[themaclad]

Photo attributed Bald Boris

Portman Road is a football stadium in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, which has been the home ground of Ipswich Town since 1884. The stadium has also hosted many England youth international matches, and one senior England friendly international match, against Croatia in 2003. It staged several other sporting events, including athletics meetings and international hockey matches, musical concerts and Christian events.

Ipswich Town moved to the ground in 1884. The stadium recorded its highest attendance in March 1975, when 38,010 fans attended a match against Leeds United. Its four stands were converted to all-seater in the early 1990s following the recommendations of the Taylor Report. The stadium underwent significant redevelopments in the early 2000s, which increased the capacity from 22,600 to more than 30,000, making it the largest-capacity football ground in East Anglia. Once the Gamechanger 20 Ltd takeover in 2021 was completed, the club invested heavily in the stadium to bring it more up to date after years of neglect from the previous ownership. This included new dugouts, undersoil heating and a new hybrid pitch which slightly reduced the overall attendance to 29,673. After the club's promotion back to the Premier League in 2024, the club had to invest heavily again into the stadium to bring it up to the Premier League’s standards. This included over 100 projects[4] ranging from new press and camera areas to increasing the away supporter allocation. Once these upgrades were completed, this increased the overall capacity to the current figure of 30,056.

https://www.itfc.co.uk/

Manager

Kieran McKenna (born 14 May 1986) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player, who currently manages EFL Championship club Ipswich Town.

Born in England, McKenna was raised in Northern Ireland and played youth football for Enniskillen Town United and Ballinamallard United before joining Tottenham Hotspur in 2002, and had represented Northern Ireland at youth level before a hip injury curtailed his playing career.

After studying sports science at Loughborough University, McKenna coached Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United at under-18 level, and also worked as a first-team coach and assistant manager at Manchester United before being appointed as manager of Ipswich Town in 2021.

FORM



TRACTORS 14 PNE 8

As one heavy defeat disappears into history another potential loams in the far away land of Suffolk on Saturday. As TS Eliot wrote April is the cruelest month, he would have chnaged his mind if he had been a North Ender in January 2026.


BIT OF RANDOM STUFF


Picture attributed to Ratarse(I kid you not)

The Orwell Bridge is a concrete box girder bridge just south of Ipswich in Suffolk, England. Opened to road traffic in 1982, Closed to road traffic in 2026‚ the bridge carries the A14 road (formerly the A45) over the River Orwell.

[themaclad]

Team News​
Andrija Vukcevic returned to action last time out against Middlesbrough and will be available for this weekend’s clash.

Andrew Hughes, Robbie Brady and Dan Iversen all continue their recovery to full fitness but will miss out on the Ipswich game.
The Hosts​
After dropping out of the Premier League last term, Ipswich entered the 2025/26 with the clear ambition of reclaiming that status.

Despite a stuttering start, the Tractor Boys have established themselves as one of the main contenders to achieve automatic promotion this season. They have won seven of their last 10 league matches, losing just twice in that period of time.

With additions in the January window such as Anis Mehmeti and Dan Neil, Kieran McKenna’s side will no doubt provide a tough test for the Lilywhites on Saturday. They are coming off the back of a defeat however, with Sheffield United besting them 3-1 last time out.

​
Match Officials​
Referee: John Busby

Assistant Referees: Scott Ledger and Akil Howson

Fourth Official: Anthony Backhouse

John Busby will officiate the clash between North End and Ipswich this weekend.

This will be the 11th Championship match he has taken charge of this term, alongside a handful of games in League One, the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup.

Busby has shown 68 yellow cards in 16 contests so far in the 2025/26 campaign.

M55/M6/M6TOLL/A14 JUNC 53, not quite Route 66, but a long haul non the less, the result will almost be similar to last week, no idea whether Storey won his appeal against his red card, hopefully the defending wlll be better than last week, however your long distance reporter will give his verdict on the good, bad and ugly sometime on Sunday

[themaclad]

Paul Heckingbottom is expecting a match of high quality this weekend as North End travel to Ipswich Town.

The Lilywhites round off January with a trip down to Portman Road, looking to claim their third successive league victory over the Tractor Boys.

With Kieran McKenna’s side currently sat third in the Championship and five points shy of the automatic promotion places, PNE’s manager is predicting a tough clash and believes that his team must approach the contest with no fear to get a positive result.



“A real top level Championship game,” stated Hecky. “Team in good form, really good players, good manager, who are now where they should be, right at the top. So, they'll have ambitions to finish in the top two, maybe chase Coventry down, we know that.

“I think I said at the start of the season they were my favourites, and nothing that I've seen about them makes me change my mind, so it's going to be a good game. I think you have to respect the quality of the opposition where you're going.

“Go with no fear, and go there knowing that, like we have shown many times, that we're more than capable of getting the result that we want down there.

“But also acknowledging how hard that is, what we have to be willing to give, what we have to be willing to sacrifice, and make sure we get everything right.”

North End recently announced their first signing of the January transfer window, Miloš Luković, who has joined the Lilywhites on loan until the end of the 2025/26 campaign from Strasbourg.

Hecky is extremely pleased to welcome the 20-year-old to his squad and hopes that his forward play can provide PNE with a boost in attack.




“We welcome Miloš, he's a No.9 who plays on the last man, will make good runs in behind, come and link play and then look to get behind again,” said the boss.

"He's someone we've seen a lot of, he was really keen to come and embrace that challenge of the Championship and face something different.

"We're really keen and determined to make the most of the four months he is here."