PAT Godbold, the woman behind most Ipswich Town managers who was presented with a special merit award at the Blues' players' reunion dinner at Portman Road on Friday night, has been praised by former club secretary David Rose.

Elvin King

PAT Godbold, the woman behind most Ipswich Town managers who was presented with a special merit award at the Blues' players' reunion dinner at Portman Road on Friday night, has been praised by former club secretary David Rose.

She was joined by Sir Bobby Robson in picking up the first of what will now be annual merit awards.

Also at the event attended by a record number of 60 former players, Billy Baxter, George Burley, Allan Hunter, Arnold Muhren and Roy Stephenson were inducted into the Ipswich Town Hall of Fame, the latter posthumously.

Burley and Hunter were present to collect their awards personally and so was Pat Godbold although Robson did not attend.

She joined the Town staff in 1954 and is still doing archive work on a part-time basis. She had previously worked for Reavells before switching to an office job at Portman Road where she worked originally for secretary-manager Scott Duncan.

She then did similar tasks for secretary-manager Alf Ramsey and financial secretary Wally Gray, and was joined in the small office by David Rose in 1958.

“When Ipswich Town were the best team in the country winning the First Division title under Alf there was just three of us in the office,” said Rose, who went on to become long-term Town secretary and is now retired but still involved with FA hearings and is a Babergh councillor for Holbrook and Harkstead.

“Pat has looked after a number of managers and hundreds of players.

“She made sure they did not miss dental appointments etc, and has kept in touch with most of them after they left the club.

“She got on with all the managers from Scott Duncan through to the present day. But it was with Sir Bobby that she interacted best. If you asked Bobby he would say that she was indispensible during his time when he made Ipswich into one of the best teams in Europe for a decade.”

Pat was presented with a 50-year service award by the Football Association in 2004, and Rose said they had plenty of fun times.

“Wally Gray was determined to repair a big clock that hung on the wall, but it ended up landing on head, which Pat found very amusing,” added Rose.

“But there was plenty of work to do as well as we were filling the ground for many games during the successful times and a lot of ticket work etc had to be done.”

After Scott Duncan and Ramsey, Pat worked for Jackie Milburn, Bill McGarry, Robson, Bobby Ferguson, John Duncan, John Lyall, George Burley and on a part-time basis for Joe Royle.

Robson also fully deserves his club merit award, which will not be restricted to the playing or managerial side when presented annually from now on.

Baxter and Stephenson were members of the Ipswich 1961/62 First Division title-winning side, while Burley, who later managed Town with great credit, and Hunter were in the team that won the FA Cup in 1978. Muhren was one of the first Dutch players to star in English football and he was a key man in the 1981 UEFA Cup-winning team.

Previous entrants to the Hall of Fame have a vote each year to add to their numbers. They are Ray Crawford, Ted Phillips, Mick Mills, John Wark, Frans Thijssen, Kevin Beattie, John Elsworthy and the late Jimmy Leadbetter.