When Bobby Robson led Ipswich to Uefa Cup glory 40 years ago
05-May-2021 12:53:29 | The Guardian
Ipswich are mid-table in League One this season. In 1981, they nearly won a league, FA Cup and Uefa Cup treble
By Steven Pye for That 1980s Sports Blog
Towards the end of the 1980-81 season, it looked as if Ipswich Town were on course for a joyous treble. With 10 weeks of the season remaining, the club were top of the First Division and preparing for semi-finals of both the FA Cup and Uefa Cup.
Bobby Robson’s side had finished the previous season in style, losing just one of their last 24 league matches, and they started the 1980-81 campaign with a 14-game unbeaten run. The only problem for Ipswich was that, the more games they won, the more they had to play. Robson’s small squad struggled to cope with a season that would require them to play 66 games. “We had perhaps 14 championship-calibre players when we needed 19,” Robson later admitted in his autobiography Farewell but Not Goodbye.
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