Ashford predicting a Town win.
I dread to think of the fallout that would follow a poor result against Rotherham. It doesn't bear thinking about. Thankfully, I see Town running out winners in this one and with 2 or 3 goals to our name too with any luck. IPSWICH TOWN 2 ROTHERHAM UNITED 1
