1962 1978 1981

I'm on a rival fans message board. Have to refrain from profanities and stinging attacks but that was painful. You should have lost, we should be celebrating our first victory back in the premier league but not for the first time we shot ourselves in the foot and a culmination of poor refereeing, loss of focus at critical moments and again having a player sent off cost us dear by the end. It was so close, really thought victory was there and to have it snatched away so late in the game, not for the first time, really stings. Even the most ardent Leicester fan should admit they got away with it and escaped with a point that another time they would have taken nothing from it. It's pretty clear even a handful of games in we're just not of PL standard. 10 games now without a win, it's no coincidence. Said before the signs are there we show at times belief and determination but a number of stupid errors cost us time and again. You can only get away with so many and we're well on our way to crossing a certain line. 30,000 back at Portman Road is great, it's fantastic after all the shit seasons we had to endure but the fans just aren't getting enough reward for it. Tough to say more without losing it as the win was there and we allowed it to slip. It's not the first time this season and it won't be the last. Think somehow we're going to be busy during the next transfer window. McKenna again left certain players on the bench when they should have been involved from the start. He's a wonderful manager no doubt but the options he puts out each game do leave a number of our fans frustrated or knowing we could start out better prepared.

Been thinking about the 1994/95 season - 30 years ago in actual fact - when we finished bottom and were obviously relegated, I think Leicester came down with us back then, it's a season many of us at Portman Road do well to try to forget. Although there were a handful of outstanding results for us that season. Point being, things this time around seem to heading in a similar direction at least for ourselves. McKenna has done wonders for us, it's hard to say a bad word against him, but really, nine games in and we've yet to win a game. There's something obviously going wrong or not working at it should. We're not a bad team, really. So we haven't won a game this stage of the season. Neutrals and other clubs will look at us and instantly opinion we're garbage and heading for an instant return to second league level - that's not quite the case. The effort and enthusiasm is often there but the defence and an often suspect goalkeeper in Muric simply hold us back and let opposition teams in to take advantage of these certain weaknesses. Smodzics after all the trouble of bringing in from Blackburn doesn't always start when he should, other pivotal names like Hirst and Chaplin are sometimes left on the bench when they're game ready and should be involved from the start. Delap is proving something of a saviour but it's going to take far more than one gifted individual to bring us results or even keep the team up this season. McKenna will start us off 4-2-3-1 (but sssssh, whisper it quietly, it's a secret - we don't want to surprise anyone with our formations..)

It's a sense of relief it's over who's going to be champions. The majority of our fans and yours too doubtless must have been beating themselves up and restless over who was going to take first place over the last few weeks and months and now it's been resolved a lot of us can breathe again safe in the knowledge it's an issue resolved. We're disappointed to miss out, after promotion from League One last season - runners up too - winning the second league would have been a marvellous achievement for the club name and added further recognition and plaudits for Ipswich Town Football Club but it wasn't to be. We've dropped a good number of points the last few weeks and missed a whole lot of opportunities (in which we could have been champions) but the season is contested over nine months, not one quarter or handful of games. Leicester since August proved the strongest and most competitive and in the end took what many would argue is rightfully theirs. It's a shame for us of course but we remain in a very good position in which to follow your club out of this league and a return to the highest division. Only nerves and complacency can prevent our aim but we have to be confident with the two fixtures remaining.

3 minutes from a win that would have helped enormously towards a return to the premier league after 22 years but in truth we haven't been at our best since losing the Norwich game a few weeks back. Have not won since that day and too many drawn games and missed opportunities against teams like Watford, Middlesbrough and now tonight have gone some way in that we may just miss out on automatic promotion altogether. We've punched above our weight at times this season but it's been outstanding so far with so many goal options and other than tonight, a usually reliable goalkeeper in Hladky. We've had players out through injury or suspension but can't really use as an excuse as it applies to just about all squads in any league. Tonight was disappointing but all it needs now is avoid defeat against Coventry and to beat Huddersfield over 90 minutes in front of 30,000 people with a home advantage on the final day. Think somehow, that's not too bad odds. If they had offered that back in August everyone at Portman Road would have jumped at the chance. It's goals conceded that's the biggest problem for some, scoring is easy most of the time, there's no problem in that area, but keeping them out may just prove too costly by the end of season. I don't care much for winning the league or for finishing 1st. You can have that and probably will, over the course of the season Leicester will have proved to be worthy champions despite that blip you endured recently whereas we haven't won as many games and there remains some doubt and inconsistency involving our own abilities. 2nd would be marvellous for us, totally unheard of back last summer and beyond our best expectations. Runners-up would be more than adequate, I think over the course of the season we would have deserved by the viewpoint of many to occupy one of the automatic places by end of final fixture.

Thank you to those who wished to see us back in the Premier League. It was 2002 since any Town team or manager played a game at the highest level and for the most part it's been horrendous. Only fans of our own club who've been with it for the entire time can truly understand how despairing it became and for a long time between 2005 - 2020 we just went season after season doing nothing but falling further behind while a truly clueless owner very nearly sent the club name into oblivion. I think after nearly two decades of despair, embarrassment and little to no hope of achieving anything, the fans deserve something back. We've had to watch Norwich get promotions and play in the premier league while for the entire team were left behind watching the show go by. It's been truly soul destroying. Even rival fans that don't necessarily like us have to show a certain empathy when or if aware of the extent of decay within the club name before the new takeover took place. Maybe we'll still miss out but after the result tonight at QPR it had to give everyone at Portman Road a morale boost. Wanted to sign up to this forum a few weeks ago such was the ongoing battle for promotion but put it off. Now you've made it and it's in our own hands to join too (games in the premier league next season) just went ahead and signed up. We have to be confident after tonight of finally making it back to the highest level.