Please see Royle leaves town for full context.



Jim Magilton couldn't hide his delight at being named as Town boss and immediately targeted a return to the Premiership as his aim. The 37-year-old becomes the youngest manager in the Championship and will be joined by Bryan Klug as his first-team coach.

This Club means the world to me and when I walked off the pitch after the Derby game in what I thought would be my final appearance as a player here, I always had the feeling that I would be back sometime. It comes quicker than I expected obviously but I am not intimidated in anyway about the job. I embrace it although I am under no illusions about the task ahead. Ever since I started in the game I have had the utmost belief that I have all the credentials needed to be a manager and I know I have the support of everyone at Ipswich Town. If you have that backing and are united as one, then the purpose can only be to provide success on the pitch. The Premiership is the goal, it has to be the goal and when you look around the place, it is a Premiership club in all but status. It's our job to provide that status. It's obviously a very proud day for me, to be announced as manager of such a wonderful club and I'm fired up for the job. I and can't wait to get going with the players. Bryan's the same. We will hit the ground running come the first day of pre-season, you can be sure of that.

I hope he can do it!

The future's so bright I've gotta wear shades.

Well Sir Alf Ramsay achieved the greatest feat in English football history - Ipswich Town champions. So lets hope JM can follow in this tradition.

Exciting stuff! This has to be the best news to hit Norfolk for a long time.

To me, Town has been a club which values club loyalty and sense of family. So I too am hopeful (whilst remaining circumspect) about the future! And this little patch of blue will will be cheering Town on from the midst of the surrounding sea of yellow...

But is not a big question - will/can the Board be able to divvy up the necessary investment in players? Both in terms of acquiring new ones and keeping hold of home-grown talents when they hit their stride?

And, if I may say so, this thread and its predecessor, have been some of the most interesting on the Forum!!

James

Lets hope Liverpool buy Benty!

Good luck to the guy, he had a good football education during his time at liverpool

unfortunetly I reckon this decision has been taken due to financial reasons rather than ambiton of the club or ability of the man, but i wish him all the best and will still be hoping they achieve something in the coming season, might even make it down from sunny jockland for a game this year

I think he is good choice - remember Bolton Wednesday 17 May 2000: what a great match.

Well Jim follows a long line of greats (and a few not so greats), Mick O'Brien and Scott Duncan were before my time, but Sir Alf remains my favourite closely followed by Sir Bobby and George Burley.

Mick O'Brien (1936-1937)
Scott Duncan (1937-1955)
Sir Alf Ramsey (1955-1963) - the greatest
Jackie Milburn (1963-1964) - didn't quite work out
Jimmy Forsyth (1964) - hardly remember him
Bill McGarry (1964-1968) - did OK, but thought there was more potenial at Wolves
Cyril Lea (1968-1969) - nice guy
Sir Bobby Robson (1969-1982) - a hero: if Beattie had have been fit we'd have won the double (in fact we did win the league with Sir Bobby given three points for a win instead of two we were above Derby County)
Bobby Ferguson (1982-1987) - didn't stand a chance after Sir Bobby didn't seem to appreciate Kevin Wilson
John Duncan (1987-1990) - least said, the better (I wanted John Beck)
John Lyall (1990-1994) - Got us promoted
Paul Goddard/John Wark (1994) - a promising combination
George Burley (1994-2002) - Still can't believe they sacked him (yes I know he bough Finidi George, but ..)
Tony Mowbray (2002) - could've stuck with him
Joe Royle (2002-2006) - I liked him, but he wasn't given any money and forced to sell our best players
Jim Magilton (2006- The turning point and the man to lead us back to the top

quote:

George Burley (1994-2002) - Still can't believe they sacked him

Nice guy, good manager. It certainly was amazing that a club like Ipswich, not given to knee-jerk sackings, should do that.

As a Palace fan - I'm more used to egotistical chairman sacking good managers.

Palace is our first game - a tough one to start with for both of us.

Colin Healey (Eire international on trial with the Town - anybody know much about him, other than he has had two broken legs. Could be JM's first signing.

Well now the World Cup's over, it's back to the Championship.

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF:


Colin Healey (Eire international on trial with the Town - anybody know much about him, other than he has had two broken legs. Could be JM's first signing.

Well now the World Cup's over, it's back to the Championship.

I've seen him play a few games for Ireland under Brian Kerr and he looked quite useful.

Rumour has it that Jim's first signing will be Ronaldo on loan



SJB

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF:


Colin Healey (Eire international on trial with the Town - anybody know much about him, other than he has had two broken legs. Could be JM's first signing.

When he was at Celtic he looked like he'd develop into a decent player, however O'Squeal didn't appear to like him and didn't play him often. He was at Livingston for part of last season and I don't recall him impressing much - they were a truly shit side though.

I've seen reports linking Ipswich with a few of the players Rangers are looking to offload. I'm not sure how true these posts are but here is my summary of the players:

Nacho Novo: Very quick striker who performed well in his first season and Ibrox and scored a lot of goals but didn't click at all last season.

Gavin Rae: Hit by a bad injury almost as soon as he signed for Rangers and has been out for most of the last couple of seasons. He played a few games at the tail of last season and had a man of the match performance in one. A hardworking box to box midfielder - a good player if he can stay injury free.

Bob Malcolm: A bit of a joke figure at Ibrox. Usually regarded as a centre-half but never impressive as a defender. A decent passer of the ball though, so much better when played in a central midfield role.

All 3 could possibly do a job, however Gavin Rae would be my pick of the three.

quote:

Originally posted by Sloop John B:
Rumour has it that Jim's first signing will be Ronaldo on loan

Is that Big Fat Ronaldo or Portuguese Ronaldo?

I did hear a rumour that Big Fat Ronaldo was upset because Portuguese Ronaldo had his own thread and he didn't and that had affected his performance against France.

SJB, SteveG

Thanks for the notes on Colin Healey - he looks promising - and I like the look of some of those Rangers' players though always a bit concerned about player with injuries - our two forwards to replace Bent and Kuqi spent most of last year injured.

We have a French midfielder Alexis Bertin training with the first-team squad this week along with Colin Healey and former Nottingham Forest midfielder Eugen Bopp.

Bertin has spent his playing career at his local club, Le Havre, and made 116 League appearances for the French side before being released this summer, spending the 2002/03 season in the top flight.

Mind you last time we signed a French player was when GB signed a right winger named LePenn (honestly) - he cost £2m, played 15 minutes, broke his ankle and never played for Town again. It was in the year we got relegated. GB did sign Sixto Peralta now at Santos Laguna in Argentina - he'd be very welcome back.

Best regards, Rotf

Chatting at work - one of my colleagues has a friend who was out to dinner with John Wark recently - apparently the atmosphere at the club has not been as good as it now is since Mr. Robsons days - sounds promising!

quote:

Originally posted by RoyleBlue:
Chatting at work - one of my colleagues has a friend who was out to dinner with John Wark recently - apparently the atmosphere at the club has not been as good as it now is since Mr. Robsons days - sounds promising!

He's back



President Sir Bobby

Sir Bobby will be the first President of the Club since the death of Lady Blanche Cobbold in 1987. "Sir Bobby Robson is one of the great sporting heroes of our time," said David Sheepshanks. "All those who support Ipswich Town hold him in high esteem and deep affection. His achievements at Portman Road between 1969 and 1982 were nothing short of remarkable. Winning the FA Cup, the UEFA Cup, runners up twice in what now would be the Premiership and qualifying for Europe in nine of 10 years from 1973. Some such expressions are over used in this day and age but Sir Bobby Robson is a true football 'legend' in his own lifetime. We are thrilled that he has accepted this position".

Jim Magilton says new signing Alex Bruce will bring a winning mentality to Portman Road. The 21-year-old defender signed a three year contract at the Club this morning, joining Blues from Birmingham in a free transfer. Alex becomes Jim's first signing as Town boss and he is delighted to have landed the Republic of Ireland U21 international.

Great to see this thread resurrected, ROTF!

Let's hope for not 3, but a suitably-themed "5-0 to the Tractor Boys"!

James