In recent years, international breaks have usually meant a quiet time for Town. But we had a lot to see in the last week.
The big news at Portman Road was the signing of Axel Tuanzebe. There were obvious questions about his fitness, but we would have looked into that before signing him. Massimo Luongo signed with the same fears as Nathan Broadhead. If Tuanzebe can get back to his best, we could have made a great signing.
Town have had four senior call-ups but it was a quintet of England players during my time at Town that piqued my interest last week. It was launched by one of our new podcasts this season, Life’s a Pitch TV.
East Anglian Daily Times: Ipswich Town’s latest signing Axel Tuanzebe. Ipswich Town’s latest signing Axel Tuanzebe. (Photo: ITFC)
The latter finally appeared on the sofa in last week’s episode and talk inevitably began of his England days – the time when Mick Mills, Paul Mariner and Eric Gates of the Three Lions also called Ipswich.
It often reminds me of the picture in the England training camp where Butcher, Mariner, Gates and Mills were photographed with England manager Ron Greenwood. It made me wonder how often any of this group of players could have played together at the same time…
Between all five players, they played 133 matches for their country. Research shows that all five have never played together. Neither did any of the four groups. However, nine times three of our players were in the starting lineup. Remarkably, this happened in four of England’s five matches in the World Cup in Spain 1982 when we saw Mick Mills, Terry Butcher and Paul Mariner play together.
It’s incredible to think of three Ipswich players in England’s World Cup game. In addition, Mick Mills pitched in all five games. In the first match, a 3:1 loss against France, Mariner was also on the table. England did not score a single goal in the tournament but were eliminated in the second group stage after a 0–0 draw with Spain. It was Greenwood’s last game before Sir Bobby Robson took over.
East Anglian Daily Times: Ipswich Town quartet Paul Mariner, Terry Butcher, Eric Gates and Mick Mills during England training. Ipswich Town four Paul Mariner, Terry Butcher, Eric Gates and Mick Mills during England training. The other occasions when three city players represented England at the same time is in May 1980, when central defender pair Osman and Butcher joined Mariner (who also won here) for the first time in England in a two-pointer. 1 friendly win over Australia in Sydney.
Mills, Osman and Mariner then lost a World Cup qualifier in Switzerland in May 1981 2–1. Four months later, the same trio were involved in another 2-1 defeat in Norway. The last time we saw three Ipswich players in the England line-up was on 21 September 1983, when Osman, Butcher and Mariner were part of the England squad that lost 1-0 to Denmark at the European Championships thanks to an Allan Simonsen penalty. qualifiers at Wembley. Osman made 11 appearances for England at Ipswich, with Butcher partnering him seven times. In addition to the two aforementioned games, the pair scored in a 2–1 friendly defeat to Spain at Wembley in March 1981 and a 2–2 draw against Denmark in a European Championship qualifier in Copenhagen in September 1982.
East Anglian Daily Times: Mick Mills captained England eight times while playing for Ipswich Town. Mick Mills captained England eight times while playing for Ipswich Town.
Then in June 1983, three friendlies were played in eight days, all against Australia, and the two played together. A 0–0 draw in Sydney (the only venue they played together outside of Wembley) was followed by a 1–0 win in Brisbane. The tour ended with another draw (1:1) in Melbourne.
Mick Mills made 42 appearances for England at Ipswich and was captain eight times. Butcher played 45 matches for England, Mariner played 33 and Gates played twice for City. Those were indeed those days.
