IpswichTown

When Ipswich won the title as a newly promoted club under Alf Ramsey

15-Jul-2022 10:05:16 | The Guardian

Before he won the World Cup with England, Ramsey achieved something with Ipswich that may never be repeated

By Gavin Barber for When Saturday Comes

Suffolk’s reputation as a sedate, humble sort of a place is mostly well founded. Its countryside is soothing rather than spectacular; the locals’ sense of regional pride is expressed with modesty rather than flamboyance. Accordingly, the Ipswich Town Supporters’ Association handbook for 1962-63 – the season following the club’s only Football League championship – commences by offering “the highest praise and congratulations to all our players, management, etc”, before moving straight on to the important business of reminding members about their entitlement to accident insurance.

Sixty years on from that title in the 1961-62 season, it’s surprising that it doesn’t have a more prominent place in the history books. Ipswich won the league in the season after their first ever promotion to the top flight – something never achieved before or since – only 24 years after joining the Football League. Remember Wigan reaching the Premier League in 2005? Imagine if they had won it straight away. That’s what Ipswich managed six decades ago.