Ipswich Town fans will be rubbing their eyes with disbelief at the moment whenever their team takes to the pitch, just glancing at the stars that make up their side now and the level of opposition coming up against their beloved Tractor Boys.
Not even the most rose-tinted fan at Portman Road would have anticipated that one day Kalvin Phillips would be donning Ipswich blue when the club were swamped in the lower depths of the EFL, whilst West Ham’s star-studded squad consisting of Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus – to name a few – put the lacklustre Suffolk side to the sword last time out in an emphatic 4-1 victory.
Ipswich supporters will just want to ride this unbelievable wave all season long, in the hope that their side can pull off a major underdog story to stay in the Premier League, as opposed to slipping back down.
It wasn’t always doom and gloom for the Suffolk outfit when they were lingering below the top-flight however, with a couple of names held in high esteem still, performing well even when Ipswich were consistently down on their luck.
Waghorn’s time at Ipswich
One face that will come to mind is Martyn Waghorn, who was only on the books at Ipswich for one season, but certainly left his lasting impression on the Tractor Boys masses.
Even whilst Ipswich finished in a middle-of-the-road 12th spot in the Championship during the 2017/18 season, Waghorn shone, as the now 34-year-old sharpshooter helped himself to a ridiculous 16 goals and 13 assists from 46 total contests.
Of course, those exploits would attract interest from many parties far and wide wanting a slice of the deadly striker’s services, including Frank Lampard’s Derby County, who would snap up the “proven goalscorer” – as hailed by Paul Lambert – for a bumper £5m fee in the summer of 2018.
Ipswich had only purchased the ex-Leicester City man for £1m the year before, so wouldn’t have been too disheartened with the amount the Rams coughed up away from losing their main focal point in attack.
But, as much as Waghorn just had the midas touch in front of goal pulling on an Ipswich strip, he has struggled since his golden stint at Portman Road to ever recapture that same magic, with the veteran attacker now without a club during the twilight of his playing days.
Waghorn’s career after Ipswich
The goals haven’t always been flowing for Waghorn since walking away from Suffolk, with only two strikes registered from 42 games when on the books at Coventry City one particular low point past his sensational spell with the Tractor Boys.
| Waghorn’s goal record since leaving Ipswich | ||
|---|---|---|
| Club played for | Games played | Goals scored |
| Derby | 150 | 37 |
| Coventry | 42 | 2 |
| Huddersfield Town | 13 | 1 |
| Sourced by Transfermarkt | ||
Yet, he will hold out hope that a club will be tempted to take a punt on him as a free agent down the line, even with the goals mainly drying up after a breakneck season with Ipswich.
He did play his part in Paul Warne’s Rams winning promotion back up to the Championship last campaign during a second stint at Pride Park – with seven strikes fired home from 24 games – but that didn’t end up with him winning a new contract.
In truth, the ex-Tractor Boys number nine must look back on his time at Portman Road now with a degree of sadness attached as well as joy, wondering if he could have played his part in the club’s rise if he had stayed put after his golden 17/18 output.
But, Ipswich would not have complained about the £5m that ended up entering their bank at the time, with the money presumably spent on assembling the foundations of a side that then managed the unfathomable feat of back-to-back promotions.
Now, it’s all about whether or not Kieran McKenna’s men can warrant a spot dining at the elite table moving forward.
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