Today’s ‘On This Day’ feature looks at Ipswich Town’s programme from the 1978/79 season. Read our notes on the issue below and click here to see all of the Division One issues from the season.
This was a packed Ipswich programme that blended in-depth columns, football news, detailed opposition coverage, player features, and extensive club information to create an interesting, varied, and informative issue.
The programme opened with ‘Town Talk’ which featured news updates such as ticketing information, before ‘Town in Action’ brought together various pictures from a recent game. Manager Bobby Robson offered his thoughts in a lengthy column which, for the Manchester City issue, included Ipswich’s prospects of qualifying for Europe for the following season, having just been knocked out of the Cup Winners Cup by Barcelona on away goals. Captain Mick Mills also provided a detailed column in ‘Mick’s Chat’. This featured notes on the form of Ipswich and their opponents, as well as developments elsewhere in the game.
‘Round-Up’ collated football news on both a regional and nationwide basis. The former looked at developments with other East Anglian clubs, such as Norwich City, Colchester United, and Northampton Town, while the latter featured updates from around the country and the various divisions of the Football League. The programme included a column from John Motson – described as ‘The Voice of Football’.
There were two player features in the issue. The first of these was presented across the centre pages of the programme, comprising a large portrait of one Ipswich player and a list of his key details, favourite things, and miscellany such as superstitions. The second was ‘At Home With’, which offered a look at the life of one member of the Ipswich team. For the Manchester City issue, the focus was on a young Terry Butcher who, the article noted, had made 15 first-team appearances during the season, impressing with “a maturity and self-confidence far beyond his 20 years”.
‘Flashback’ recalled Ipswich’s games from 5, 10, and 20 years ago, while ‘Memories’ offered brief notes on a player from the past. There was information on the club’s reserves and youth team, as well as a ‘Junior Blues’ page. A two-page spread of statistics was suitably comprehensive, offering detailed data on each of Ipswich’s teams as well as scorer and attendance details for Division One.
The opposition coverage in the programme was first class. The visiting club was profiled over two pages, with information on the club’s current status and position, a team group picture and images of key players, as well as a lengthy commentary that included profiles of each squad member.
This was an impressive programme from Ipswich, offering a depth of content that was the match of most issues in the league at the time.