Monday 29th May was, without a doubt, the best day of my life: when my beloved Blues reached the Division One Play Offs and George Burley’s heroes lifted us up to the promised land of the Premier League.
Hearing and seeing so many club legends recall the
magnificent events of the day has been giving me goosebumps all week, and it
made me wonder what different memories our fans might have to share.
Each of us experienced it in a different way, so I’ve asked
Ipswich fans on Twitter and Facebook to share their favourite memories from our
momentous trip to Wembley:
Travelling there
As a season-ticket-holders who lived in Cambridge, my Dad,
middle sister and I travelled to London via the A11 and it wasn’t until we
almost reached the M11 that we started to notice other blue scarfs flying from
car windows.
We spotted one parked up on a layby just before we hit the
motorway, a group of young men stood around looking at the flat tyre, yet still
in high spirits as we waved and cheered to them on our way past.
To this day, we still turn to each other when we drive past
that spot and remember that moment, it felt like the beginning of the Blue Army
coming together for this special day.
Setting off from Ipswich was clearly a special experience, Kevin
Higham left his home in Leicestershire at 4 am to drive to Portman Road:
‘Me,
my Dad and my Grandad then travelled down to Wembley with the Town fans and
when we got there saw a sea of blue and red on Wembley Way. They have both since passed away, so these are really treasured memories.’
Andrew
Perkins travelled down by club coach:
‘I could only get one ticket and ended up heading there by
myself, but the rest of the fans were in good voice! I remember the A12 was
closed and we had to detour through Essex to get on M25.’
As
did Colin Love:
‘The
A12 was full of cars with scarves and flags hanging out of the windows, and then
on the return trip people stood on the bridges waving flags and scarves at all
the fans travelling home.’
While Professional Darts player and fellow Ipswich fan Kevin Painter
almost didn’t make the game:
‘On the weekend of the play-off final, I was at a competition in
North Wales. I left the camp at 6am on the morning of the match and headed to
pick up a couple of pals.’
‘Somewhere along the M6, I had a blow-out! But I managed to get to
my friends in Cambridgeshire to switch cars and then on to the game. Things
could have turned out much worse!’
Many of our fans travelled huge distances to be there, like Andrew Tilly:
‘This is the only game I've ever been to. I flew over
from New Zealand just to see it and back home again four days later. I was in
heaven all day!’
And others watched it from home, like Frankie:
‘I was only 11. I remember running around the garden in celebration
afterwards and getting told off for being too loud!’
Or even followed it while sat outside the ground, like Andrew Woodfield:
‘My dad could only get 2 tickets so he took my older brother
(despite him being a Manchester United fan at the time).’
‘But we were due to go on holiday that day, so my mum and I sat in
the car and listened to it on the radio!’
‘Even though I was technically at Wembley that day, I didn’t see a
ball get kicked and I’ve never let my dad get away with it!’
Arriving at Wembley:
Once
we arrived at the stadium, I remember my Dad parking up at the side of the
road – something that definitely wouldn’t be allowed nowadays.
As
we joined Wembley Way about halfway up, I was absolutely blown away by the
blue, white and red colours and the hubbub of cheerful chants all around me.
Gareth
Cook recalls playing football in the car park against Barnsley fans, while Laura
Bilner tells me her 9-year-old-self greeted Barnsley supporters with a chant of
‘Blue Army’!
Our
tickets meant we were seated quite centrally in the ground, almost next to the
halfway line, a position that meant we could clearly see the cup being lifted
later on.
Do
others remember where they sat?
Andrew
Perkins, who told me earlier he travelled by coach on his own, arrived at his
seat to find it was right next to where his mates were sat after all!
A few fans recall the strange weather just before kick-off, something I
had completely forgotten:
Dan Thomas
remembers: ‘The hail storm about five minutes before kick-off.’
And Krissy Day told me:
‘I remember pre-kick off, it absolutely fell down with rain. I was
thinking maybe the game won’t go ahead.’
‘But then the clouds parted and Wembley was bathed in sunshine.’
Barnsley score:
You all know how the game went, I think I’ve memorised every
second of my Play Off Final DVD, so I won’t relive the details here. But it is
interesting seeing which parts of the match were most memorable for those of us
watching from the stands.
Starting with the moment we went a goal behind as a shot
from Craig Hignett rebounded off the bar, only to hit the back of home-grown
keeper Richard Wright’s arm and go into the back of the net.
Peter Abbott
says: ‘I remember going 1-0 down and turning to my wife and saying,
‘not a problem we can win this.’ The day just felt like it was ours.’
And I have to say, I completely agree. It’s probably the
last time I felt truly confident that Town would win a game!
Mogga makes it 1:1
Mark Dowling flew over from Dublin on the morning of the
game and walked round Wembley Way for hours trying to get a ticket. He finally
bought one from a tout for £150, but it was in the Barnsley end!
‘When we scored, I jumped up – but quickly had to shout
about Barnsley’s bad defensive errors to cover myself.’
‘By the time third goal went, in the lad sitting next to
me gave me the nod to suggest he was a Tractor Boy also.’
Super-sub Naylor makes it 2:1
Again, we’ve all discussed for hours the day that Richard
Naylor booked his place in the Ipswich Town Hall of Fame with a phenomenal
performance after replacing the injured David Johnson.
Bam – Bam has long been one of my favourite players, I was
lucky enough to interview him while he was Club Captain under Magilton and when
he later played at Doncaster.
I’m certain it was that day which cemented him in my list of
top 5 ever players!
David Pascoe sent me an excellent piece on this topic, ‘The
Redemption of Bam-Bam’, which you can check out here.
Stewart puts us two goals ahead
For me, this was the best goal of the day: the build-up was
superb and the way the player’s joined together for a seamless strike on goal
was indicative of how well that team had been built.
Daniel
Blowers agrees, but for another reason:
‘Stewart’s header was great because we were singing, ‘are
you watching Norwich’, just as the ball was played down the left side of the
pitch in front of us.’
‘It was a great header, not that Mowbray’s wasn’t!’
Reuser’s goal:
But I dare say there’s one moment that every single Town fan
remembers from that day.
Remember when Manchester City secured the Premier League
title in 2012? Well, this is our ‘Agueeeeeeeeeerrooooo moment’.
Christopher Overett told me:
‘Stewart’s was the best goal technically, but my
favourite has to be Reuser’s at the end. It put an end to the agony of the
final 11 mins of the game, thinking every time they got near our goal they’d
equalise.’
Kev Sherwood added:
‘When Reuser scored scored the 4th everyone went nuts but all I could do was
sink into my seat out of shear relief and exhaustion with ears running down my
cheeks because we’d finally done it after years of hurt.
Daniel Blowers recalls: ‘George Burley and Dale Roberts celebrating
on the touchline when Bam- Bam put Reuser in and he finished it.’
While Nic Wright remembers: ‘The top tier of the stand bouncing as we
jumped up and down each time we celebrated our goals!’
Remember Andrew Woodfield from earlier who was listening to the game on
the radio, his recollection of this moment is special too:
‘What I remember most was after the goals, we’d turn the radio off
and here the insane noise from inside the ground!’
And Jack Saunders sums things up perfectly when he describes a sense of
relief:
‘I just remember this overwhelming feeling of dread, right up until
Reuser's goal. I just knew we were going to mess it up, right up until we
didn't.’
It’s my Dad’s favourite moment too. Speaking to him just
before writing this article, he described the reaction from the crowd as ‘an
explosion of joy.’
He’s always been very reserved at games, but as my sister
and I looked round to him to celebrate, we found him with his arms around the
two supporters in front of us – absolutely elated.
To this day, that is one of my most treasured memories of
him and of life as a football fan.
Reaction to the game:
Then the final whistle blew, and we had finally made it. At
the fourth time of asking we had one the Play-Offs and secured our spot in the
Premier League for the following season.
Andrew Perkins tells me: ‘I was in tears of happiness at
the end!’
While Mark Dowling, the fan who was sat in the Barnsley seats decided
to finally inform the policeman standing beside him that he was in the ‘wrong
end’:
‘He let me walk over to the celebrating fans and I watched Matt Holland
lift the cup amongst our fans. It was a great day and a great experience.’
Jack Saunders had a great view of this moment:
‘Our seats were right next to the steps and I remember everyone
clambering over us to get closer to the players.’
‘But I was right at the end of the row, so I got a high five from
every single player as they went past.’
‘I also got to throw my scarf to Matt Holland, which is one of the three
scarves he's wearing in all the photographs!’
The celebrations carried on long into the night:
In his recent interview with Blue Monday, skipper Matt Holland talks
about the journey home with the players (there was a lot of beer involved) and
how he went back to see his Dad once they were back.
And it’s true that most of us have special memories from the day that
took place well after the final whistle had blown.
As my Dad, sister and I pulled up the drive in front of our house we
were greeted by my Mum standing at the door in an Ipswich Town shirt.
Never before had she worn one, and she usually didn’t even know the
result of a match until a few days later – but that evening she knew and she
joined us in the celebrations!
I’ll leave you with some more memories of those final hours of the bank
holiday, my thanks to everyone who has contributed to this heart-warming
article:
Simon Mason:
‘After we’d sung and cheered our hearts out in the stadium, I
remember the walk back along Wembley Way towards the underground station.’
‘It was so packed that the police were stopping groups of fans from
both clubs together to prevent a crush at the station.’
‘The noise level dropped to almost a whisper for what seemed like ages,
partly out of respect for Barnsley’s position - after all, Ipswich knew Play-Off
defeat heartache more than anyone at that time.’
‘Years later, after Barnsley won a cracking Play-Off final against
Swansea to return to the Championship, I had a look at one of the Barnsley
fans’ forums and found many Ipswich fans congratulating the Tykes on their win
- and plenty of goodwill coming back from the reds.’
Jack Saunders:
‘I remember getting back into Ipswich and driving around the town,
all the horns blaring, people waving, like nothing I'd seen before or since!’
Jack
Todd:
'I
remember so much of that game, but one of THE most memorable things was driving
back into Suffolk and seeing the fans who hadn’t managed to go to Wembley on
bridges and at the sides of the road with waving flags and scarves. Absolutely
electrifying!
Kevin
Higham, mentioned earlier telling us how he travelled from Leicestershire:
‘The
drive back up the M1 home was great as well, driving passed the Barnsley fans
with my Town flag out of the window. Sadly, both my Dad and Grandad have passed
away, so that day holds many special memories and not just because of the
result.’
And
finally, a random one from ‘Super Frans’ which I simply couldn’t leave out:
‘Going
into the urinal after the game to find myself standing next to Roger Osborne.
God’s honest truth. Surreal moment.’
What are your favourite memories from that day? Let me know in the comments below!
My thanks to Stuart Goldsmith who provided the lovely photos for this article, I was shocked to find I have no photos at all from that day - something that would never happen now, my phone comes with me everywhere!
I'll be celebrating this special anniversary all day over on Twitter, so please feel free to come and say hello!
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