Ipswich Town: Never Lost at Home depicts memorable 1980-81 campaign

Never Lost At Home takes its name from Ipswich Town's record in European competitions

It is 40 years since Ipswich Town were one of the best football teams in the country, and Europe, with Sir Bobby Robson's men coming close to winning a treble in the 1980-81 season. A play - Never Lost at Home - is telling the story of this remarkable campaign through the eyes of a family of fans, and it is bringing back a lot of memories for those who lived through it.

Many believe the 1980-81 season was the greatest in the history of Ipswich Town Football Club.

With just over a month of the season to go, Sir Bobby's side were in with a shot of winning the league, the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup.

Sadly for fans a mixture of injuries and fixture congestion finally caught up with Ipswich and they were unable to maintain their form, losing four of their last five league matches, to finish second, and succumbing to Manchester City in extra time of their FA Cup semi-final.

But they did win the UEFA Cup - the club's first and so far only European trophy.

There was no 'let's have a day off'

Russell Osman played 66 games in the 1980/81 season and has appeared on stage in Never Lost At Home

Centre back Russell Osman played 66 games that season and says the production at the New Wolsey is "spookily memory provoking".

"Everything Sir Bobby had set up all came together very nicely that season as players had come up through the youth system," he says.

"He used to say the team was like a jigsaw and every piece had to fit with another. The balance was just right that year, we just needed a bit of a break in the last third of the season."

Osman says a combination of fixture congestion and a small squad led to a poor run in.

John Wark scored in the 4-2 second-leg defeat in Amsterdam, which gave Town a 5-4 aggregate win in the UEFA Cup final

Over Easter they played four games in seven days including a trip to Cologne. They had lost defender George Burley in March and Kevin Beattie had broken his arm in the FA Cup semi-final earlier in the month.

"It was a tough ask with all the travel," Osman says. "The general wear and tear on the players meant we were not at our strongest.

"I played every game that season and four internationals, that worked out at about one game every 4.6 days.

"The pitches were heavier then and there was no nutritionist or someone telling you how to recover from the game the night before.

"We played, travelled and then played again. There was no 'let's have a day off'. You just rolled up your sleeves and got on with it."

Russell Osman said "we owe Sir Bobby everything" - he was "very influential" in all of the squad's careers and had a way of playing that suited the team at that time

Ipswich Town's 1980-81 season

• After finishing third in Division One (the top tier) in the 1979-80 season, Ipswich were hoping for treble success - the then League One title, plus the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup

• The 1980-81 season saw them start by playing 14 games without defeat and they only lost twice in their first 32 fixtures

• On 11 April 1981 their treble bid ended with a 1-0 extra-time defeat by Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final at Villa Park

• On 2 May, Aston Villa won the league as Ipswich Town lost to Middlesbrough, their third league defeat in four matches

• Ipswich Town beat the Netherlands' AZ Alkmaar 3-0 in the first leg of the UEFA Cup final at Portman Road on 6 May

• On 20 May, Ipswich won the UEFA Cup 5-4 on aggregate, despite losing 4-2 to AZ Alkmaar in the second leg of the final

• Top scorer for the season was a 23-year-old John Wark, who scored 36 goals in all competitions - 14 in the UEFA Cup, including one in each leg of the final. He was also named PFA Player of the Year

Source: Jonathan Park, Sports Correspondent, BBC Look East

The team missed out on the First Division title on the last day of the season, finishing runners-up to Aston Villa, so the two-legged UEFA Cup final victory over AZ Alkmaar proved to be the highlight of the campaign.

"It was a massive relief," says Osman. "We'd done the job."

Paul Mariner and John Wark show off the UEFA Cup from the balcony of Ipswich Town Hall

He says the play is "brilliant" and "reminds you what a successful team it was". Special praise goes to Pete Peverley, who plays Sir Bobby.

"The way Pete walks and moves and folds his arms you think 'that's so right', it's just like Sir Bobby used to be, it brings it all back," he says.

Osman was one of the Ipswich contingent to appear in Escape to Victory and has also made his way on stage at the end of the theatre show, as have some of his former team-mates.

"We usually get a standing ovation which has been phenomenal on the nights I've done so far," he says. "It's great to see the reaction."

'Bobby Robson is a role to cherish'

Actor Peter Peverley said he has "tried to get inside" Bobby Robson's head to play him with "truthfulness"

Peter Peverley says playing Sir Bobby is a role "to cherish".

Having played him in the theatre's 2018 production of Our Blue Heaven, which depicted the club's 1978 FA Cup win, he has studied not only how he moved and spoke but also "tried to get inside his head".

"I hope this comes across on stage because the audience hold him in massive regard," he says.

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Peverley says the show depicts a time when everything Sir Bobby had put in place came together, including his scouting system and youth policy, and the "team just clicked".

"It was just an incredible football team, the camaraderie was there and under Bobby's inspirational leadership everything came together," he says.

Peverley says that although he himself is a Sunderland fan, "you would be hard pushed to find a football supporter who doesn't think well of Bobby Robson".

"He had old fashioned values such as loyalty and decency," he says. "I have huge admiration for all his achievements, not just at Ipswich, he was an amazing man and it's a privilege to play him."

The actor remembers watching the UEFA Cup final aged 12 with his dad.

"Ipswich were everybody's second team then, we were all rooting for them at the time," he says. "All those memories of the time have come flooding back to me."

'The response is wonderful'

Production manager Lewis Moore said they had strived to make Never Lost at Home historically accurate

Production manager Lewis Moore is too young to remember the final himself, but he says he worked closely with the supporters' association and had been in touch with Sir Bobby's family.

"All the details about what was said and the emotion has very much come from them and translated into a story," he says.

"When we did Our Blue Heaven, we decided it was only worth doing if it was historically accurate and this is the same, so while we've added a bit of dramatic effect, the facts are there.

"There is one point where they know they have lost the treble and Robson says 'get you heads up, stop looking at the floor, we've got one more to go'.

"We've had members of that team coming to the show and they've said that's exactly what he said and how he said it."

Moore added that older members of the audience were "enjoying the detail".

"It was a massive thing for Ipswich Town and the fans are loving it," he said.

"The response is wonderful especially after the last few months of not being able to go to the theatre.

"It's not just that they are enjoying seeing something live, but also watching something that brings back so many emotions."

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