3/1 To Win
We are approaching the halfway mark of our countdown to the new Sky Bet Championship campaign!
Derby County travel to Sunderland for a Friday-night showdown at the Stadium of Light on 4th August and leading up to the clash with Simon Grayson’s side, dcfc.co.uk has been previewing all of the clubs the Rams will come up against over the course of the coming year.
Next up, is Mick McCarthy’s Ipswich Town…
Ipswich Town
Manager: Mick McCarthy
Nickname: The Tractor Boys
Stadium Capacity: 30,311
Finishing Place Last Season: 16th (55 Points)
Top Scorer (2016/17): Tom Lawrence (11 Goals)
Promotion Odds (According to Coral): 20/1
When Do We Face The Tractor Boys?
Home – Tuesday 12th September 2017
Away – Saturday 30th December 2017
What Were The Scores Last Season?
Derby County 0-1 Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town 0-3 Derby County
How Did They Fare Last Campaign?
A measure of how frustrating last season was for Ipswich Town can be identified with one fact.
The Tractor Boys’ 16th place finish in the Sky Bet Championship last season was their lowest since their relegation from the top flight at the end of the 2001/02 campaign.
Unable to compete with the second tier’s big hitters on a financial level and Mick McCarthy, now the division’s longest serving manager, scoured the lower leagues when it came to player recruitment – relying largely on free transfers and loans to make up his squad.
Building and progressing on their seventh place finish in 2015/16 was a tall order, but a run of only three wins up to the middle of October left them in 17th after 12 games.
Inconsistency was their biggest issue and was largely their story over the 2016/17 season.
Between August and January, the Tractor Boys failed to record back-to-back results of any kind more than once and their season took another twist as they were knocked out by Emirates FA Cup giant-killers Lincoln City.
Six successive draws between February and March prevented Ipswich from climbing into the top half of the table and despite recording three wins in four, Ipswich ended their season on a down note by losing their final three matches.
A shining light in their season was Tom Lawrence, who they signed on loan from Leicester City.
He topped the scoring charts at Portman Road with 11 goals and was also handy when it came to assists too, but any sort of success this season will largely depend on how McCarthy replaces their Welsh international.
Town have added to their squad in the summer with McCarthy swooping for Rangers striker Joe Garner and Cardiff City duo Tom Adeyemi and Emyr Huws on permanent deals - as well as Dominic Irofa from Wolves and Kundai Benyu from Manchester City on season-long loans.
