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BBC News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
What to expect as Ipswich Town begin Championship campaign
Ipswich Town Football Club's comeback is on as they start their Championship campaign with a view to promotion back into the Premier League. Town were relegated from the top flight earlier this year after just one season. It was the first time in 22 years the club was back in the Premier League, following back-to-back promotions. The Tractor Boys take on Birmingham City away at 20:00 BST, but what differences will we see this season? How many games will Town play? Town are facing more games this season compared to the Premier are 24 clubs in the Championship and they each play 23 games at home and 23 away, a total of in the Premier League instead play 38 games in total. Who are Town up against? As Town had just got used to playing with the Premier League big boys, this season the competition looks a little different. Fellow relegated teams Southampton and Leicester may also be looking to bounce back at the first time of asking. This season Town will also clash once again with local East Anglian rivals, Norwich City, with a view to finally beating them after a number of will also face a touch of Hollywood as they go head-to-head with Wrexham, owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. What differences are there in the Championship? As well as the extra games, there are some other differences with the Premier matches, VAR (video assistant referee) is not used in the chief executive, Mark Ashton, previously said he believed football had been "worse off" since VAR's introduction and called for more "consistency" around its use. Town fans also criticised its decisions last season, so many might be happier without it this for this upcoming season, Town has already seen a wealth of changes with its club said goodbye to captain Sam Morsy who led the Tractor Boys from League One up to the Top fans' favourite Jens Cajuste has been re-signed on loan and the club has also welcomed 40-year-old Ashley Young on a one year deal. Will fans notice a difference in and around Portman Road? Changes were previously made to Portman Road stadium in accordance with Premier League rules when the club was week the club announced it had decided to remove the safe standing in the E block of the Cobbold Stand following supporter feedback. It means traditional seating will instead be in place here for the upcoming tours are also available to book for this season after they previously sold out during the Premier League of Portman Road, fans learnt this week the £15 car park charge, which is charged by Ipswich Borough Council, would remain in place this £15 parking fee was introduced during the Premier League season, but the council said it will remain in place for match days after it said the rates were "good value for money". Why has Ed Sheeran been named as number 17? The squad numbers were recently released and some fans were quick to spot the name Ed Sheeran under number was previously offered the shirt number as a gesture of appreciation for his support of the club a number of years ago and the number signifies his date of birth of 17 February 1991. An ardent Town fan, he's most likely to again be in the stand at games. 'Dust themselves down and crack on' Analysis by Brenner Woolley, BBC Radio Suffolk's match commentator and host of the Blue Hour programmeWe would have liked an extra week off to be preparing for Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea, or Tottenham, coming to Portman Road at the start of the Premier League season, but the writing was on the wall from probably at least Christmas onwards that we were going to be back in the Championship come August 2025. And that's where we now have to dust themselves down and crack on. Hopefully like the last time when they were at this level they will only stay in the Championship one season. That was after that terrific moment when they went straight from League One to the Championship and Premier have just got to hope that this is another nine month stay and come the end of the season we are celebrating is a tough, tough game to start with and I do not think there are going to be any easy opponents out of the 23 that Town are going to will all pose a challenge and we have got that intensity of that Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday which will come as the season they can make a good start through August and September that will carry them a long way. How are fans feeling? Lee Pike, who is a season ticket holder, believed it was "going to be an interesting season".The 37-year-old said he was "looking forward" to the season but was "gutted" to see Sam Morsy, the club's former captain, leave the team."Obviously he has got a new chapter, so good luck to him," he about playing against Norwich, he added: "We are going to beat them this time. We are going to beat them at home." Peter Franklin, 64, a season ticket holder, expected a "tough season", but was hoping for a good start."We need to get a win at Birmingham, definitely, but it's going to be tough and we all know that," he said."McKenna has done really well. I have heard he has got some new tactics and hopefully that will all work out well." Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
30-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Halo is new main shirt sponsor for Ipswich Town Football Club
A Suffolk software company has been announced as Ipswich Town's new shirt sponsor, in what the club says is the biggest sponsorship deal in its Halo will be replacing the previous sponsor - Suffolk musician Ed Sheeran. Sheeran's logo for a recent tour had been on the shirts for the last four seasons and the singer is a minority shareholder in the chairman Mark Ashton called the new contract a "record shirt sponsorship deal for the club". He added that, unlike many other top clubs, Ipswich had "no intention of moving towards a gambling sponsor"."We're proud to be working so closely with another Suffolk business which shares many of our values," he said.A £2m deal in 2018, under Town's previous owner, with an online gambling site angered some for the new deal have not been made public. The sponsorship covers both the men's and women's first-team kits and will run for three years. On the new sponsorship, Sheeran said: "We wanted to keep it Suffolk; we wanted to keep in local." Halo's chief executive Paul Hamilton said: "It's an honour to follow Ed Sheeran as front-of-shirt sponsor, having been sleeve sponsor during the last two seasons."The business provides workflow management software and calls itself a "privately owned, founder-led team". Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
23-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Ipswich Town Women to call Colchester home
Ipswich Town Women will play home games at Colchester's JobServe Community Stadium for the next two agreement will also see the club's men's under-21s play a number of games at the venue, which is 16 miles from Ipswich across the Essex border, in 2025/26 and 2026/ Women will play second-tier football for the first time in 2025/26 after winning promotion to the newly renamed WSL2 (Women's Super League 2) last season, having played home games at Felixstowe & Walton United for more than a deal will see upgrades to the pitch at the JobServe Community Stadium ahead of the new Harris, Town's Head of Women's Football, told the club website, external: "With the additional requirements and challenges following promotion to the second tier for the first time, it sadly wasn't possible to maintain the Martello as our home. We're excited to be playing our WSL2 games at Colchester, and we can't wait to welcome our fans to the stadium as we make the step up next season."Town Chairman Mark Ashton said: "We're excited for the possibilities available to us at Colchester and look forward to seeing as many of our fans there as possible supporting Joe Sheehan and his team."Following record crowds in each of the last two campaigns, the club intends to host the Women's team at Portman Road during the next campaign while work is continuing towards finding a permanent home in the Ipswich area.
BBC News
15-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Ipswich Q&A: Is there a chance Delap could stay?
In part three of Thursday's Ipswich Q&A, our expert Graeme McLoughlin from BBC Radio Suffolk looks to the long-term plan and Liam Delap's future:Gavin: Mark Ashton has talked a lot about the long-term plan. Did the Premier League come a season or two too early in the plan?Graeme: I'm not sure the Premier League can ever come too early. Maybe it came too early in terms of having a realistic chance of staying up this time around, but I very much doubt that Mark Ashton, Kieran McKenna, the Town players and ownership group would opt to spend these last 9 months in the Championship if they could have their time over again. All will have learned majorly from this experience, and I would back the club to be much better prepared for the top flight should a return happen in the not too distant Is there a chance Liam Delap could stay at Ipswich?Graeme: The manager talked about this still being a possibility at a recent pre-match press conference, but if you forced me to call this one way or the other, I'd probably edge towards him leaving. He's hit double figures for goals in his first full season in the Premier League, at a club that have ultimately fallen well short of staying up. Delap has his suitors, and given his release clause, whoever gets his signature won't feel like they've broken the bank. The one thing that gives me the slightest bit of belief that he will stay is his relationship with Kieran McKenna and just how much his game has improved under him. Come on Liam, do the right thing, and help Town get back up at the first attempt!Listen to The Blue Hour with Brenner Woolley every Monday and Matchday Preview with Graeme McLoughlin every Friday, along with live coverage of every Ipswich Town game, home and away, on BBC Radio Suffolk.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
What does promotion mean for Ipswich Town Women?
Ipswich Town Women have been promoted to the second tier of women's football. The Tractor Girls reached the Women's Championship after spending four years in the Women's National League Southern Premier Division. There are so many questions fans will want answers to. Even before Ipswich Town Women secured promotion, the club laid out its vision for the team. Earlier this season, chief executive Mark Ashton told the East Anglian Daily Times: "We want to get into the Championship and then we want to stabilise, stay in that division and then build progressively from there because the Women's Super League (WSL) is a whole other ball game, another set of challenges." The Tractor Girls will also benefit from improved training facilities at Playford Road, which are expected to be complete next year. One factor we can be sure of is that Town can expect tougher competition in the Championship. Portsmouth, for example, who were promoted to the second tier last season, currently sit ninth out of 11 teams but have secured safety. The team's manager, Jay Sadler, told the club's website they had had to "dig deep, fight and ask a lot of question of ourselves" throughout the season. He added: "It took us a little while to adapt to this level – both physically and technically – but since Christmas, we've been the team doing the punishing." The Championship will consist of 12 teams next season, and Town's opponents will include Crystal Palace, were recently relegated from the Women's Super League after only one season. Nottingham Forest were the other promoted team after winning the Women's National League Northern Premier Division. Town's other opponent include: Birmingham City Blackburn Rovers Bristol City Charlton Athletic Durham Newcastle United Sunderland Southampton The Championship aims to encourage further investment and expect clubs to build towards a professional model. Town's squad contains a mixture of professional and semi-professional players, but not all of the players are on full-time contracts. In 2021, midfielder Sophie Peskett became the club's first-ever professional women's player, aged 18. At the time she said it was a "no-brainer" to sign. Other players to have signed professional deals include forward Natasha Thomas, defenders Leah Mitchell and Maria Boswell, and midfielder Kyra Robertson. There could potentially be more players going full-time, but the club has not yet made any announcements. And what of transfers? The club invested in the squad, determined to win promotion, and it paid off, so the odds suggest there could be some significant activity in the summer. Town signed three players - Ruby Doe, Elkie Bowyer and Lucy Watson - on loan from WSL clubs as part of their promotion push, with experienced midfielder Ruby Seaby joining on a permanent deal in March after leaving Arsenal. Will the club try to re-sign them for next season, or is there a new list of targets? Conversely, will Town keep hold of players such as Peskett and Lucy O'Brien, who have produced eye-catching displays throughout the season? Questions have already been raised as to whether Town will continue to play their home games at Felixstowe & Walton FC's Martello Ground. Will they extend their 12-year stay on the coast, make a move to Portman Road, or go somewhere else for the new campaign? When approached, the club said it was still being decided. Town sold out their final game of the season at the 2,150-capacity Martello Ground, with Joe Sheehan's team drawing an average attendance of 726. However, they have drawn crowds of over 10,000 at Portman Road in successive seasons. Felixstowe & Walton's chief operations officer, Chris Daynes, played a role in securing the Martello Ground as Town's home venue. He said initially Felixstowe "made a significant loss" in hosting matches, with just tens of fans watching those early fixtures. "It's barely believable that the vision and plan at that first meeting to grow the support base and facilities has come off to the extent that the team [has] clinched Championship football with a league attendance of 2,000 plus," he added. Mr Daynes added he did not know yet if Town would stay, but said if Sunday had been the last game he was pleased to have played a role in Town's tenancy. Last year, 55,000 people attended celebrations when the men's team secured promotion to the Premier League. The club have yet to announce plans to celebrate the Tractor Girls' promotion. Analysis by Graeme Mac, BBC Suffolk sports editor There is no doubt that Ipswich Town Women are both ready for this promotion and deserving of it. Missing out on the Southern Premier Division title on goal difference two years ago looked to have damaged the team, as last season they finished 17 points off the pace. It was identified that something needed to change in order to make that next step, and as far as recruitment is concerned, the club have made massive strides since. Manager Joe Sheehan has hailed the roles played by general manager Rachel Harris – appointed in January 2024 – and assistant manager Lauren Phillips, who arrived a year later. Both have experience of the second tier, as do a number of the players who joined the club last summer. That has undoubtedly played a big part in a phenomenal campaign at the Martello Ground, which remains the home of the team for the time being. Mainstays within the squad, such as captain Maria Boswell, midfielder Lucy O'Brien and forward Sophie Peskett will no doubt relish the forthcoming tests at a higher level, as will Sheehan, who as manager has cultivated winning and professional standards both on and off the pitch since taking over first-team duties in 2019. Replicating the men's team in recording a successive promotion next year will be a very tall order for the Tractor Girls, with stabilising in the second tier the main priority. But it appears the ingredients are there – along with the support base - to do just that. Kaz, from Lowestoft, is a season-ticket holder for the men's team, but also follows the women's team. "For us with women's football it's just fantastic, for the young kids in this area, just women's football in general," she said. "We've had England Women's football be so successful, and now for Ipswich Town to follow them and finally make it... it's just fantastic for the club to be promoted to the Championship. "They've just got to ride that wave. I'm sure they'll get that support and everything that they want from the club anyway. "I think we do already, they'll be successful." Sue, from Ipswich, said: "It is fantastic to see the women doing so well because [older women] didn't have this opportunity. "It's great to see the young girls doing so well. "They're fantastic role models. Seeing the youngsters, their faces beaming looking at these really strong athletes, it's a great representation." Sue added that her nine-year-old nephew was just as interested in the women's game as the men's, and said the team could go far. Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. Ipswich Town Women exhilarated after promotion Ipswich Town Women win promotion to Championship Ipswich Women look forward to promotion party Ipswich Town Women
