How switching off fired Ipswich into Premier League promised land
Turning off the television when rivals were in action helped in focusing on promotion for a club – and town – that is reborn
Three weeks from the end of a Championship promotion race whose pace and tension were almost unparalleled, Ipswich held meetings across all their departments. They were close to an achievement that, to most outsiders, seemed unthinkable and it was time to brainstorm for the smallest possible gains that could push them over the line. One of the ideas implemented was simple but effective: turn off televisions around the club whenever Leicester, Leeds and Southampton, the parachute-funded clubs battling to supplant Kieran McKenna’s team, were playing. Nobody needed to waste emotional energy on rivals’ fortunes when Ipswich had control of their own destiny.
Ipswich did not blink. Their staff resisted temptation to obsess over what they could not control and, having confirmed second place, they will spend the summer preparing for a first Premier League season in 22 years. There will be plenty of goodwill towards a club where the air still feels a little bit different; an institution whose historical achievements still linger in the consciousness, and whose manager has become one of Europe’s rising stars. They are back from the wilderness at last and now face their biggest challenge of all: ensuring a smooth-sailing ship does not run aground on rocks that are crueller and more jagged than in their last top-flight spell.
