RTG’s totally and utterly (we hope) indispensable guide to this season’s away grounds.
THE OPPO Ipswich Town
DATE – Sunday 17 April
KO TIME – 12 noon
THE GROUND – Portman Road, Ipswich– click here and here for maps of the area – the arrow points to where the ground is.
Ipswich is in the county of Suffolk in south-east England, about 12 miles from Harwich and Felixstowe on the coast and around 40 miles east of Cambridge. The ground is pretty much right in the centre of Ipswich, close to the river and also handy for Ipswich rail station.
AWAY SUPPORTERS
Away supporters are accommodated at one end of the Cobbold Stand (upper and lower tiers), in blocks V1 and V2.
DISABLED FACILITIES
There are 9 designated areas for disabled supporters in the Britannia Stand Lower, Greene King Stand Upper and Lower, and North Stand upper/lower; within those areas, a total of 300 supporters in wheelchairs can be accommodated. There’s an additional area in the Cobbold Stand with 12 seats for visually impaired supporters and their escorts, and commentary via headphones is provided to these seats. Contact [email protected] for further details. 50 car parking spaces at Portman Road are set aside for disabled supporters, sold on a first-come-first-served basis: contact Aaron Claxton on 01473 400517.
TICKETS
General sale commences Monday 4 April.
GOING BY CAR?
Travelling from the north east, get yourself onto the A1/A1M southbound and stay on for about 190 miles – until you get into Cambridgeshire, past Peterborough and just before Huntingdon.
Look for signs for the A14 signposted ‘London E, M11, Cambridge’ and stay on that road for nearly 70 miles, until you reach jcn 51.
Turn left onto the A1156 (signposted Ipswich West and North) and at roundabout take 1st exit
After 2 miles turn right ,onto the A1214 (signposted ‘Colchester’)
At the next traffic lights go straight ahead onto the A137 West End Road; stay left, then at the next lights turn left into Princes Street then left again into Portman Road.
In total there are 5,800 spaces in the various town centre car parks – three of those car parks are on Portman Road itself; also a multi-storey next to the station. A Park & Ride service operates from 7am to 7pm, for details click here.
ALS BUS
A Love Supreme are providing their usual coach service down to Ipswich. The cost is £23pp and coaches leave the ALS shop (opposite the Stadium of Light) at 5am on the day. To book, either phone or fax 0191 565 4422 (Mon-Fri 9-5 and matchdays) – credit and debit cards accepted. Or go to the ALS shop and pay in person. Or reserve your place online – either email [email protected] to tell them you want to book a place, or click here to book and pay online.
Reservations and refunds deadline 48 hours before departure.
GOING BY TRAIN?
As it’s an early kickoff and a hellish long journey, there are no trains that can get you there in time unless you go the day before.
STOPPING OVER?
– Holiday Inn Express, Old Hadleigh Rd, Ipswich – tel 01473-222279
– Travel Inn, Bourne Hill, Ipswich – tel 08701 977 143
– Travelodge, A12 Capel St Mary, Ipswich – tel 0870 191 1542
– Station Hotel, Burrell Rd, Ipswich – tel 01473 602664
– Highview House Hotel, Belstead Rd, Ipswich – tel 01473 601620
SCRAN AND BOOZE
You’ll find the usual array of chips and burger bars along Portman Road. Most pubs in the area welcome away supporters. The Station Hotel (as the name suggests, close to the station!) is a regular meeting place for away supporters. The Greyhound on Henley Road sells Adnams beer and comes highly recommended, and the Milestone Beer House on Woodridge Road does a wide range of food and the ‘Fat Cat’ pub has won the Suffolk Pub of the Year award more than once. In the town centre there’s a Hogs Head selling Caledonian Deuchar’s IPA, and two Wetherspoons pubs.
Head into the town centre area and there are loads of places to eat.
LEND US A FIVER I’M OUT OF CASH
There’ll be cash machines at Kings Cross Station if you’re taking the train down, and more at Ipswich station.
There’s a Barclays and also a Co-Op and a Bank of Scotland on Princes Street that has ATMs, and are quite close to the ground, also close by is the Tesco on Ropes Drive which has a Royal Bank of Scotland ATM.
THIS SEASON
Currently 3rd of 24 with 76 points:
P40 W22 D10 L8 F72 A46 Pts 76 GD 26
HOME FORM
P20 W15 D2 L34 F42 A20 Pts 47 GD 22
LAST 6 MEETINGS
21/11/04 Sunderland 2 Ipswich 0 (Elliott, Brown)
12/04/04 Ipswich 1 Sunderland 0
24/01/04 Ipswich 1 Sunderland 2 (Smith, Arca)
30/09/03 Sunderland 3 Ipswich 2 (Breen, Oster, Kyle)
29/12/01 Ipswich 5 Sunderland 0
18/08/01 Sunderland 1 Ipswich 0 (Phillips)
TRIVIA
Two former Ipswich managers have both left their post to take over as England manager, and both were later knighted by the Queen: Alf Ramsay and Bobby Robson.
George Burley, who managed Town from 1994 for eight years, played for Sunderland for three years in the mid-1980s, after a 12-year spell playing for…..Ipswich, his first employers in football.
Our own Marcus Stewart signed for them from Huddersfield in February 2000, for the club’s then record transfer fee of £2.75m. He stayed for two and a half years, scoring 37 goals in 93 appearances. He was a crowd favourite but in his last season at Portman Road, scored only 10 goals compared against 21 the season before.
The first president of the club was T C Cobbold; there’s been a member of his family on the board ever since.
The club was founded in 1878 as Ipswich AFC, as a rival to one already playing, known as Ipswich FC They didn’t settle at Portman Road until 1884, but Ipswich FC also laid claim to that ground, so the two sides joined forces in 1888, becoming ‘Ipswich Town’.
Famous ex-Ipswich players: Alun Armstrong, Marcus Bent, Chris Bart-Williams, Matt Holland, John Moncur, Tony Mowbray, Martijn Reuser, Alan Sunderland, John Wark, Richard Wright.
Ex-Ipswich players with an SAFC connection: Ian Atkins, Rod Belfitt, Keith Bertschin, George Burley, Terry Butcher, Alec Chamberlain, Lee Chapman, Pat Curran, Eric Gates, Danny Hegan, Lee Howey, Chris Makin, James Nelson, Marcus Stewart.
Credits Ipswich Town FC, London Clarets, Ipswich borough council, Pride of Anglia, Link, Multimap, Rough Guide to English Football, Soccerbase, streetmap.co.uk, The AA, BBC.