Ipswich Town v Fleetwood Town 
Sunday 9th May 2021 – 12:00
Portman Road
Pre-Match Thoughts - Mike
The End Of An Era..........
This Sunday's home game against Fleetwood Town not only brings down the curtain on another season it also brings down the curtain on a chapter of our history, it has to be said that it isn't a chapter that many of us will remember with any great amount of fondness or happiness. It has been a chapter of Fourteen years under the leadership of Marcus Evans, I say that because even these last few weeks with Paul Cook at the helm it is still very much under the influence of the Evans reign, same old players, same old behind the scenes set up, same old malaise among the fans, you name it it all smacks of Evans.
Normally every Football fan hates this time of year, the thought of Three months without Football is usually unbearable, even though we have not been able to attend games for over a year it would still be horrible to think of no Football action for all those Twelve weeks, this time around however it is very much a different story here in Suffolk, pretty much every single Town fan cannot wait to see the back of what has in all honesty been a torrid campaign, possibly one of if not the worst in our history, for me I feel worse this time around than I did the year we actually got relegated to League One., yes it's been that bad.
There is however some light at the end of a never ending tunnel, new owners are already in place with a promise to splash the cash, slowly the building blocks are being put in place behind the scenes while at front of house we have in a place a new manager who I must say I am delighted to have on board, Paul Cook has had a very poor start to life at Portman Road, hardly a surprise given the disgusting way his so called squad have gone about their jobs in recent weeks, having their feathers ruffled and their ego's dented has clearly hit home and it is pretty obvious they haven't liked it One bit, I have loved it !!!! This last couple of Months is no representation of Paul Cook or his managerial ability, judgement on him will start on Monday, firstly with his clear out of the dross, then his rebuilding of the squad and the quality of his signings, very quickly it will move to his tactics and brand of Football and of course RESULTS !!! I have faith we will not be disappointed.
Gamechanger have brought hope and belief that better times are ahead at a time when we desperately needed something to grasp on to, with the exception of One or Two clubs, Bury & Southend spring to mind, I would say Ipswich Town fans have had it as bad if not worse than every other Football league Clubs fans in recent years, a steady decline which year on year gets worse and worse, it just has to change, the wind of change is about to blow through the corridors of Portman Road, get this something right and close to something approaching the real ITFC and we will see Season Ticket sales going up, match days attendances will be high Teens at worst and if the bright new dawn bares early season fruit home attendances will top 20k on a regular basis no problem.
The next Three months are massive, Paul Cook needs to get the right players in, next season has to be promotion in my eyes, none of this "it takes time" nonsense, if what we are hearing is true our investment should knock 99% of League One Clubs aside with ease, the transfer window is normally non existent for us as fans, not so this time, it's gonna be an exciting few weeks. A new era is on the horizon and despite my apathy in recent months I cannot wait to be part of the rebirth of Ipswich Town Football Club, better times are coming, we are about to return. COYB'S. ITID.
Thanks to those who take the time each week to read my ramblings, I would normally say it's been a pleasure but in truth, this season... it hasn't !!! Even so it is a pleasure to be able to help Frosty in a small way and it's my thank you to him for keeping the forum alive for us. So anyway, cheers guys, that's me done. Enjoy the Summer.
The Opposition – Fleetwood Town
The current club was officially established in 1997 but, in two previous incarnations, the club's history dates back to 1908. The original club, Fleetwood F.C., were champions of the Lancashire Combination in 1923–24, and registered a hat-trick of Lancashire Combination Cup wins in 1932, 1933 and 1934. The side's goalkeeper in the first of those victories was Frank Swift, then only eighteen years old. After almost sixty years as a Lancashire Combination club, they were made founder members of the Northern Premier League in 1968. The club finished in 10th place in its first season. As the NPL was one of several leagues immediately below Division Four of the Football League, this was effectively the fifth tier of English football, and the club would not surpass this success until 2010–11. Despite winning the Northern Premier League Cup in 1971, the club languished in the lower half of the table, finishing bottom for two successive seasons (1974–75 and 1975–76) and folded in 1976 because of financial difficulties. Its great players include the late Percy Ronson, after whom one stand is named.
The club was re-established in 1977 as Fleetwood Town F.C., with many of the original personnel. Initially placed in Division One of the Cheshire League, it was moved in 1982 to the North West Counties League Division Two in its inaugural year, and promoted to Division One in 1984. The team reached the final of the FA Vase in 1985, losing 3–1 to Halesowen Town in front of a 16,000 crowd at Wembley. The club was placed in Division One (second tier) of the Northern Premier League when the league established a second tier in 1987, becoming the inaugural Division One Champions in 1988. In 1990–91 the club finished fourth in the NPL Premier Division, at the time effectively the sixth tier. However, by 1996, this second club had also folded.
Re-formed in 1997 as Fleetwood Wanderers, the club was placed back in Division One of the North West Counties Football League (now the tenth tier of the English League system) and a sponsorship deal saw the club's name immediately changed to Fleetwood Freeport F.C.. The club was promoted to the Premier Division of the North West Counties League in 1999 and renamed Fleetwood Town F.C. in 2002. Tony Greenwood was appointed manager in 2003; soon afterward, Andy Pilley took over as chairman. Successive promotions, as North West Counties League champions in 2005 and Northern Premier League First Division runners-up in 2006, saw the club reach the Northern Premier League Premier Division.
Fleetwood Town won the Northern Premier League Challenge Cup in the 2006–07 season, beating Matlock Town 1–0, and finished the season in eighth place with 67 points.
In the 2007–08 season Fleetwood won the Northern Premier League, gaining promotion to the Conference North. Along the way they set a new attendance record for the division, and were easily the best-supported team in the Premier Division.
Fleetwood started the 2008–09 Conference North season poorly; with the club at the bottom of the league, manager Tony Greenwood, along with his assistant, Nigel Greenwood and coach Andy Whittaker, were sacked. Greenwood was replaced by Micky Mellon. His position at Fleetwood was made full-time in January 2009, a first for the club.
The demise of Farsley Celtic partway through the 2009–10 was detrimental to Fleetwood's campaign, as Farsley's entire 2009–10 playing record was expunged. Fleetwood were chasing promotion along with near neighbours Southport, and the ruling cost Fleetwood three points relative to Southport. Fleetwood appealed against the decision but the appeal was rejected the day before the last match of the season, leaving Southport one point ahead. Both teams won on the final day, giving Southport the championship. Fleetwood instead had to contest the play-offs, and after beating Droylsden on penalties in the semi-final Fleetwood won promotion to the Football Conference by beating Alfreton Town 2–1 in the final.
For the 2010–11 season the club made all of its players full-time professionals, though this resulted in a few players leaving the club, including club captain Jamie Milligan. The club spent most of the season in or near the play-off positions, eventually qualifying by finishing in fifth place. In the play-off semi-finals, against Wimbledon, a new attendance record of 4,112 was set in the home leg, but Fleetwood lost both games with an 8–1 aggregate scoreline.
Fleetwood's 2011–12 season was very successful, Fleetwood went on a 29-game unbeaten run, and were declared champions with two games remaining, giving them promotion to the Football League for the first time. At the end of the season Vardy moved to Leicester City for a fee of £1m, which subsequently rose to £1.7m—a record transfer fee for a non-league club.
Fleetwood had a good start to the 2012–13 season, and had risen to third in the league after 10 games. However, they only won two of the next 10 games, slipping to sixth position; chairman Andy Pilley and manager Micky Mellon fell out, after Mellon allegedly applied for the Burnley and Blackpool managerial vacancies. On 1 December 2012, following a 3–2 defeat against Aldershot in the FA Cup, Mellon was sacked as manager of the League Two side. Graham Alexander was appointed manager on 6 December 2012. Fleetwood were unbeaten for the next five games, and after a steady run of results had risen back to fourth place after 11 games. However, Fleetwood only won two of the remaining 15 games, and consequently slipped down the table to finish 13th in League Two; this resulted in a large rebuilding of the squad.
The 2013–14 season was another successful one. Having been in and around the automatic promotion places all season and getting to the League Trophy area final, the club narrowly missed out on automatic promotion, finishing in fourth place. After beating York City in the play-off semi-final, Fleetwood beat Burton Albion 1–0 from an Antoni Sarcevic free-kick in the play-off final at Wembley on 26 May to win promotion to League One for the first time.
Playing at the club's highest level, the 2014–15 season was very successful. After three games the team was top of the league for two games, and apart from a couple of games remained in the top half of the league all season, eventually finishing in a very creditable 10th place. Also in 2014, the club purchased a 57-bedroom hotel in Blackpool for the youth team; the following year, the club started to move into its new training ground in Thornton.
2015–16 was a difficult season. In July 2015, chairman Andy Pilley announced that the club's strategic direction would move more towards a self-sustaining model utilizing the development and sell-on of home-grown talent, rather than buying in players to attempt to climb the league pyramid further. The playing budget was trimmed heavily.
After a poor start to the season with only two wins in 10 league matches, Graham Alexander was sacked on 30 September 2015, with the club one point above the relegation zone. On 6 October 2015 Steven Pressley was appointed manager. After a season flirting with the relegation zone, Pressley guided the club to safety, five points above the relegation zone, with 10 wins in 35 league matches and an appearance in the league trophy northern area final. On 20 April 2016, Sir Alex Ferguson officially opened the club's £8m Poolfoot farm training ground complex with 18 pitches including a floodlit 4G artificial pitch, gym, cafe, bar, offices, etc.
Just before the start of the 2016–17 season, on 26 July 2016, Steven Pressley resigned from his position as manager. Uwe Rösler was appointed manager on 30 July 2016 who guided the club to its highest ever finish in 4th place but was narrowly beaten 1–0 by Bradford City in the play off semi-final.
However in the 2017–18 season Uwe Rosler was sacked on 17 February 2018 after seven straight defeats in all competitions with the club just outside the relegation zone by goal difference. On 22 February 2018 John Sheridan was appointed manager on a short term contract until the end of the season who successfully guided the club away from relegation and finished mid table in 14th place.
At the beginning of 2018–19 season Joey Barton was appointed manager on 2 June 2018 who guided the club to a 11th place with victories over local rivals Blackpool and giants Sunderland.
The 2019-20 season was unusual in two ways. First, the global coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) caused an early end to the regular season in March 2020. Second, the expulsion of Bury F.C. in August 2019 from the English Football League (EFL) for financial reasons meant the season started with only 23 clubs. Teams that were in promotion playoff positions when regular matches were abandoned went on to play the playoff matches in July 2020. Fleetwood Town were in 6th position and in a positive run, being unbeaten since losing to Burton Albion on the 7th January. However, they lost to Wycombe Wanderers 6-3 on aggregate in semi-final matches played in empty stadiums.
The Manager – Simon Grayson
Form Guide
Ipswich Last 5 Matches – Currently in 9th place with 66 points
17 Apr Charlton 0 - 0 Ipswich Town
20 Apr Northampton 3 - 0 Ipswich Town
24 Apr Ipswich Town 0 - 0 AFC Wimbledon
1 May Swindon Town 1 - 2 Ipswich Town
4 May Shrewsbury 0 - 0 Ipswich Town
Fleetwood Town Last 5 Matches – Currently in 15th place with 60 points
17 Apr Hull City 2 - 1 Fleetwood
20 Apr Fleetwood 0 - 2 Crewe Alexandra
24 Apr Doncaster 0 - 1 Fleetwood
27 Apr Burton Albion 5 - 2 Fleetwood
1 May Fleetwood 1 - 1 Milton Keynes
Match Referee – John Busby
IPSWICH TOWN 1 FLEETWOOD TOWN 1
lol
...... or is it a case of the players finally starting to get what PC wants them to do ? 
