It’s no quiet derby ... people lose all sense and go mad
ALAN BRAZIL, the Ipswich legend, on tomorrow’s showdown with Norwich
WHAT a match for these teams to meet in — the semi- final of the Championship play- offs. I go back to the youth-team days when I think about Ipswich v Norwich.
Even then they were fierce battles, brutal games. Whether it was at Trowse, the old Norwich training ground, or on the pitch outside Portman Road, the niggle was there.
I had this great run against them as a kid. We played them something like four times in a month and I scored four in each. I always had it in my head that Norwich was a game I had to be part of.
I am from Glasgow so I had a taste of the games between Celtic and Rangers and that was fierce. I played the North London derby with Tottenham and the Manchester derby when I was at United but the East Anglian derby is right up there. People think it is a quiet part of the world but as soon as that match comes along people lose their senses, they go mad.
I remember playing against Duncan Forbes and Martin O’Neill. Once, Martin scored a cracker for Norwich against Ipswich, the winner in fact, and I remember Terry Butcher almost kicking doors down to get out there. He was there with this look on his face, just all this energy and power.
Terry was that kind of character. In the semi-final of the UEFA Cup in 1981 against Cologne we faced some great players — Harald Schumacher in goal, Rainer Bonhof, a World Cup winner in 1974, and this little guy who turned out to be Pierre Littbarski, who won the World Cup in 1990. All these great names — and coached by Rinus Michels.
Well, we had Butch and Paul Mariner screaming in that tunnel before we went out at Portman Road. They were screaming at the top of their voices, going mad. The Germans didn’t know what to think. We won the game and we won the cup. We always had the feeling that, “We can’t get beat here”. It was something tribal and we took that into the derbies and then some more.
Norwich would have a go. I recall smashing one at Carrow Road. It was a real ding-dong game and we were trailing 1-0. I had a chance with a few minutes to go and it was a scramble in the box. I was about 10 yards out and the ball just couldn’t come down quick enough for me.
I was waiting to volley it with my left foot and I could sense this charge behind me so I snatched at it a bit and smashed it against the bar. The guy about to steam into me was Butch. He was going through bodies to get to the ball. That’s what the derby was to us. I walked off the pitch almost in tears.
They had Justin Fashanu in those days and he was a handful. They also had O’Neill, Forbes, Greg Downs, Kevin Keelan in goal... a good team. Forbes was a hard man at the back. I remember Martin scoring a really good goal in the derby. He was a top-class player.
People forget what a good side Ipswich had then. We had 18 straight top-flight seasons. We were in Europe nine out of 10 years, we won the UEFA Cup and were runners-up twice in the league. We should have won it twice. We won the FA Cup. It was a serious, serious side. And we had Bobby Robson. Great times.
Sir Bobby, when it came to derbies, he was brilliant. He and Norwich’s John Bond, Kevin’s dad, there was a massive needle there. Bobby knew the importance of this result to the fans and he would say, “You can’t let them boys down. They pay your wages. You cannot let them down in a game like this that they have waited for all week. Put on a show so they renew their season ticket”.
He was great. If you couldn’t hit a barn door, you’d see him come over with a little smile and he’d put his arm around you. He’d say, “Come on lad, give me 20 minutes at the end of training and we’ll put this right”.
He could always pick you up. I scored five goals against Southampton in 1982 when Kevin Keegan was playing for them. I remember Bobby saying, “Pigs will fly, you just don’t miss son”. I felt huge after that. But if he thought you weren’t putting the work in, my God he had an edge to him. Mick McCarthy has done a great job. I am not saying Sir Bobby had a lot to spend but Mick has done this with loans and free signings.
Making the playoffs is a great achievement. We go in with a real fighting chance. I always say the team
that comes in with a wet sail is the favourite — maybe that is Brentford.
But there is tremendous belief at Ipswich. They smell Wembley, they smell the Premier League for the first time since 2002 and they have a good attack to get it done. Daryl Murphy and Freddie Sears — that’s a good partnership.
Money has restricted so many clubs that I don’t think we will ever see one of the smaller teams do what we did and what Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa did. Money has changed all that but I would be delighted if we could do a Southampton or a Swansea — just get back and stay there. I would be over the moon.
I will be there tomorrow with my family. I’ve been on talkSPORT for almost 15 years and in the media for about 10 years before that. Norwich fans have always been good to me — I get some lovely emails from them on my morning show. That’s one of the things I love about this job, that interaction.
It might be different tomorrow — I’ll get pelters from Norwich fans but what a great day. Derby day. *You can hear Alan on the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast weekdays from 6am on talkSPORT (1089/1053 AM, DAB and online)