Marathon football seasons often end in sweat and tears. Arsenal (1980) and Dundee United (1987) are just two examples of campaigns that promised so much but ultimately delivered nothing in terms of trophies. But sometimes the long drawn out story does have a happy ending.
Continuing their fine form from the previous season – one defeat in 24 league matches – Ipswich began the 1980/81 campaign with an unbeaten 14-match run that saw them sit just below early leaders Aston Villa (with two games in hand). Defeat at Brighton was not the end of the world, yet it did highlight a key problem for Robson.
Without regulars Paul Cooper, Terry Butcher, Kevin Beattie, Frans Thijssen and Alan Brazil, the lack of depth in Robson’s squad was obvious, and as the matches started to mount up, the limited options hurt the treble bid. “We had perhaps fourteen championship-calibre players when we needed nineteen,” Robson admitted in Farewell but Not Goodbye.
By the time of this defeat at the Goldstone Ground in November, Ipswich had already been involved in two rounds of the UEFA Cup – defeating Aris Salonika and Bohemians Prague – and three rounds of the League Cup; a two-legged win over Middlesbrough and replay victory over local rivals Norwich, before Birmingham ended the run in the last-sixteen.
It wasn’t hard to see why Ipswich were thriving. Midfielder Thijssen would win the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year, with fellow countryman Arnold Muhren earning praise for his displays. Brazil and Paul Mariner, supported by Eric Gates playing in the hole, proved a handful for many an opposition defence.
Defensively the team were solid, Cooper playing behind Mick Mills, Russell Osman, Butcher and George Burley, with the versatile Steve McCall slotting into the team when the latter was ruled out from the end of January onwards.
But amongst many gems, John Wark would shine. Winning the PFA Player of the Year award and the Young European Player of the Year, the Scottish midfielder would score 36 goals in all competitions, his exploits in the UEFA Cup particularly memorable.
Four goals in the 5-1 hammering of Aris Salonika; two in the 3-0 win over Bohemians Prague; and a hat-trick in the 5-0 triumph over a Widzew Lodz team that had beaten Manchester United and Juventus in the previous two rounds. Into the quarter finals of the competition, there was more to come from both Wark and Ipswich.
The team bounced back from the unexpected defeat at Brighton, embarking on a 17-match run in the league with a solitary league defeat; a 5-3 loss at Tottenham that saw Gates sent-off with the score at 3-3. Come mid-March, Ipswich had the impressive league record that read W20 D10 L2. Glory neared on three fronts.
The FA Cup run started with a 1-0 win over title rivals Villa at Portman Road, and victories over Shrewsbury and Charlton set up a clash with European Cup holders Nottingham Forest in the Sixth round. In a dramatic cup tie, Ipswich took a 2-0 lead but needed a late Thijssen equaliser to force a replay. Another match to cram into the increasingly hectic schedule.
Robson tried to get the replay delayed by a day, yet a canny Brian Clough refused to budge. Nevertheless, Ipswich won the replay, as the fixtures continued to come thick and fast. From the start of March, the team would play 20 matches in three competitions, often squeezing in three matches a week. The strain started to tell.
There had been little evidence to suggest that Ipswich would hit the buffers. Wark scored in both legs against St Etienne, a stunning 4-1 away win followed up by a 3-1 victory at Portman Road, as the club reached the last four of the UEFA Cup. But an alarming slump in league form ultimately cost the team dear.
Six matches in just two weeks in April would be significant. April 8: Wark’s goal gave Ipswich a slender goal advantage to take to Cologne in the second leg of the UEFA Cup semi-final. April 11: a soul-destroying extra-time defeat against Manchester City ended hopes in the FA Cup. In previous years the tie would have gone to a replay after 90 minutes; to compound things Beattie also suffered a broken arm in his last match for Ipswich, on a painful day for him and the club.
It says a lot about the character of Robson’s team that they revisited Villa Park three days later and reinvigorated their title chances by beating Aston Villa for a third time that season. But reverses against Arsenal at home (April 20) and a crushing derby loss at Norwich (April 22) looked to have given Villa a crucial advantage.
With games in hand the title was still in Ipswich’s reach, but their relentless schedule and poor form was suggesting that the team were vulnerable. The club did reach their first European final on April 25 with another 1-0 win over Cologne. Yet throughout the slog, Robson had voiced his concerns.
“The way things are organised here can down a team who are going for several big prizes,” Robson stated after the FA Cup defeat. Advocating a move to an 18-team division, Robson also pointed out that teams on the continent were not punished so much. “The Germans are laughing at our programme,” he said, before the second leg of the semi-final.
You couldn’t really argue with Robson. In a way, Villa’s defeat in the FA Cup and their lack of European involvement was a blessing in disguise. After their FA Cup meeting, Villa played 17 league matches. Conversely, Ipswich took to the pitch 31 times in three competitions.
May 2: the final Saturday of the league season. With Aston Villa 2-0 down at Arsenal and Ipswich winning 1-0 at Middlesbrough, the half-time as-it-stands table would have seen Robson’s men two points behind with a game in hand. But it’s the hope that kills you.
Two Bozo Jankovic goals ended Ipswich’s race, and the defeat to Southampton, sandwiched between the two legs of the UEFA Cup final, was Ipswich’s seventh defeat in their last ten league matches. Yet the team had little time to lick their wounds.
Four days after the despair at Ayresome Park, Ipswich defeated AZ Alkmaar 3-0 at Portman Road, Wark scoring the first in a win that seemed to have given the season a silver-lining. Two weeks later, it was a case of job done, but not before the jaded players put their manager and fans through more stress.
Thijssen’s early goal looked to have ended any nerves, and although AZ took a 2-1 lead after 25 minutes, Wark’s 14th goal in the tournament calmed the situation. AZ scored twice to take a 4-2 lead, and with 17 minutes remaining, two goals would have seen Ipswich denied once more. Luckily, there wasn’t one final cruel twist of the knife.
“It was a glorious relief for the club, good enough to have won anything and everything this year, that at last they landed something,” the Observer’s David Hunn wrote, hitting the nail on the head.
Five years later, the team dropped into Division Two. Soon the days of 1980/81 would seem like a distant dream. But what memories Robson and his small squad provided. And unlike Arsenal and Dundee United, they at least had something to celebrate as the marathon season ended.
What a superb read! Not an Ipswich supporter but they should have won the title and they usually played a now very popular 4-4-3 (or a 4-3-1-2)
ReplyDeleteThis was also the last season of hugely underrated centre back Kevin Beattie, a club legend.