Ipswich Town: Marcus Stewart joining the Portman Road club in 2000

A man to turn possession into goals. A man who will help stop the frustration of visiting sides shutting up shop at Portman Road. A natural goalscorer. A man to help fire Town into the Championship.

Injuries can play a key part in a team's hopes for promotion. Marcus Harness limping out of the game for the Blues on Tuesday night against Portsmouth wasn't a good sight for Kieran McKenna.

So, what now? Stick or twist for new players?

Well, let me take you back almost 23 years when then-Town chairman David Sheepshanks and George Burley were mulling over a similar dilemma.

It was January 2000, a new millennium had just dawned and Ipswich found themselves in familiar territory, challenging for automatic promotion to the 'promised land' of the Premiership for a fourth year on the trot - three 'failures' behind them.

Was it the right time to get another player in? Was it time to bolster an already talented squad? Clearly, Burley thought so.

The then Town boss targeted another striker, Huddersfield's Marcus Stewart as the man he felt could add the cherry on the cake. An experienced goal-getter who knew where the net was. Stewart had already netted 15 times for the Terriers that season.

Not that Ipswich were short on goals.

Marcus Stewart was signed for Town from Huddersfield. Here Stewart celebrates his goal at the First Division play-off final at Wembley in 2000

Burley already had excellent front men in David Johnson, Richard Naylor and James Scowcroft. Matt Holland was scoring from midfield.

Town could have settled for their lot right there, right then. But experience of previous disappointments haunted them. This time it was going to be different.

The only trouble was, Huddersfield were also in the Division One play-off picture. To hand their main striker over to a play-off rival was not going to go down well with Terriers fans and an initial bid for Stewart from Town was turned down.

However, Sheepshanks and Burley weren't giving up. More money was tabled and, with Huddersfield boss Steve Bruce wanting to bring two or three players in, the £2.25m that Town laid out, would allow him to do just that.

It was a tidy sum, but one that proved priceless as the deal was sealed.

"We have been looking since before Christmas to strengthen the squad for the promotion run-in," the clearly delighted Sheepshanks said after Stewart signed.

"Manager George Burley has been entirely right to take his time in making the right selection for the club. I am delighted that we have now secured such a highly prized player to join Ipswich Town."

Bruce said at the time; "It remains to be seen whether this is a right or wrong decision."

Sadly, for the Terriers, the gamble backfired. They ended up eighth, as Town finished third, beat Bolton in the play-off semi-finals and Barnsley in the final at Wembley in May 2000, Stewart to the fore.

The Bristol-born talisman marked his debut in February of 2000 with a goal in a 2-0 win at Barnsley, followed by another in a 2-1 win over the team he just left, Huddersfield on his home debut.

“I have a great skill of just switching my mind to what I need to do," Stewart later said of his move to Suffolk. "At the time that was to score goals for Ipswich."

However, not all was sweetness and light for Stewart, as injury struck and he missed a number of games in that 1999/2000 run-in. In fact he never added to those two league goals that campaign.

However, he was back for the last couple of league games of the season as Town ended up in the play-offs, after Manchester City won at Blackburn on the final day.

Little did most Town fans know, but Stewart was about to repay his transfer fee in stunning style.

He netted twice at Bolton with Town 2-0 down in the play-off semi-final first leg, the game ending 2-2 and Town winning 5-3 in the 'Jim Magilton hat-trick' second leg. And he scored again in the final before going on to have the best season of his career helping Ipswich Town to their best campaign since the Sir Bobby Robson days, as they finished fifth in the Premiership.

His signing proved a masterstroke and Stewart wrote himself into Ipswich Town folklore.

So, fast forward 23 years. Would, could, Ipswich Town do the same again this January transfer window? Find a Marcus Stewart-type striker who could bring so much to the team? Be that cherry on the cake?

Well, if you are going on comparisons today at League One level, Stewart's signing in 2000 would be the equlivant of the Blues poaching Jonson Clarke-Harris from Peterborough, Colby Bishop from Pompey or Morgan Whittaker from Plymouth.

Whittaker's name, especially, has been mentioned.

Not so long ago, Boxing Day, 2014 to be precise, a Daryl Murphy-inspired Ipswich Town thrashed Brentford 4-2 in west London to go top of the Championship. Town had a good squad, and fans wondered if owner Marcus Evans and manager Mick McCarthy would strenghten it for a second half of the season push.

But no big signings were forthcoming and Ipswich had to settle for the play-offs and defeat to Norwich in the semi-finals. A chance missed? Comparisons to 2000 came flooding back for Blues fans.

Daryl Murphy, a goal machine in the 2014/15 season. Should Town have bolstered their squad that season? (Image: � Copyright Stephen Waller)

So, here we are today. Town aren't struggling for goals this season, but they weren't struggling for goals when Stewart arrived in 2000, either. Neither were they in 2014/15.

Quite simply, one season Town went for it, another they didn't.

Because you see Marcus Stewart's signing wasn't a gamble, it was a thought out piece of business that helped bring glory times to the club fans still talk about today.

Stick or twist?

That's the question for Ipswich Town. I know what I'd do.