Another weekend draws to a close and with the weather being generally good and hot for the most part, at least where I live it has been, and without the Town in action, you could be forgiven for thinking that we are still in the close season.
Exactly a week ago however, my weekend, and no doubt the weekend of many other Town fans, was made by that last minute Keith Andrews winner against Leeds United. That goal alone made the weekend and kept the old face sporting a grin for many more hours than after when Andrews last scored at Peterborough United the weekend before.
No matter what anyone says, when you are a hardened football fan, your weekend is dictated by the result of your team. So when we get to a weekend like this one without any footie because of an ‘international break’, you can at least enter it on Friday night in the knowledge that by Sunday night, your team has not made your roast dinner miserable in the face of defeat – that’s of course if you support a Premiership or Championship club.
I have found myself asking today if we really need a blank weekend because of internationals, who benefits from the break and ultimately, what does it achieve? Take the home nations and Republic of Ireland. Only one of these five countries have ever achieved anything and that was 45 years ago. Historically and currently, I don’t think that an argument either way is really valid. But what I do know is give me action every weekend, just like what I grew up on either watching Ipswich or listening to them on the Radio (which to be fair was not very often in the late 70’s or early 80’s given the lack of coverage on either Radio 2 or Radio Orwell).
To prove my point of questioning what a break really achieves, let’s look back to the last time we had a season in the top flight where we were actually chasing the league title for a second time – 1981/82. Early doors admittedly but on Wednesday 9 September 1982, Paul Mariner, Mick Mills and Russell Osman featured for England in a dismal 2-1 defeat in Oslo, Norway in a World Cup qualifier. Meanwhile, John Wark played on the same evening in Glasgow also in a World Cup qualifier and a 2-0 win over Sweden.
Now did these four players have the weekend off beforehand? No, they starred in a fine 2-1 win away at Manchester United. Did playing and travelling in midweek affect their next game? No, they starred again in a 2-0 win at home to Liverpool on the following Saturday with Wark getting on the scoresheet.
So on consecutive Saturday’s, Ipswich had two of their biggest games of the season whch were in no way hampered by midweek internationals. Forward on some 30 years, and missing from an Ipswich line-up yesterday would have been Stockdale, Andrews, Delaney, Carson, Edwards, Priskin and Peters. Admittedly, the loss of Stockdale would have been a blow but would we really not have survived without the rest?
It’s a far cry form all those years ago when such was the dearth of internationals at Ipswich, midweek training during international matches saw the forthcoming Saturday game being prepared for with Paul Cooper and…..well that’s about it really on the training pitch. I for one hate weekends without football – even if there is the risk of Ipswich playing, losing and ruining my Sunday roast.
