Johnny Phillips: Tractor Boys’ heroic ride has been brought to book

Promoted via the play-offs, few observers gave George Burley’s side any hope of surviving back at the top.

How wrong they were. Not only did the Suffolk club survive, they positively thrived.

Challenging for a Champions League place until the final day of the season, they eventually settled for an astonishing fifth place finish.

Now, a new book chronicling that astonishing season is being released, as today’s supporters immerse themselves in the club’s return to the Premier League in 2024/25 after an absence of 22 years.

The book is being published to coincide with the 30th anniversary season of Burley’s appointment as manager and there is extra poignancy to its production with the news that the club’s legendary former player and manager is currently battling cancer.

Burley’s combined 913 matches as player and manager means he’s been involved in more games than any other person in the club’s history.

All To Play For charts his whole managerial journey – all eight years of management at Portman Road including some heartbreaking play-off failures before their eventual promotion to the Premier League.

It was some journey, with those play-off near misses, European football and plenty of giant-killing along the way, including amazing victories over Liverpool at Anfield and at home to Inter Milan in the UEFA Cup.

A couple of weeks ago I sat down with Burley and his former captain Matt Holland to chat about those great days at Portman Road.

In the Premier League era, no promoted club has ever matched Ipswich’s fifth place finish and, despite the story ultimately ending in relegation one year later, the achievement is something everybody connected to the club is still rightly proud of.

“I knew we had a group of players in the prime of their carers who had performed very well for me,” Burley reflected. “We weren’t going to give it up easily. Our first home game was against Manchester United [eventual Champions] and we got a draw which gave us that belief.”

Marcus Stewart’s 19 league goals were an integral apart of the success. A career that had been spent in the Football League with Bristol Rovers and Huddersfield Town grabbed national attention when he was given his Premier League chance.

“His movement was as good as any striker I’ve played with,” Holland explained. “His calmness on the pitch as well. There were goals he scored when I’m thinking, ‘Shoot, shoot!’ But he held onto it, beat someone else, went round the keeper, while we were just wanting him to put it in the net. If Marcus had half-a-yard more pace, then – one hundred percent – he’d have played for England.”

With the club third in the league in April it seemed the impossible would become a reality with one of then only three Champions League places up for grabs. A win over Manchester City in their final home relegated the visitors.

“Scary to think that 24 years on we sent Man City down while chasing the Champions League places,” Holland continued. “When you look at what happened to the two clubs after that and what Manchester City have gone on to do.”

“We’d have loved to finish higher up but finishing fifth was an amazing thing,” Burley added. “Every player and everybody at the club gave it everything.”

It earned Burley the LMA Manager of the Year award ahead of the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and cup treble winner Gerard Houllier.

“Small club, small town, when you look at what the managers like Sir Alf Ramsey and Sir Bobby Robson have achieved here, for me to then win Manager of the Year I was very proud of that,” Burley admitted.

“Over the course of your career you have dressing rooms where it just clicks,” Holland added. “Things are just right and that was a period where everything just fell into place and everything came together, with good people.”

Ipswich’s fifth-place finish was just three points behind runners-up Arsenal. It was dropped points in their final two away games at Charlton and Derby prevented them claiming the final Champions League spot ahead of Liverpool.

Only Wolves, with their seventh-place finish in 2019, have since come close to emulating the incredible achievements of the unfancied Tractor Boys by earning a European spot in their first season back.

With over 20 players spoken to and an interview with then-chairman David Sheepshanks, All To Play For captures a unique moment in the club’s history.

Anyone wishing to pre-order the book can find it here  www.georgeburleybook.com