What an incredible week it’s been, Ipswich Town being promoted to the Premier League and me having a rather large birthday, so there’s been plenty to celebrate in the Murphy household!
I was privileged to be part of the events on the pitch at the final whistle on Saturday. It’s a day I’ll never forget as long as I live.
The way the fans streamed onto the pitch at the final whistle was absolutely incredible, swamping their heroes. The pure joy on the fans faces both young and old was matched only by the tears of joy of others.
It was wonderful to see the manager Kieran McKenna and his players held aloft after securing back to back promotions.
I had the unenviable job of asking the fans to leave the pitch so we could get on with the trophy presentation and to hand the players' medals out.
Mark Murphy interviews Kieran McKenna after last Saturday's game (Image: Mark Murphy)
I didn’t want to spoil the mood, so I politely asked if they would mind going back to the stands, and eventually they did. It was my job to call the players’ names out for their respective medals to be handed out and then it was time for skipper Sam Morsy to lift the trophy, cue even more jubilant scenes.
It was so good, no one wanted to go home, me included but eventually it was time to hit the pubs and clubs of Ipswich. What a night with pubs being drunk dry and jubilant scenes in thousands of households.
Sunday, I know for many fans and players alike, the celebrations continued, especially in the sunshine down at Isaacs on the waterfront in Ipswich.
My charity Cancer Support Suffolk was there with a music festival which saw Ipswich Town defender Harry Clarke (who I think is still celebrating somewhere) joining with the Suffolk School of Samba.
Monday saw tens of thousands of fans descend on Ipswich, with the bus parade through the town centre. It was just like the old days with people on the bus shelters, climbing on lampposts and making use of every vantage point. Then into Christchurch Park where even more fans gathered.
It’s estimated around 55,000 supporters were in town but I reckon it was way more than that.
It’s all a far cry from my first game over 50 years ago when my big brother took me to watch Ipswich Town against Middlesborough.
We were in the old North stand with Town fans on one side and Boro' fans on the other, separated by a line of police and a wire fence. Darts and coins were being thrown from one side to the other, along with some odd-looking liquid! I can remember saying to my brother when the game kicked off: “Where’s the commentator?” You see, I’d only ever watched it on telly and was expecting someone to tell me what was going on!
Thank goodness those days are over, and we can look forward to Premier League football again. I still can’t quite believe we’ll be seeing Arsenal, Man City and Liverpool back in Suffolk.
It’s going to be tough but if we all stick together through thick and thin, I’m convinced we’ll be ok. At the start of the season I predicted a top two finish. I’m not going to go that far this time but I think Mystic Mark, that’s me, I’ll go for top ten. Whatever happens I’ll be there supporting them along with thousands of others> Once a blue always a blue.
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