History of Ipswich Town F.C.

The club was founded on 16 October 1878 as an amateur side known as Ipswich AFC, under the presidency of local MP Thomas Cobbold who had played football at Charterhouse School.

[4] The team moved to Portman Road, the current ground, in 1884, and would share, until 1936, the facilities with the East Suffolk Cricket Club who had played there since 1855.

[1] The club won their first trophy in the 1886–87 season, triumphing 2–1 against a team representing Ipswich School in the final of the Suffolk Challenge Cup.

[14] Ipswich Town were managerless until 10 November 1936 when the club appointed Scott Duncan, who had left recently relegated Manchester United.

[16] Ipswich Town were elected to The Football League on 30 May 1938 by a margin of just two votes,[1] at the expense of Gillingham, initially playing in the Third Division South.

[13] The club's last competitive match before the league was suspended due to the Second World War was a 1–1 draw with local rivals, Norwich City.

[10] During the early 1950s striker Tom Garneys finished as club top-scorer for four seasons in a row, and became the first professional Ipswich player to score four times in a game.

[23] Ipswich had their most successful season to that point in 1960–61, winning the Second Division and promotion to the top level of English football,[12] ahead of Sheffield United and Liverpool.

[12] Ramsey quit the club in April 1963 to take charge of the England national football team,[26] and Ipswich finished only four places above relegation in the 1962–63 season.

[12] Bobby Robson's appointment followed a chance encounter with Ipswich director Murray Sangster while scouting at Portman Road for Chelsea manager Dave Sexton.

Robson led the club to fourth place in the First Division and success in the Texaco Cup, beating local rivals Norwich City 4–2, in the 1972–73 season.

[10][35] The team challenged Liverpool for the First Division title for much of the 1976–77 season, going top of the table in February 1977 with a 5–0 defeat of Norwich City in the East Anglian derby.

[36] Mariner's efforts helped the club to a third-place finish, and the following season, he scored seven goals in the FA Cup as the club won the second major honour in its history,[37] Roger Osborne scoring the winning goal in a 1–0 victory over Arsenal in the FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium.

Over the next two seasons Robson brought Dutchmen Arnold Mühren and Frans Thijssen to the club while the team achieved two further top six finishes in the First Division.

[47] In 2002, in recognition of Robson's achievements with the club, a life-size statue of him was unveiled opposite the Cobbold Stand at Portman Road.

[48] On 7 July 2006, Robson was named as honorary president of Ipswich Town Football Club, the first since Lady Blanche Cobbold who had died in 1987.

[12] Ferguson made the transition from coach to manager in July 1982, but some success in the various cup competitions was offset by an end to the high league positions the club had enjoyed under Robson.

[53] From 1987 to 1990, Ipswich Town were managed by John Duncan, but achieved only mid-table finishes each season with the club gaining a reputation as a "competent Second Division side".

[54] Duncan was sacked in June 1990 and was replaced by John Lyall, whose 14-year reign as West Ham United manager had ended the previous summer.

[54] His successor George Burley was unable to turn things around and Ipswich suffered a "humiliating" 9–0 defeat at Manchester United in early March,[59][60] the biggest margin in a Premiership match.

However, there was some relief in the UEFA Cup with a victory over Inter Milan 1–0 at home in the third round, despite which the tie was lost over two legs after a 4–1 defeat at the San Siro.

[69] From bottom of the table at Christmas,[70] a run of seven wins from eight fixtures appeared to have secured the team's league status,[71] but another decline set in and relegation was confirmed on the final day of the season with a 5–0 defeat by Liverpool at Anfield.

[76] A poor start to the domestic season, leaving the club 19th in the table by mid-October, resulted in George Burley being sacked after nearly eight years as manager.

[87] At a press conference held on 5 June 2006, Jim Magilton was officially named as the new manager and former academy director Bryan Klug was appointed as first team coach.

[90] In October 2007, Ipswich agreed to sell a £44m stake in the club to British businessman Marcus Evans who became the majority owner and shareholder.

[96] First team coach Ian McParland stood in as caretaker manager for two matches, including a semi-final first leg win in the League Cup against Arsenal, before Paul Jewell took the role on permanently in mid-January 2011.

[99] The longest-serving members of the Championship, Ipswich were bottom of the league by late October, and Jewell left the club by "mutual consent", leaving Chris Hutchings in a caretaker role.

[109] Paul Hurst was appointed as manager for the start of the 2018–19 season, with the club heralding it as "a new era",[110] but was sacked less than five months later after securing a single victory in fourteen league matches, leaving Ipswich bottom of the Championship.

This prompted local newspaper East Anglian Daily Times to call for Paul Lambert to be sacked as Ipswich manager.

Ipswich's chances of automatic promotion appeared to fade, but Kieran McKenna managed to guide the team back into second spot with an eighteen-game unbeaten run in the close of the season.