That time when Ipswich Town finished 5th in the Premier League

© Copyright Christopher Hilton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

For every club outside of the top flight of English Football, their dream is to make it into the Premier League and make a name for themselves.

One of these clubs was Ipswich Town, a football club that had experience in the top division; they even won the league in 1962, in their first season. Two years later, they went down.

Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 and would start playing professional football in 1938. This was because they won the yearly election, replacing Gillingham. 

The club were also nicknamed the Tractor Boys and they drove their tractors back into the top flight in 1968, four seasons after they were relegated.

Ipswich winning the UEFA Cup in 1981
Picture by Alexdevil through Creative Commons License

This second spell at the top lasted for 18 years and almost saw Ipswich win the league, twice in 1981 and 1982. John Wark and Alan Brazil's goals couldn't win them the title. Aston Villa and Liverpool would respectively win the title. 

Fortunately, Ipswich did win the FA Cup in 1978, giving them the silverware for their trophy room.

Another huge moment for Ipswich when they defeated Holland's AZ Alkmaar to win the UEFA Cup in 1981 with goals from Wark and Mariner sealing them the title.

This fairytale run ended in 1986. A bounce back into Division One ended in misery after a play-off semi final defeat to Charlton Athletic.

As the news of a separation of the first division from the FA was confirmed in 1991, Ispwich were interested in joining in. They achieved this by winning the Division Two title in 1992. The Tractor Boys were back in the top, now known as the Premier League.

By February 1993, Ipswich were 4th in the Premier League. Unfortunately, they suffered a disastrous slump as they won only two of their last 15 matches; this resulted in a 16th place finish. At least safety was granted.

The next season saw Ipswich finish in a similar position at 19th, only this time they were almost relegated. Ian Marshall's goals saved them from the brink. Their first spell in the Premier League ended in 1995 when they were relegated back into the EFL.

After four seasons of disappointment (three of these seasons saw Ipswich lose in the play-off semi finals), Ipswich crawled back into the Premier League in 2000; under the helm of George Burley. George was originally the assistant manager for the club in 1994, taking over as manager in 1995.

The Premier League changed a lot since 1993. There were more players from many countries, worldwide sponsorships, a multi-million TV deal with Sky Sports and clubs such as Man United and Arsenal being idolised around the world.

Ipswich, Charlton Athletic and Manchester City would be promoted to the top in 2000.

Could Ipswich Town survive, or would they stumble and fall out of the elite tier?

Many transfers were made, two of the biggest were Martijn Reuser from AFC Ajax for £1 million and Hermann Hreidarsson from Wimbledon for £4 million.

The season started with a 3-1 loss away at Tottenham Hotspur. The club would shrug it off and gain 18 points from their next 10 matches. Now they were 5th in the table, two points above Chelsea. These goals came from the likes of Titus Bramble and Marcus Stewart.

But Ispwich had to be careful, they blew their chances of a top half finish in 1993 and they did not want to go through the pain again. 

From November, Ipswich lost 2-1 away to Newcastle United, which featured Alan Shearer. After a little disappointment, the Tractors rolled again and Ipswich kept on winning matches.

By January, the football club was 3rd and it seemed like they could afford a spot in the Champions League; the biggest European Club Tournament.

At this point, Suffolk's only top flight team were performing better than Liverpool.

Unfortunately, they were eliminated in the FA Cup by Sunderland (another PL team over-performing) in the 4th Round. In the EFL Cup, Ipswich made it to the semi finals, only to be eliminated by Birmingham City 4-2 on aggregate.

It was also in February when it seemed that Ipswich would fall into a slump. Before their match against Everton, Ipswich were 6th. Still high in the table, yet the club had to make sure they did not lose their dominance.

Ipswich 2-0 Everton, home win!! Goals from Holland and Armstrong. The final stretch had begun.

From March until their last match, Ipswich won eight of their last eleven games. The whole of the United Kingdom placed their eyes on them, Ipswich were back.

George Burley's team finished 5th in the Premier League. The highest finish for the club since 1983. If they won their matches against Liverpool and Derby County, Ipswich would've finished 2nd.

Premier League top 6 in 2000-01

Despite this, Ipswich Town celebrated their 5th place finish. They did better than clubs such as Chelsea, Sunderland and Newcastle United. Marcus Stewart was the top goalscorer for the team with 19 goals.

The next season was much anticipated, especially with a spot in the UEFA Cup (the second biggest European club tournament). 

In this tournament, Ipswich defeated Russia's Torpedo Moscow and Sweden's Helsingborg. In November 2001, they managed to win 1-0 against Italy's Inter Milan; it still remains one of Ipswich's most famous victories in Europe.

It was a different story in the Premier League. The club had only won 1 out of 17 games. It seemed that Ipswich were focusing more on Europe than their home league.

Winning matches then became common place for Ipswich. They won 7 out of 8 matches from December to February, their win against Inter was an inspiration and took them to 12th.

Signings such as Finidi George from Mallorca, goalkeeper Matteo Sereni from Torino and Marcus Bent from Blackburn Rovers helped Ipswich during this time.

But after this miracle run, the tires went flat and Ipswich fell into a slump; the £12.5 million spent on the new signings were not enough.

A 5-0 away loss against Liverpool would relegate Ipswich back into the second tier of English football. The fairytale was over.

At the end of the season, George Burley mutually left the club.

Titus Bramble, Marcus Stewart, Herman Hreidarsson and many more players would leave. 

The next season, Ipswich would sign only one player on loan. This resulted in the club missing out a place on the play-offs with a 7th place position.

This spell in the newly named Championship lasted for 17 seasons. The last time Ipswich finished in a play-off spot was in 2015 under Mick McCarthy, they would lose in the semis against Norwich City.

Four years later, the Tractor Boys were relegated to the third division and would play there for the first time since 1957.

This spell would only last for four seasons. Ipswich finished 2nd place in League One and currently compete in the Championship where, at the time of writing, the club were 2nd.

If they keep it up, Ipswich will return to the Premier League, 22 years since they last played there. 

And if they return, Ipswich could rebuild themselves as a Premier League club. Who knows if they can finish as high as 5th just like they did all the way back in 2001?