Dara O'Shea and Sam Morsy, pictured during Ipswich Town's season-ending home defeat to West Ham. (Image: Ross Halls)
Dara O'Shea and Sam Morsy, pictured during Ipswich Town's season-ending home defeat to West Ham. (Image: Ross Halls)
Ipswich Town are preparing for life back in the Championship following a 19th place Premier League finish. American-based Blues fan, James Wall, gives his thoughts.
The Suffolk weather has turned. The warm air lingers into the evening, birds are chirping again in Christchurch Park, and spring will soon make way for summer.
Life is abundant at this time of year - everywhere, that is, except Portman Road, where another home defeat, this time to West Ham, put an exclamation point on Ipswich Town’s return to the Championship.
The disappointment of relegation is now firmly behind us as we look ahead to what we hope will be an exciting season in the Championship. And frankly, I won’t miss the Premier League that much.
From only one home league win all season to the many plastic Big Six fans and the constant, infuriating interventions of VAR, the top flight often felt less like football and more like a money-dominated spectacle.
Ipswich didn't claim a single Premier League point at Portman Road in 2025.
Ipswich didn't claim a single Premier League point at Portman Road in 2025.
(Image: Ross Halls)
I’m writing this column somewhere over Utah, aboard a United Airlines jet, fresh from one of America’s more peculiar spring traditions: graduation season. If you didn’t know, Americans graduate from everything - pre-school, primary school, middle school, high school, and so on.
It’s all a bit much, if I’m honest. But this trip was different - a proper milestone: my youngest son’s university graduation, set against the palm trees and sunshine of Southern California.
As we’re hurtling through the air at 600 miles per hour, it suddenly hits me: next season, one of Ipswich’s opponents - Wrexham - will be taking the pitch with “United” splashed across their shirts.
As a frequent flyer with United (work travel - this country’s enormous), I can’t help but feel a bit conflicted. Am I inadvertently funding the opposition? Is it time to start eyeing Delta or American instead?
But I digress.
The arrival of summer, with its promise of new beginnings, feels particularly apt for Ipswich Town. The gloom of a British winter is behind us, and I’m sensing some excitement for a summer of fresh recruits and a new promotion push.
The bookies already have us among the favourites for promotion, and for good reason. As mentioned in my last column, we have a team of Championship all-stars – players like Sammie Szmodics, Jack Clarke and Jaden Philogene lit up the league only two seasons ago.
After the final whistle blew on what’s been a dreadful Premier League campaign, I turned to the oracles of modern football wisdom, my Ipswich-supporting WhatsApp groups, for some season takeaways.
One group is made up of friends who grew up and went to schools in and around Suffolk and north Essex. The other is for members of the ITFC North American Fan Club (NAFC).
The prompt was simple: “What have we learned this season?” - and the responses rolled in with the kind of clarity that only hindsight can provide.
Here are the answers:
1. “The Premier League is even tougher than we thought.”
One NAFC member opined that the athleticism of Premier League players astounded him, which he interpreted as meaning that in the main their fitness, skill and speed was on another level.
Ipswich arrived full of momentum and optimism, but the unforgiving nature of top-flight football quickly became clear. There are no easy games.
This isn’t The Championship or League One, where you can make up for an error in the next phase of play. In the Premier League, you blink, and you’re a goal down. Or in Ipswich’s case, probably two.
Paraguayan international Julio Enciso added some spark after arriving on loan from Brighton in January.
Paraguayan international Julio Enciso added some spark after arriving on loan from Brighton in January.
(Image: PA)
2. “We need to go global”
This point was made by Darcy Lambton, as passionate an Ipswich fan as you will find, who lives just outside Colchester.
Darcy and I played football together at school, and I can still hear his voice - lanky teenager that he was - belting out Ipswich chants on the coach to away games. That same passion for the club burns just as brightly today.
And Darcy’s right. This season, Ipswich’s squad was built almost entirely from the British Isles - a nod to familiarity and future value, yes, but ultimately a limiting strategy on the pitch.
While clubs of similar stature brought in talent from the continent, South America and beyond, Town were trying to do Premier League business with a Championship scouting blueprint.
Our one South American import, Julio Enciso, just might have helped us avoid relegation if he’d played from last August onwards.
3. “They (the League One and Championship squads) just knew each other better. The team clicked more.”
One of the most interesting observations came from an NAFC member who pointed out that the team often looked better when it featured players who had been with us since our League One days.
And it's true: names like Morsy, Woolfenden and Davis brought an understanding and resilience that new signings never fully matched.
Injuries, of course, played a big role, robbing the team of consistency and denying Kieran McKenna the chance to build rhythm. But the lesson is that chemistry is as crucial as quality.
Kieran McKenna confronts referee Tim Robinson during the controversial 1-1 home draw against Leicester.
Kieran McKenna confronts referee Tim Robinson during the controversial 1-1 home draw against Leicester.
(Image: Steve Waller)
4. “VAR’s worse than letting refs get it wrong on the pitch”
Can anyone disagree?
If ever there was a technological solution that only magnified the problem it aimed to fix, this is it.
VAR stole the spontaneity from our goal celebrations and replaced it with a hushed silence, waiting for a verdict from Stockley Park.
Worse, VAR got so many calls wrong anyway - what’s the point of precision if it comes with a side order of confusion? Think of Conor Chaplin getting bulldozed over in the box against Leicester and the lack of any VAR intervention.
Ipswich Town fans stayed right behind the team during a disappointing campaign.
Ipswich Town fans stayed right behind the team during a disappointing campaign.
(Image: Ross Halls)
5. “Ipswich fans are the best in English football.”
Through a season of home frustration - just one league win at Portman Road and none in 2025 - the stands never turned sour.
The away end at away matches? Loud, unwavering and full of belief even when the scoreboard didn't reflect it. The Premier League may have humbled the team, but it didn’t break the bond between club and supporters.
So we go again. Back to the Championship, yes, but not defeated. With lessons learned, with recruitment to be sharpened, and with McKenna still (hopefully) at the helm, Ipswich Town can return stronger.
Enjoy your summer everyone – I’ll be back when the season starts anew in August. Until then, keep the faith and COYB!