TNBT

Drowned in a sea of salt, hit by a plague in 1665, bombarded by Zeppelins and attacked by Danish Marauders. Ipswich, lying on the Rivers Orwell and nearby Gippin and open to invaders has had its fair share of turmoil down the centuries. Gip's Wic became a port and trading settlement in the 7th century. It traded with the Germans long before it was attacked by them, trading millstones for wool. And they were potters and minted money. Maybe that is what attracted the Danes who occupied the settlement in the 9th and 10th centuries. 

The destructive forces of the North Sea have seen the East Coast battered for centuries inexorably losing land and settlements to the sea; Dunwich was a thriving 'city' completely lost to the crushing waves. But Ipswich grew slowly through all of this making boats, rope, machine parts and iron and exporting grain. And like all towns and cities in these isles it reacted to our manufacturing decline by entering the service industries in the latter part of the 20th century and its population all but stopped growing in recent times to around 133,000 before expanding rapidly over the past 15 years or so.

Ipswich will not enamour itself to anyone, especially not Big Tone, but I am reasonably reliably informed it is small enough to be able to get out of if one finds oneself in a bit of a sticky wicket. The surrounding countryside is littered with attractive and historical little villages where there for sure are super little pubs to try local ales. As for the accent?.. people take the proverbial out of the Bristolian but Ipswich may feel is easily less attractive. One local resident wrote this on a forum..

The accent is horrific though 

That is his emoticon. Says more than the words.

At least the locals can concentrate on one league club to take their minds off other matters and since 1878 too. They won the top flight in 1961 as well so have a reasonable history and who can forget the time when Sir Bobby Robson was in charge? Finishing as runners up twice under his reign. Ipswich were always the team breathing down the neck of Liverpool and all non-Liverpool fans had Ipswich as their 'second' team back in those days. What a team they had with the two Dutchmen, Muhren and Thjssen (apologies for the spelling). I am sure others will recall the other English names of the day.

Well, so here we are on Match Day 9 hoping to turn the tide of relative failure. Can we bury the nightmare of 2007? I was there that day so please lads and lasses roar City on to something to celebrate at 1745 today. And my admiration to all of you going; that is one hec of a journey. Fabulous support, as always.

1-1.. arrest the naysayers and set us up for a spanking of MK next week.

Flint with a bullet equaliser in the 2nd half.

U Riddddddddzzzzzzzz.

Watch that Ipswich accent my babbers.

.. p.s. excuse any spelling errors.. gotta run, no time to double check.

 

 

Why won't Cotts out a youngster on the bench is beyond me. If I was one of the full backs who went to Portugal I'd be knocking on his door asking why he thinks an empty space is better than them. 

Condensed Version:

Bimingham

Absolute and utter shithole in the Midlands.

RIP BucksRed, you will be sorely missed by us all

Yo’ con see ‘um on a Sat’dee,

A’wundrin roun’ like sheep

They’re farces lung an’ miserable

They’re eyes art shut wi’ sleep;

A’looded up wi’parcels,

An’ shaping bags an’ all,

While they’re misuses stand gas sin’

Aroun’ the market stall.

 

It meks me sad ted see ‘em there

A’waitstin ‘art they’re life,

Jus’ dragoni round wi’ shappin’ bags,

Ter please a nagging’ wife;

That’s why these ‘ere men snuff it

much suener than they should,

‘Cos the treatment o’ they’re womenfolk

‘As nipped ‘em in the bud.

 

And so tons’ others o’men ge down Sa’andrews

They’re farces short an’ briyt

A mass of blue, white, caps and coats 

An'walkin’art the workmen’s cloob, high as a kite

That’s why these ‘ere men don’t snuff it

They brave the rayn, the snow and cold

to worship the w’on true lurv

And live to tell the tale when brum w’on the cup.

 

City are In the Black Country today and then for a reunion with Birmingham; That veritable city; the ubiquitous industrial behemoth that has been battered and beaten and, true to the character of those salts of the earth, rises again. There will be those who easily smear the country's second largest conurbation but as i said in a thread some weeks ago there is a lot more to Birmingham than the lazy rather myopic view of a place to avoid; it is actually and in reality far from that mis-conception. Few realise it has more miles of navigable canals than Venice or that in spite of the image has some rather leafy, clean and thoroughly desirable neighbourhoods throughout the city.

Birmingham also remains a major employer and is still an engineering powerhouse. I like industrial cities a lot; a place that breathes, has a soul and has a meaning rather than those places that do not actually make anything. So I salute the Brummies and the City of Birmingham.

 

Of course, it goes without saying, today all respect and love is left at Frankley services. There will be no Small Heath Alliance. Birmingham City Football Club was so named using the word Alliance because they played in the Football Alliance in the years from 1877 until they turned professional in 1885 and joined the Football League Second Division in 1892. It was a 'Test Match' against the long gone Darwen and were then promoted, in their first season, to the Football League Division 1 scoring 90 goals in just 22 matches.. Puts our 99 into a little perspective even if comparisons are somewhat impossible.

 

It was not until 1905 that Small Heath became Birmingham being the only professional football club in the city at the time. The 'City' tag was added in 1943. During those very early years the stadium had a capacity of 75,000 until it was bombed to bits by the Luftwaffe in World War II with all of the clubs records destroyed when a fireman used petrol instead of water to douse the flames.. duhhhh!

 

Major titles have eluded Brum until the League Cup win over.. erhumm.. Arsenal in 2011 although they were relegated in the same season and remain in the Championship. Trevor Francis sticks in the memory when I think of Birmingham City as being the first 1 million pound player although Jasper Carrot was none too pleased because he left, not joined, the club for Forest. Down the years Tarrantini, Cooper, Bruce, Gold and Sullivan and many more names synonymous or not have graced, or not, the club from Small Heath but it is perhaps Carson Yeung who has polarised the most inside St. Andrews. His incarceration continues and we hear this past week from their current manager, Gary Rowett, that his team were outbid to the tune of 50% for each of Liam Moore and Nathan Baker. Talk or fact? Who knows but for sure, as we fast forward to today's match, I am mighty glad Steve Cotterill managed to secure the services of these two defenders for this match and beyond.

 

I think we will only learn the significance of these defensive signings in the next 2-3 months but I strongly suspect they will significantly assist our back line enabling our tried and tested 3-5-2 formation to get back chugging away and give us the greater confidence to get forward fast as these players allow.

 

I am the eternal optimist in this 2014-15+ era of expansionist football so I cannot go with anything other than a sneaky City win. And maybe by more than one goal today. 0-2. Kodjia, Freeman.. back with a bang. We need to get our season going seriously and make a statement and maybe that day is today. Lets all hope so and what will not be in question is that we will likely come out the other end with more than 50% possession.

 

 

And finally.. I would like to say once more how saddened I was, and I speak for all of us i am sure, with the passing of Bucksred this past week. We have had one of the best taken from us here and his wife and family must be shell shocked. Thoughts are with them today. Lets roar on the Reds to a significantly important 3 points this afternoon lads and lasses and do it for all those, including Bucksred, who have been taken from us too soon.

 

I salute the City fans making the trip.. well done, thanks and as always.

 

UTC