IpswichTown

Portman Road on a big night is one of English football's great grounds: tight, loud, steeped in history, with a crowd that knows exactly what this club has been and believes — with the fervour of the converted — in what it can be again. Ipswich Town are the Tractor Boys, the pride of Suffolk, a club that has twice touched greatness and spent the decades since trying to get back there. Founded in 1878, they won the league title under Alf Ramsey, conquered Europe under Bobby Robson, vanished into the wilderness for 22 years, and then — under Kieran McKenna — produced one of the most romantic promotions in modern history. Relegated after a single season back, they bounced straight back up. Now, under Gary O'Neil, the task is the one that has eluded Ipswich for a generation: staying.

The first golden age is the stuff of legend. Alf Ramsey arrived in 1955 with Ipswich in the Third Division South; eight years later he left them as champions of England, having taken the club from the third tier to the league title in 1961-62 — winning the championship in their first-ever season in the top flight, a feat never repeated. Ramsey left for the England job and won the World Cup in 1966; Ipswich were left with the memory and the standard. The second golden age was longer and, in some ways, richer. Bobby Robson's Ipswich (1969-82) were one of the finest sides in Europe: FA Cup winners in 1978, when Roger Osborne's goal beat Arsenal at Wembley; UEFA Cup winners in 1981, beating AZ Alkmaar over two legs with John Wark scoring in both; league runners-up in 1981 and 1982. Wark, Mick Mills, Terry Butcher, Paul Mariner, Frans Thijssen and Arnold Mühren — names that still echo around Portman Road, and quite rightly.

The fall was long. Relegation in 2002 — cruelly, in the season after George Burley's side had finished fifth and qualified for Europe — began a 22-year exile from the top flight. Administration, near misses, the slow grind of the Championship: Ipswich became a cautionary tale about how quickly the elite moves on. The revival, when it came, was magical. Kieran McKenna, appointed in December 2021, won promotion from League One in 2023 with 98 points and then did the unthinkable — back-to-back promotions, finishing second in the Championship in 2024 with 96 points, taking the Tractor Boys back to the Premier League after more than two decades away. Portman Road's celebrations lasted all summer. Ed Sheeran, the Suffolk superstar who became a minority owner in 2024, led the singalong.

The Premier League, first time around, was a step too far: relegated after one season despite memorable nights, with Liam Delap's goals earning him a move to Chelsea and Omari Hutchinson departing for Nottingham Forest. But the response was emphatic — straight back up at the first attempt — and the summer rebuild under new manager Gary O'Neil has been genuinely ambitious. O'Neil, who kept Bournemouth up against the odds and impressed at Wolves, is a smart, modern coach. His squad blends the promotion core with serious pedigree: Dara O'Shea, the no-nonsense Irish captain and defensive anchor; Leif Davis, the attacking left-back who creates in bundles; Julio Enciso, the Paraguayan creative spark; Jaden Philogene, box-office whenever he gets the ball; Chuba Akpom, the experienced finisher; Kjell Scherpen, the towering Dutchman installed as No. 1; and the statement signing — Exequiel Palacios, a World Cup winner with Argentina in 2022, bringing genuine elite pedigree to the Town midfield. Alongside him, Emersonn, the club-record Brazilian signing, has already started scoring and turning heads.

The 2026-27 season has been a rollercoaster, which is exactly what Ipswich do. Five games, six points: a euphoric 2-1 opening-day win over Sunderland at Portman Road, a 5-2 thrashing at Manchester United, a 2-0 home defeat to Liverpool, then the result of the season so far — a stunning 3-2 win at Crystal Palace on 12 September, the FA Cup holders beaten in their own backyard — before a narrow 1-0 defeat at Everton on 19 September. The pattern is clear: this side can score against anyone and concede against anyone, and O'Neil's great task is to find the defensive solidity that keeps promoted clubs up without dulling the attacking verve that makes them special. Palacios's composure in midfield is already proving transformative.

What happens next will define whether this is a cameo or a comeback. Portman Road must become a fortress again — the Suffolk crowd, famously patient and famously loud, will do its part. The East Anglian derby with Norwich City, English football's most underrated rivalry, looms as always. And there is a deeper significance: Ipswich are not just playing for survival, they are playing to prove that a well-run, community-rooted club can still compete in the age of state ownership and super-agents. Ramsey's champions, Robson's European winners, McKenna's miracle men — the history says this club belongs at the top table. Now it has to prove it can stay there.