Ipswich Town

Former Ipswich Town and Liverpool defender John Wark gave his combined XI - from his playing days - to BBC Radio Suffolk before Saturday's Premier League opener.

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Kalvin Phillips has said he wants to "play as many games as possible" and "enjoy playing football again" after completing his season-long loan move to Ipswich from Premier League champions Manchester City on Friday.

England international Phillips has struggled for regular first-team action since joining City from Leeds, and had an unsuccessful loan spell at West Ham last season.

"This is a day I've been waiting a number of weeks for now and I'm very happy to be here," he told club media.

"I've had some great conversations with players I know here and also with the manager, who I have obviously heard a lot about. I'm excited to be here and be part of his team, playing how he likes to play the game.

"The conversations with [manager] Kieran McKenna and [chairman] Mark Ashton have been really good. I followed Ipswich's season closely last year, so I know the journey the club has been on and it's a great story which I'm now excited to be a part of."

He added: "I want to play as many games as possible, enjoy playing football again and help the team win as many games as possible in the Premier League."

Joe Nelson
BBC Sport journalist

Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Liverpool (kick-off 12:30 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Town are relishing their return to the top flight after a 22-year absence: "The group has worked so hard for the opportunity we have in front of us this season. The supporters have waited a long time. It is great excitement. We know the scale of the challenge and what is ahead of us but it's going to be a wonderful season."

• McKenna feels prepared for the new campaign: "We have had a long pre-season. We are seven weeks in. We have had some good fixtures and feel as ready as we can be. We have had a few challenges and a smaller group than we have wanted so it's been a really busy summer. We are looking forward to seeing the fruits of some of that hard work."

• On Saturday's game being the first Premier League match at Portman Road since 2002: "I am sure the stadium will look fantastic. The supporters will be brilliant and we are looking forward to the game now."

• On Ed Sheeran acquiring a minority stake in the club: "It's been really nice, and he's been an ever-present since I have been at the club. I know he is a lifelong supporter and very passionate. He is a global superstar and one of the most talented musicians in the world, and to have him endorsing what we do is a great boost for the football club. We are really grateful."

• McKenna gushed about the qualities new signing Sammie Szmodics has, both on and off the pitch: "He is a learner - he is a worker and looking to improve all the time. He has climbed his way through the leagues and he has deserved his opportunity in the Premier League. That matches with our squad. I think from a cultural point of view he is a fantastic fit. He has a history with the club. He has family who support the club and he is a very good player. In all aspects we are very happy to have him here."

Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

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New Ipswich Town striker Sammie Szmodics has been speaking to club media after his transfer from Blackburn Rovers was confirmed and has said he is "delighted" to have signed for the club.

"There's always been interest since I was a kid, but it just felt right this time with the challenge of the Premier League," said the Republic of Ireland international.

"After speaking to a couple of the lads, including Lewis Travis who was here last season, they just pushed me and said that I need to come and work under this manager (Kieran McKenna), which is something I can't wait to do.

"It's every boy's dream to play in the Premier League and I've always said to my friends, family and agents that I'll get to the top one day.

"There's nothing more I want than to score at Portman Road for Ipswich Town. I am over the moon to be here and looking forward to the season ahead."

Szmodics could feature on Saturday, when Ipswich host Liverpool at Portman Road in their first top-flight game since 2002.

The Suffolk club have also confirmed the signing of Manchester City and England midfielder Kalvin Phillips on a season-long loan.

Ipswich fans - are you happy with those additions?

Let us know your thoughts, external

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Ipswich Town legend John Wark believes his former club can stay up in the Premier League this season.

The Tractor Boys are playing in the top flight for the first time in 22 years but, despite the competition in the division, Wark is confident Kieran McKenna can steer them to safety.

"Yes," was his response when asked whether Ipswich will stay up in the BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily and he added: "I would take right now finishing fourth bottom."

Fellow former Ipswich player Kieron Dyer shared that optimism, saying: "I feel that we are going to finish ahead of Leicester and Southampton but it's just if we can rein another one in.

"I think it is going to be very difficult but I have underestimated the club and the team too many times.

"They have got a great chance."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

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John Wark will be an interested spectator when two of his former clubs, Ipswich Town and Liverpool, meet in their Premier League season opener at Portman Road on Saturday.

Ipswich will be playing their first top-flight game for 22 years.

Wark told BBC Radio Suffolk: "As soon as I heard it [that the match had been scheduled for the opening day], I said 'you beauty!' and my phone went crazy with so many different people, especially friends from Liverpool.

"Ipswich is my team, but it was such a joy going to Liverpool. The reason I went there was because Sir Bobby Robson went to be England manager and a lot of our players were sold to different teams. I couldn't see Ipswich being a force so I wanted to go to Liverpool and win things - and that's what happened."

Looking ahead to Saturday's match, the former Scotland international said: "I'm just going to enjoy it and the best result I would like would be 1-1. I think any Ipswich fan would take that right now.

"I'm looking forward to it, it's a really hard game against a top team, but we're back in the Premier League and that's where we want to be.

"I just think it's the best time to play them [Liverpool]. A lot of their players have been playing in the Euros, I know they've got a massive squad but the best time is to play them in the first game."

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Former Ipswich Town midfielder Kieron Dyer believes Kalvin Phillips could be a huge acquisition, as the Premier League club closes in on the loan signing of the England international from reigning champions Manchester City.

Dyer, who also played for Newcastle United, West Ham and QPR in the top flight, was a guest on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast to previews the first weekend of the 2024-25 Premier League season.

"We’re talking about great managers, David Moyes is a great manager and he had him at West Ham and he couldn't get the best out of him," said the former Ipswich man, discussing Phillips.

"Even when you look at the greatest manager in Pep Guardiola, and yes they’ve got Rodri, but everyone seems to be a success at Man City eventually. Usually it takes them a season to adapt and he hasn’t quite adapted.

"It’s going to be a challenge for Kieran McKenna to get him up and flying but if they do - Gareth Southgate was talking throughout the European Championships how important he was for England.

"I just touched on the [Ipswich] team and they haven't got any Premier League experiences so they are all going into the unknown; for the fans, for Kieran if they can raise their game.

"But we know Kalvin Phillips, if he's on top of his game, he's proven in the Premier League, he's proven on the international stage. It is a massive signing, it's probably the biggest signing in Ipswich's history for 10, 15, 20 years."

Listen to the Football Daily podcast on BBC Sounds

We asked for your views on one thing that nobody seems to be talking about at Ipswich but should be.

Here are some of your comments:

Irfaan: The lack of squad depth. Our first XI is very good but on the bench are younger players who don't have a lot of minutes and may make our last half an hour very hard as teams may pile the pressure on.

Josh: I'm sure most Town fans will predict us to shock people, but I don't think it would be a huge shock if we stay up. Kieran McKenna is already a top-half manager and, regardless of the outside view of our squad's quality, the togetherness and prior coaching of McKenna is enough to give us a fighting chance. I predict 18th, but it could well be higher!

Elliott: We had the most points at home in the Championship and joint most in the EFL with Wrexham. If we make Portman Road a fortress, we have a chance of survival.

George: We have the best young manger in the country, who will relish the opportunity to compete with the big guns in the division. We may well spend most of the season in the bottom six but we will play football the right way and cause a few ‘bloody noses’ all the way to May. I believe we will stay up. We will strengthen. We will go again.

Dan: The belief in the club and among the players is at an all-time high and that goes a long way. Leicester City proved in 2015-16 you can do great things with hard work and belief, and that's what this team is about. Expect some surprise results throughout the season.

Dave: I'm concerned that we haven't strengthened our squad in all weaker areas after a flurry of early business this transfer window. A lot of our squad were playing in League One a few years ago and I worry about depth and quality to allow us to compete. Many fans are muttering the same, but hopefully a few more bodies will arrive before the window closes.

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Ipswich Town are unbeaten in their past 10 opening league matches of the season.

They have won six and drawn four since losing 2-1 to Reading in the Championship in 2013-14.

Pat Nevin
Former footballer and presenter

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There should be some focus on the newbies in the Premier League just as much as the old guard in the top half of the table.

‌When you get promoted, you really do want to hit the ground running. Start the season on a high and you can ride that wave for a while. Lose, and that sunny hopeful optimism can turn to a dark menacing cloud of fear before August is over.

‌Both Ipswich Town and Leicester City have got home openers but that is counter-balanced by the fact that it is Liverpool and Tottenham they will face - two teams with designs on a top-four finish. Southampton have a bigger mountain to climb, when they face Newcastle United at St James' Park.

‌Last season, all three promoted teams in Burnley, Luton Town and Sheffield United were duly relegated nine months later. That was an unusual occurrence that last happened back in season 1997-98 but at least Leicester and Southampton have a decent amount of recent Premier League experience.

‌Even so, it is hard to see any of them doing anything other than battling relegation. I wish them well but expect just one will survive.

Sign up to read more from Nevin in his Football Extra newsletter here

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Ipswich legend Kieron Dyer is thrilled to see the Tractor Boys back in the Premier League, as Town prepare to play their first top-flight match since 2002 this weekend.

Kieran McKenna's side host Liverpool on Saturday (12:30 BST kick-off).

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast, Dyer said: "If you walk through town in the past two or three years, businesses have shut down. We have the docks, the harbour - they were going build and erect flats and they didn’t get built.

"It was just a crisis in our town and with the football being revived, businesses are starting to pick up.

"With us being in the Premier League, the town and the football club are just going to flourish and we’ve got our club back."

Listen to the full Football Daily podcast on BBC Sounds

The latest episode of BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast has landed - and it's all about the Tractor Boys.

Aaron Paul is joined by Ipswich Town legends John Wark and Kieron Dyer, BBC Suffolk's Brenner Woolley and current player Wes Burns to look ahead to the Premier League return.

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Steve Mellen
Fan writer

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In our final part of a journey through the doldrums for Ipswich, our fan writer asks 'What now?' for Town.

Keeping Kieran McKenna, despite interest from Brighton, Chelsea and his boyhood love Manchester United, was the pivotal moment of the summer. But even with his services retained, nobody is under any illusions about the challenge ahead.

One of the main challenges for Ipswich fans may be coping with emotional whiplash.

We have only lost 10 games over the past two seasons, dominating possession in most games and scoring bundles of goals – 101 goals in the League One promotion season, and 92 last time round. It is unlikely those patterns will be repeated in the Premier League.

Paul Scholes said on a recent podcast he could see us finishing 12th. If that happened, the smoke from the celebration fireworks would drape over Suffolk from Lowestoft to Sudbury. The Adnams brewery in Southwold would need to treble production.

As well as being the small fish in the biggest pond of all, we will have to get used to other changes.

Last time in the Premier League we were going to Maine Road, not Etihad, Highbury not Emirates Stadium and White Hart Lane instead of the incredible new Tottenham Hotspur stadium.

VAR was not around in 2022. Brighton were still playing at the Withdean, where I once saw a match stopped as a tennis ball had come onto the pitch from a neighbouring court.

With weeks of the transfer window yet to run, it is hard to make a concrete prediction about how we will fare.

But this much is true. We have a waiting list for season tickets. We sold more than 60,000 replica shirts last season. Our average crowd on the way to promotion – a shade under 29,000 – was the highest in the club’s history. That mould has been cleaned off the roof of the stand.

We’re back. Sorry it took so long.

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport football news reporter

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Ipswich are not just set to complete a loan deal for Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips - the promoted side have also expressed an interest in Chelsea's Armando Broja.

The Albania striker, 22, made eight appearances on loan at Fulham during the second half of last season.

Steve Mellen
Fan writer

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For part three of our trawl through history, our Ipswich fan discusses the unstoppable rise of Kieran McKenna's side.

In his signature hit Born in the USA, Bruce Springsteen talks about being like "a dog that’s been beat too much". That’s how Ipswich fans were when Kieran McKenna arrived.

A food bowl of delicious treats was being held out, but we had been through too much suffering to be coaxed out from under the table. It was going to take time to trust again.

But not only did he talk a good game, McKenna delivered. And with the results came easy-on-the-eye football. No passing for possession’s sake, rather aggressive pressing and incisive moves that led to goals. So many goals.

There were times under Paul Lambert where it felt like we would only score if the wind took over and blew the ball into the net. Under McKenna, wins involving four, five and six goals began to appear.

The crowds returned, The kids no longer needed to be bribed. We escaped the clutches of League One and then waited to see what our new leader could do in the Championship.

Consolidation with signs of progress was the aim. But we got so much more.

Despite having to contend with clubs with parachute payment cash in their back pocket, we remained competitive in the Championship even with a run of draws around Christmas and New Year that saw us get caught then overhauled by the chasers.

Commentators speculated we would fall away. Fans of Leeds and Southampton hoped we would – but we did not.

The run-in to the top two may have finished with wins over Coventry and Huddersfield, but it can be summed up by the chaotic, ankle-injuring celebrations that followed Jeremy Sarmiento’s late winner in a 3-2 Easter Monday classic with Southampton.

As people hugged each other or stared bug-eyed at the person next to them, soul-crushing defeats at Accrington and Northampton began to fade in the memory.

Part four at 16:00 on Thursday

Steve Mellen
Fan writer

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In part two, Ipswich end up staying for longer than anticipated in the third tier of English football.

A disastrous start to the 2018-19 season, even with a mid-season appointment of Paul Lambert, led to relegation to League One.

To put that in context, the last time we had been in the third tier was the mid-1950s, just after World War Two rationing ended. Local journalists looking for fans who remembered that era were directed to care homes for their vox pops.

Supporters tried to shrug it off. A year in the third division might be fun with new stadiums to go to, and the chance to be a big fish in a small pond.

We’d heard Fleetwood was lovely in the sunshine, and had always wanted to try the veggie burgers at Forest Green Rovers.

"Que sera sera, whatever will be will be, we’re going to Shrewsbury," went one song.

But like others before us, Ipswich found League One to be more Mordor than The Shire, full of darkness and despair.

The Covid-19 pandemic didn’t help, creating the sort of chaos which becomes a leveller. But overall the continued parsimonious nature of the owner meant rather than the trip down a division being a picnic, it became an overnight stay - and dragged on.

Even Paul Cook – our third Paul in a row – couldn’t break the curse.

And then it all changed.

Out went Marcus Evans in April 2021. In came an American consortium called Gamechanger, backed by a $13bn pension fund.

Cook hung around for a bit longer, but when he couldn’t secure promotion despite being given the funds to sign 19 new players in one close season – earning him the nickname 'Demolition Man' – he was replaced by a relatively unknown coach from Manchester United.

Little did we know that the signing of Kieran McKenna – the first in a series of genius moves by our new chief executive Mark Ashton – would turn our lives upside down in the best possible way.

Next part at 13:00