Marked for Leif Davis
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 43. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match4 Nov 2026
A 0‑0 win over Chelsea, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Squad9 Nov 2026
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ipswich Town may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market9 Nov 2026
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Leif Davis was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Anis Mehmeti scored one and made one — 7.87
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.87, and 2 involvements.
Match7 Nov 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Ipswich Town and Cardiff City, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.08 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Leif Davis was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Mannou Berger gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mannou Berger has just signed for Ipswich Town, and for once the answer mattered.
Match10 Oct 2026
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Market12 Oct 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Issa Diop wants continental football; whether Ipswich Town can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Cédric Kipré gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Christian Walton dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Match10 Oct 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Middlesbrough came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Market12 Oct 2026
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Mannou Berger is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market5 Oct 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Jaden Philogene wants continental football; whether Ipswich Town can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ipswich Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Anis Mehmeti gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad5 Oct 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 7.11. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Kasey McAteer asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Match3 Oct 2026
Point won or two lost for Ipswich Town?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Queens Park Rangers? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Market5 Oct 2026
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Tudor Mendel-Idowu leaves Ipswich Town the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Sep 2026
A 1‑0 win over Milton Keynes Dons, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Leif Davis in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ipswich Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Nico Valentine has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Iván Azón
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Brighton to sit and watch. I want to come back to Ipswich Town and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
7.55, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Ipswich Town had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.46 on the card, and the Ipswich Town support went home talking about one name.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Ipswich Town
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Aug 2026
Jack Taylor has left for Bournemouth in a $10.7M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ipswich Town can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ipswich Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Leif Davis
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The medical room confirms 22 days on the sidelines for Ryan Doherty, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad24 Aug 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Market24 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.