You're a Chantry Lad so I just wondered if this is you! http://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/ipswich...the_blues_and_in_the_premier_league_1_3428483
That was a cool story about someone making a living out of football. Who knows, maybe one day he will manage us.
His father, Barry, lives in Stonechat Rd on Chantry, the same road as my mother, and just around the corner from Kevin Beattie.
I lived in Swinton Close in what we used to call "Belstead Hills" for a while back in the late 1970s and I remember the new Pinewood housing estate being built during that time! I moved to Cambridge in 1982 and haven't been back to that part of Ipswich ever since! It used to be a really nice area to live in but I dont know what its like nowadays! Perhaps someone on here knows!
A very good friend of mine lived in Swinton Close, you may have known the family, his father was a lieutenant commander in the Sultan of Oman's Navy. The area's much the same as it was, when I go to Portman Rd I always visit my mother first, leave the car in Stonechat, then walk up Hawthorn Drive and cut through Gippeswyk Park on my way to the ground, just as I did when I lived there, I still get a buzz from doing that walk on matchday, the only difference is that I have two sons with me now!
I heard it started to go downhill in the late seventies, then began to pick up again in the early eighties when they cleared out a few bad eggs! Just joking mate! I actually did an accounting technicians course at Suffolk College around that time. Coming from a fine city, it was very educational to experience some of the rougher areas of East Anglia.
You'll have to let me know the family name. Great post Welly I used to make that same walk myself when my Dad used to take me! Those were very happy days and very happy times. My Dad used to stop off at the Belstead Arms pub on the way home and bought me a can of coke and crisps as a treat when we won which was most of the time back in those days!
I remember walking back after the 6 Nil win over Man Utd and my old man was just absolutely over the moon! When we got to the pub he had a quiet word with the landlord and he actually allowed me to go into the pub. This was a big deal back in those days and I had my Cola and Crisps sat in the lounge bar! Talk about a walk on the wild side!