Dutch Connection – Ipswich Town in the 70/80s

It’s fair to say that the great Bobby Robson and Ipswich Town already had history with Frans Thijssen and Arnold Muhren long before the Dutch duo graced Portman Road in the late seventies. Ipswich had come up against the dutch pair’s FC Twente side in European Competitions in both 1973 and again in 1975 so Robson knew the quality he was bringing into Ipswich in the 1978/79 season. Muhren made the switch from Twente first, signing for £150k in August 1978. Thijssen followed suit for £220k in February 1979.

This was an Ipswich side that were going places, having won the FA Youth Cup in both 1973 and 1975, then beating a host of clubs to sign the striker Paul Mariner from Plymouth in 1976, followed by an impressive 2nd place in the Division One in 1976. Then came a superb 1-0 FA Cup triumph over Arsenal in 1978 which took the club to new heights. The brilliant Brian Talbot was lost to Arsenal following the cup victory, but the spine of the side that would soon be at the pinnacle of English football was already there. Paul Cooper was now firmly established as the number 1 keeper, whilst George Burley, Mick Mills, Terry Butcher, Eric Gates and Alan Brazil had all come through the ranks and broken into the first team by the start of 1979/80 season. Russell Osman, Kevin Beattie and John Wark had rejoined the group following a brief spell representing the Allied Forces in a memorable 4-4 draw vs the Nazi’s in Paris and Kevin O’Callaghan was the final piece of the jigsaw making the permanent switch from Millwall in 1980 also via a brief stint with the Allied XI.

Both Muhren and Thijssen had shone back in their native Holland, Thijssen returning 9, 11 and 7 goals over the previous 3 seasons and Muhren with 10,13 and 13. Robson was bringing 2 quality goal scoring midfielders to complement what was already looking like a top class side and so the 1978/79 season was one of eager anticipation for the Tractor Boys.

The season started slowly with Ipswich winning only 1 of their first 5 matches and this spluttering form continued throughout the season. It wasn’t until Thijssen signed in February to give some much needed support to Muhren that Ipswich started to show some form, winning 8 of their last 11 games, eventually finishing 6th, albeit a whopping 19 points behind Champions Liverpool. Ipswich won 10 of the 16 games after Thijssen’s arrival, losing only once. In Europe progress in the European Cup Winner Cup was again halted by eventual winners Barcelona on away goals in the quarter finals, for the second year in a row.

The 1979/80 season didn’t get off to the greatest start for Ipswich either , losing 10 games by December, including a run of 4 straight league defeats in October and going out of the UEFA Cup to Grasshoppers. Nevertheless, as Christmas came and went, the signs of a blossoming side were clear for all to see as Ipswich then proceeded to go on a 23 match unbeaten run, the highlight being a 6-0 thrashing of Man Utd in March during which United keeper Gary Bailey famously saved 3 penalties! Indeed Ipswich’s superb form only ended when they eventually lost to Man City on the final day of the season. This devastating form saw them to a fine 3rd place finish only 7 points behind champions Liverpool. The Thijssen/Muhren engine room was working beautifully.

The 1980-81 season was supposed to be Ipswich’s year. The project had been building towards this moment and on paper Ipswich had an excellent starting XI. By now, Muhren and Thijssen were the driving force of Ipswich’s free-flowing 4-3-3 style, a template perhaps for the current Liverpool side. Ipswich were unbeaten in their first 14 games and were in the hunt for 3 trophies for most of the season before the wheels well and truly came off the tractor. A huge fixture pile up. at one point playing 5 games in just 14 days, saw Ipswich eventually lose in the FA Cup semi-final, then capitulate in the league, losing 7 out of their final 10 games, eventually finished second in the league, four points behind an Aston Villa team they had beaten three times during the season. Frans Thijssen, who was named Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year award, missed the last five league fixtures with hamstring problems and it was telling as an exhausted Ipswich lost four of them. Robson famously only signed 18 players in his 13 years at Ipswich, which goes to show the talent he had at his disposal, or alternatively perhaps he was one or two short when it really came to the crunch.

In the UEFA Cup Ipswich had put together a hugely impressive set of results as they progressed all the way to the Final. Beating Polish side Widzew Lodz featuring the mercurial Polish, pre Juventus, talent Zbignew Boniek, then In the the fourth-round knocking out Michel Platini’s St Etienne. Ipswich then beat German side FC Koln boasting Pier Littbarski, Harold Schumacher (of knocking out French midfielders fame) and England international and former Forest striker Tony Woodcock. And so to the final where Ipswich met recently crowned Dutch champions AZ Alkmaar, who had lost only 1 game all season, scoring 101 in the Eredivisie. Ipswich just about held on over the 2 legs, winning 3-0 at Portman Road but then going down 4-2 against the Cheeseheads in Alkmaar. Thijssen scored in both games to seal a 5-4 aggregate victory for Ipswich.

The following season Ipswich again finished runners-up in the league but that was the end of the era with Bobby Robson departing for the England job and Arnold Muhren joining Manchester United. A year later, Thijssen signed for Nottingham Forest and the Dutch connection was over. Over the brilliant 4 year period Muhren scored 21 goals in 161 appearances, picking up the Ipswich Town Player of the Year: 1978–79, with Thijssen scoring 10 goals in 125 appearances also winning the Ipswich Town Player of the Year in 1979–80.