There have been plenty of players to go under the radar at Portman Road in recent years
HIGHLIGHTS
Jimmy Juan, a loanee from Monaco in 2005/06, was an impressive performer for Ipswich with five goals in 36 appearances, despite injuries.
Paul Anderson may not have been the most skilled player, but his desire and willingness to run at defenders made him a valuable asset for Ipswich.
Tommy Miller, often overlooked, was a reliable midfielder for Ipswich with 47 goals in 214 appearances and his energy on the field.
Things have certainly been eventful for Ipswich Town since the turn of the century.
Back in the year 2000, the Tractor Boys started life in the new millennium by winning promotion to the Premier League, after five years in the second-tier.
After an excellent fifth place finish in their first season back in the top-flight that earned them a place in the UEFA Cup, the following campaign saw them relegated back to the second-tier, although they once again qualified for Europe via their Fair Play ranking.
Even so, the club have yet to return to the Premier League since then, and after a long spell in the Championship, they were relegated to League One in 2019.
After four years in the third-tier of English football, the Tractor Boys finally won promotion back to the Championship at the end of last season, under manager Kieran McKenna.
Here though, we’re turning our attention away from the current campaign, to focus on some of the most underrated Ipswich players of this period.
We asked Henry, an Ipswich Town supporter analyst for Football League World, to name the eight undervalued players that have played for the team since the turn of the century.
Why not take a look at this list of Henry’s picks for yourself and decide if you agree with his choices?
Jimmy Juan
Juan spent time on loan with Ipswich from Monaco during 2005/06, where the midfielder’s opportunities were somewhat hampered by injury, which perhaps leaves him somewhat forgotten about.
Even so, the Frenchman was a consistently impressive performer when he did get on the pitch for the Tractor Boys, and scored five goals – including a stunning free kick against Cardiff – in 36 appearances in all competitions for the club, as they finished that season 15th in the Championship.
Paul Anderson
A right-winger, Anderson was arguably not the most gifted of players from a technical perspective, but his desire and willingness to run at defenders made him a useful asset to the Tractor Boys regardless.
In two years at Portman Road between 2013 and 2015, the former England youth international made a total of 71 appearances for the club. During that time, he scored seven goals for the club, the standout one being a brilliant and vital equaliser against bitter rivals Norwich in the 2014/15 Championship play-off semi-finals.
Tommy Miller
While many Ipswich fans may admittedly rate Miller highly, there is a suggestion here that he is sometimes overlooked due to the fact he stepped into the midfield role at Portman Road after Matt Holland, at a time when Ipswich missed out on a promotion they should have won.
Even so, Miller’s energy in the centre of the park, and ability to find the net – scoring 47 goals in 214 games across two spells for Ipswich from 2001-2005 and 2007-2009 – made him a useful asset for the club.
Dan Harding
Harding spent three seasons on the books at Ipswich between 2006 and 2009, proving a consistently reliable option at left-back in that time.
In total, Harding made 79 appearances for the club, but after spending much of the 2008/09 campaign out on loan elsewhere, he was then released in the summer of 2009 following the expiration of his contract, shortly after the appointment of Roy Keane as manager.
Jon Stead
Another who somewhat lost out at Portman Road as a result of Keane’s appointment as Ipswich manager, Stead nevertheless proved a useful option upfront during his time with the club.
During a three-year spell on the books at Ipswich, the striker scored 20 goals in 67 games in all competitions for the club, a record that is made all the more impressive when considering the fact that a significant portion of his appearances for the club, came from the substitutes’ bench.
David Norris
A clever midfielder with the ability to control games from the centre of the park, Norris also showed a knack for getting on the scoresheet courtesy of his late runs into the box.
Indeed, during his three-and-a-half-year spell with at Portman Road between January 2008 and the summer of 2011, the midfielder scored 16 times in 118 games, with his contributions earning him the captain’s armband for his final season at the club, and his departure leaving Ipswich struggling to find a source of goals from midfield for some years to come after his move to Portsmouth.
Jon Walters
Walters was playing in League Two for Chester City when he impressed against Ipswich in the FA Cup in January 2007, prompting then Tractor Boys boss Jim Magilton to move to bring the striker to Portman Road.
From there, the Irishman became a key cog for Ipswich, often operating from the right where he became a major threat for opposition defences, scoring 32 goals in 146 games in total. However, his time with the club came to an end in the summer of 2010, when differences between him and Keane seemingly came to a head, leading to Walters joining Stoke City, where he would eventually go on to earn iconic status.
David Wright
Joining Ipswich from Wigan Athletic in the 2007 January transfer window, Wright managed to establish himself as something of a mainstay at Portman Road.
Over the next three-and-a-half years, while never spectacular, Wright was a consistently reliable 7/10 performer week in, week out, with his versatility that allowed him to play in both midfield and defence also making him a useful asset for the Tractor Boys, making him the perfect example of an underrated player. By the time he left Ipswich to join Crystal Palace in the summer of 2010, Wright has made 128 appearances in all competitions for Ipswich, chipping in with five goals in that time.
