In 1957, Ipswich Town could be found all the way down in England’s Division Three (South). The appointment of legendary English manager Alf Ramsay and locally born and bred striker Ted Philips, however, saw the club catapult to the top division of English football in the fastest seven-year rise up the leagues ever witnessed. Leicester City’s 2016 Premier League title was not the first time a club had won English footballs highest prize straight after promotion either -Ipswich Town achieved this exact feat in 1962, and Prestons Invincibles had done the same over half a century earlier. Town’s championship came after they beat the likes of Sheffield United and Liverpool to the Second Division title in 1960-61 which, up to that point, was their most successful season. But there was more to come.

 

Spearheaded by 1962 English and European top scorer Ray Crawford, and described by Matt Busby as “one of the top divisions most attractive sides”, Ipswich Town found themselves reaching dizzying heights that they had never before achieved after progressing the entire way from the Third Division to the First. Most of the media dismissed little old Ipswich as candidates for relegation, and despite initially finding the transition from Division Two difficult, Ramsay’s tactics proved confounding for the big clubs in the league, such as favorites Tottenham Hotspur and Burnley, and other top teams including Arsenal and Manchester United who all fell to Ipswich Town.  Before this occurred, Ipswich had never even played in top flight football.

 

In November of 1961, table-toppers Burnley dropping points with a 1-1 draw to Wolverhampton and Ipswich somehow walloping Manchester United 4-1 was a sign of things to come. The club hit a few speed bumps along the way, in the form of defeats at Everton and Fulham, but thanks to their strength at home they never lost touch with the leading pack, eventually overtaking them in the standings by March. A 5-0 defeat by Manchester United and draws at Arsenal and Chelsea at Easter made the dream appear to be too good to be true, but Town quickly bounced back.  In April, 1962, Ipswich then nail bitingly defeated Arsenal 3-0 while Burnley were held 0-0 by Blackburn Rovers, which gave Town a two point lead at the top over the league faves. On the same day, Burnley only managed to draw against Blackpool which meant that if they won their last two games, the title would go to Ipswich.

 

On the 28th of April 1962, Ipswich played Aston Villa at home on the final day of the season. Town came out with a 2-0 win and news filtering through that Burnley had drawn against Chelsea meant that Ipswich had won the First Division title, and the first major trophy in the clubs history. In stark contrast to the football league of today, Chelsea were relegated to the Second Division after finishing dead last and Manchester United finished way down in 15th that same season. It was also, of course, the first time an English club had won the title in their first season in the top division, something that never occurred again until 2016.  As champions, Ipswich qualified for the European Cup, also for the first time. Despite a 14-1 aggregate thrashing of Maltese side Floriana, they were beaten by Italian giants AC Milan in the second round, and it would be 11 years before the club returned to the European stage.

 

In 1963, Ramsay was offered the England job, guiding the national team to World Cup glory for the first and only time three years later. He was replaced by Jackie Milburn, under whom the clubs fortunes declined. Two years after being crowned champions, Ipswich found themselves back in the Second Division having conceded 121 goals in 42 games. They remained there for four years, until Bill McGarry guided them back to the top flight in 1967 as Second Division champions by a single point. In 1969, he left to manage Wolves and Bobby Robson took his place. Robson would remain at Ipswich until 1982, achieving great things at the club. 

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Acheivements:
English First Division – Champions x1
English Second Division – Champions x2

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Star player: Mick Mills, DoB: 4 January 1949, PoB: Godalming, England

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Mills entered the youth system at Portsmouth, but when the club abandoned its youth program, he was forced to find a new club with which to launch his career. He was taken on by Ipswich and at just 17, he made his debut in 1966 in a 5-2 win over Wolves. A full back, Mills became an Ipswich regular under Bobby Robson who appointed Mills as the captain of the team in 1971. With Mills leading the charge, Ipswich won the Texaco Cup and made several forays into Europe. He also guided the club to an FA Cup win over Arsenal, and liften the UEFA Cup in 1981. Mills is Ipswich Towns all-time highest appearance maker, playing 741 games for the club. In terms of his international career, Mills had to handle lots of competition for full back slots and only played a few times under Don Revie. When Ron Greenwood took over, he preferred Phil Neal and Trevor Cherry in those positions, with Mills serving as back-up. He finally became an England regular in 1978, but sacrificed his spot in their final game that year so that Viv Anderson could make his debut, becoming England’s first black player. Despite playing in only two preparation matches for the 1982 World Cup, Mills was named England captain for the tournament due to regular leader Kevin Keegan being injured. Mills became player-manager of Stoke City in 1985 who at the time were suffering heavily with financial problems. All the money made from players he sold went into reducing the clubs overdraft, and despite being finally given a £1,000,000 budget to buy new players, Stoke finished dead last. Mills then moved on to Colchester but was sacked after a few months. Today, Mills is the technical director of Galaxy Sports Management and can be heard on BBC Radio Suffolk. He is the patron of the Sir Bobby Moore Foundation and was awarded an MBE for services to football.