On This Day for 18th September showcases the Ipswich Town programme from the 1982/83 season. Read our notes on the issue for the fixture against Stoke City below and see the other 1982/83 issues here.
The Ipswich programme for the 1982/83 season was a 24-page effort that, with limited advertising, contained a good deal of worthwhile content.
There were several articles that look back at times past. ‘Do You Remember?’ featured an interview with former Ipswich player Geoff Hammond, who recalled his time with the club in the early 1970s, followed by spells with Manchester City and Charlton Athletic, before a brief spell playing in the USA and an early retirement. ‘A to Z of Ipswich Town’ contained profiles of key Ipswich players past and present, as well as notes on the club’s various championship successes, while ‘Flashback’ recalled Ipswich fixtures from 5, 10, and 20 years ago.
The programme also contained various features of contemporary content. The centre pages of the issue were given over to a profile of defender Mick Mills, who had been with Ipswich since the mid-1960s, and who had captained England during the 1982 World Cup Finals in Spain just a few months earlier. ‘News on 1’ contained updates from various Division One clubs, while ‘The World Scene’ looked further afield, with news from around the globe. ‘Goal Post’ featured letters from supporters with responses from the programme editor.
The programme included a column from manager Bobby Ferguson, as well as an ‘Info’ page that pulled together news from around the club. Coverage of previous matches was in the form of three pages of photographs of recent defeats to Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United, and there were brief columns on Ipswich’s reserve and youth teams. The usual statistics page contained a wealth of information about the club’s various teams, with results, tables, and appearance records.
Visitors Stoke City were covered across two pages, with brief notes on the club’s players, a form report, and pictures of key players as well as a team group picture.
There is plenty to like about this Ipswich programme, with the amount of content included comparing well with many other top-flight issues of the time.