IN his latest column, Mike Bacon takes a look at Town’s FA Cup tie at Accrington and reflects on the bravery of motorsport competitors.
It’s FA Cup third round weekend.
I know. As a follower of Ipswich Town, I dare not look either.
Yes, folks, welcome to Ipswich Town – a club with one of the most rubbish FA Cup third round records in recent history.
A competition the Blues won so famously in 1978 has, it appears to many Town fans I speak to, been placed in the ‘irrelevant’ tray at Portman Road in recent times. Naturally, we assume not.
However, it was 2010 Town last won an FA Cup tie! Think of that.
There are children approaching High School today who wouldn’t know what an FA Cup win for Ipswich Town is! It was a time when Wigan, Sunderland and Birmingham were all in the Premier League!
David Cameron and Nick Clegg formed a coalition government that year! Yes, it was that long ago.
And in that almost decade of FA Cup mediocrity by Ipswich Town, the Blues have even had the ‘distinction’ of joining one of those infamous Football League clubs beaten by a non-league side in the world’s oldest cup competition... Shame, shame, shame.
But, hey ho.
It’s a new broom... Well a new newer broom.
So, let’s hope Paul Lambert can instil the necessary importance of an FA Cup win this weekend into his charges.
This isn’t a chance to ‘relax’ from the rigours of the League for Town players.
That’s a right the likes of Spurs, Liverpool, Norwich, Leeds and Man City players have earned, not us. The Town need momentum.... ASAP!
Not that beating Accrington Stanley will be easy for a Town team that, despite all the rhetoric, must be low on confidence.
Lambert continues to say all the right things and I genuinely believe we have a manager here who would love nothing more than not just to win an FA Cup match, or survive in the Championship. But a man who would love to win two, three, four FA Cup ties and finish mid-table in the Championship (ok, a big ask, I admit).
Certainly, Lambert respects the fans, of which I know they are grateful.
And I think Town have the best chance of an FA Cup win as any time since 2010, not just because of the opposition. Goodness, we’ve faced lower and non-league teams in the competition and got nowhere in recent years.
For me, it’s just that you really know Lambert will be going for this, like he does all games.
You just know, he understands the importance of it all, victory could do so much. The bloke desperately wants to win football matches.
These are such difficult times for Town fans.
And still, we have to put up with the smug smart a**** who giggle like little children as they tell us we should have been ‘careful what we wished for’.
Yep, anyone connected with ITFC, from players to fans is hurting.
An FA Cup win and a chance to watch the fourth round draw with Ipswich Town’s ball in it would do such wonders. COME ON TOWN....
++++++++++++
If, like me, you enjoy motorsport, then you know that as well as the thrills and adrenaline rushes the many sports, from F1 to MotoGP, provide.... Heartache is ever only ever a heartbeat away.
Death and serious injury are simply a fundamental part of motorsport and yet so many hundreds of thousands of us enjoy watching, cheering, applauding and gasping at the competitors’ feats of bravery and skill.
From the racing tracks of Brands Hatch to the moto-cross circuits of Blaxhall, motorsport is a drug, a thrill for many – both to take part in and watch.
I suppose much of these thoughts are swilling around my head right now as former F1 legend Michael Schumacher turned 50 this week.
As we know, the German didn’t receive his life-changing serious head injuries racing an F1 car, but while skiing.
It was back in 2013 he suffered his accident that has left him with such terrible injuries.
Indeed secrecy over his accident and subsequent well-being has been kept very in-house by friends and family.
The former Ferrari driver is being treated at his home in Switzerland, but little is known about his recovery.
Schumacher won 91 Formula One Grands Prix.
As a fan of, especially, motorbike sport we all know only too well the dangers involved.
Serious injury, paralysis, even loss of life, from the TT Races on the Isle of Man to speedway tracks up and down the country are sadly never far away.
The rewards are great for a few, but not for the many.
I take my hat off to motorsport competitors around the world.
May your bravery be rewarded and may you keep safe as we enjoy the spectacle.
JOIN MIKE BACON ON THE NON-LEAGUE PODCAST.... HERE. PLENTY OF EPISODES TO LISTEN TO
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